It was perhaps the recognition of a germ of that which, later on, in the then nascent Church, grew into the virus of insatiate power and ambition, culminating finally in the dogma of infallibility, that forced Simon, and so many others, to break away from her at her very birth. Sects and dissensions began with the first century. While Paul rebukes Peter to his face, John slanders under the veil of vision the Nicolaitans, and makes Jesus declare that he hates them.(209) Therefore we pay little attention to the accusations against Simon in the MS. found in Greece. It is entitled _Philosophumena_. Its author, regarded as Saint Hippolytus by the Greek Church, is referred to as an “unknown heretic” by the Papists, only because he speaks in it “very slanderously” of Pope Callistus, also a Saint. Nevertheless, Greeks and Latins agree in declaring the _Philosophumena_ to be an extraordinary and very erudite work. Its antiquity and genuineness have been vouched for by the best authorities of Tübingen. Whoever the author may have been, he expresses himself about Simon in this wise: Simon, a man well versed in magic arts, deceived many persons partly by the art of Thrasymedes,(210) and partly _with the help of demons_.(211)... He determined to pass himself off as a god.... Aided by his wicked arts, he turned to profit not only the teachings of Moses, but those of the poets.... His disciples use to this day his charms. Thanks to incantations, to philtres, to their attractive caresses(212) and what they call “sleeps,” they send demons to influence all those whom they would fascinate. With this object they employ what they call “familiar demons.”(213) Further on the MS. reads: The Magus (Simon) made those who wished to enquire of the demon, write what their question was on a leaf of parchment; this, folded in four, was thrown into a burning brazier, in order that the smoke should reveal the contents of the writing to the Spirit (demon) (_Philos._, IV. iv.). Incense was thrown by handfuls on the blazing coals, the Magus adding, on pieces of papyrus, the Hebrew names of the Spirits he was addressing, and the flame devoured all. Very soon the _divine_ Spirit seemed to overwhelm the Magician, who uttered unintelligible invocations, and plunged in such a state he answered every question—phantasmal apparitions being often raised over the flaming brazier (_ibid._, iii.); at other times fire descended from heaven upon objects previously pointed out by the Magician (_ibid._); or again the deity evoked, crossing the room, would trace fiery orbs in its flight (_ibid._, ix.).(214) So far the above statements agree with those of Anastasius the Sinaïte: