Acts 8:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why, then, did they not deprive him of life, as they did Ananias and Sapphira? In ancient times also, the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath was deprived of life as a lesson for others, but no one else underwent the same thing. So Peter acts now. Having punished those, he does not punish this man, but says to him, "Your silver perish with you, because you thought to obtain the gift of God with money."

Had Simon seen the others doing this? Had he seen Philip doing it? Did he think they did not know with what intention he approached? Therefore Peter rightly calls it a gift, saying, "Your silver perish with you, because you thought to obtain the gift of God with money."

Less guilty is the one who, through inexperience, wishes to acquire with money than the one who wishes to sell God’s gift. Suppose a sale has taken place. If you sell what you received as a gift, you will be deprived of grace, like one who has entered into a bargain with Satan. For you are planting petty trade in spiritual matters and in the Church, where the Body and Blood of Christ have been entrusted to us.

Then Peter said to Simon, who, corrupted by the habit of magical art, thought that for money he would receive the grace of Christ through the laying on of the hand and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: "You have neither part nor lot in this faith, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this sin of yours, and pray to God. Perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see that you are filled with bitter gall and bound by iniquity."

You see that, when Simon blasphemes the Holy Spirit through the vainglory of magical art, Peter punishes him by apostolic authority. This is all the more so because Simon did not possess a pure consciousness of faith. Yet Peter did not deprive of hope for mercy the man whom he called to repentance.

Simon brought silver to those who did not love possessions. He saw that those who brought the price of sold estates laid it at the Apostles’ feet. Yet he did not consider that those who trample underfoot wealth brought for the feeding of the poor would not give the authority of the Holy Spirit for payment.

Gregory the Great says: "When holy men pronounce a curse, they do so not from a desire for vengeance, but by the right of discernment. They see the inward exact judgment of God and the evil breaking out visibly. They understand that they must scourge vices by a curse, and they do not sin in cursing, because they agree with the inward judgment. And although the one who curses remains innocent, the curse swallows up even to destruction the one subjected to it. This may be concluded from what happens to both, since the one Judge within brings down the sentence pronounced upon the guilty."

Therefore this Simon, who received a curse from Peter, perished under eternal condemnation. Later Bar-Jesus also, rebuked by Paul in Acts 13:6-12, was deprived of light.

Let none of the bishops, presbyters, or deacons, when imparting the most pure Communion, demand money or anything else from the communicant for such communion. For grace is not sold, and we do not impart the sanctification of the Spirit for money. Rather, it must be imparted without guile to those worthy of this gift. If anyone numbered among the clergy is found demanding any kind of payment from the one to whom he imparts the most pure Communion, let him be deposed, as a zealot of Simon’s error and cunning. Canon 23.

Thus the apostle Peter exposes Simon Magus, who brought money to the apostles, saying, "Give me also this power, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit" (v. 19).

Do Orthodox Christians buy the gifts of God when they pay a priest for performing a mystery? Absolutely not. If an earthly king sent someone a gift by his servant, and the recipient rewarded the king's servant for the labor of delivering and handing it over, would that mean the gift was sold or bought? Of course not.

Meanwhile the report of the success of the preaching of the Gospel in Samaria reached Jerusalem. The apostles sent Peter and John there to confirm the newly converted in the faith. When they arrived, they brought down upon all the believers the abundant gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

This last event aroused extreme envy in Simon Magus. According to his pagan way of thinking, he began offering the apostles money, so that they would give him also the authority to bring down the gifts of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

Peter said this. Peter acted in Samaria together with John in prayer and the laying on of hands upon those baptized. But now, where a decisive and punitive manner of action is required, he again appears, as before, as the one acting alone, while John remains silent.

Peter, "again revealing what was hidden in Simon's soul, though Simon wished to conceal it" (Chrysostom), not only rejects Simon's silver. In sacred indignation he threatens destruction to the one who offered it, together with the silver: "May it perish."

The apostle Peter's answer to Simon is full of threat and destruction because of the insulting supposition that one could buy those gracious gifts which, having been freely received, are freely given to the worthy by the mercy of God. Yet Simon, of course, did not think that he was offering an insult.

This was his general view of the matter. The apostle Peter urges him to think about it, saying that his heart is not right before God. This means that he looks upon the matter not from a sacred and spiritual point of view, for the sake of pleasing God, but personally, for his own profit. He wished to distinguish himself more, to be glorified, and at the same time to gain wealth.