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Simony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus
Simon Magus

Simon Magus , also known as Simon the Sorcerer and Simon of Gitta, was a Samaritan Gnosticism and traditional founder of the Simonians in the first century A.D....
, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as simply Acts. The title "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late second century, but some have suggested that the title "Acts" be interpreted as "the Acts of the Holy Spirit" or even "the Acts...
 8:18-24. Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus
Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
, Peter
Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
 and John
John the Apostle

John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Christian tradition identifies him as the author of several New Testament works: the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation....
, payment so that anyone he would place his hands on would receive the power of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit

In Christianity, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is the spirit of God. The term Christ , is also used to refer to this presence. That is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son ....
. This is the origin of the term simony but it also extends to other forms of trafficking for money in "spiritual things".

intertwining of temporal with spiritual authority in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 caused endless problems with simony and accusations of simony.






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Simony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus
Simon Magus

Simon Magus , also known as Simon the Sorcerer and Simon of Gitta, was a Samaritan Gnosticism and traditional founder of the Simonians in the first century A.D....
, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. It is commonly referred to as simply Acts. The title "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late second century, but some have suggested that the title "Acts" be interpreted as "the Acts of the Holy Spirit" or even "the Acts...
 8:18-24. Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus
Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
, Peter
Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
 and John
John the Apostle

John the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Christian tradition identifies him as the author of several New Testament works: the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation....
, payment so that anyone he would place his hands on would receive the power of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit

In Christianity, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is the spirit of God. The term Christ , is also used to refer to this presence. That is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son ....
. This is the origin of the term simony but it also extends to other forms of trafficking for money in "spiritual things".

Roman Catholic Church

The intertwining of temporal with spiritual authority in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 caused endless problems with simony and accusations of simony. Secular rulers wanted to employ the educated and centrally organized clergy in their administrations, and often treated their spiritual positions as adjuncts to the secular administrative roles.

Canon Law
Canon law (Catholic Church)

Canon Law, the ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation....
 also outlawed as simony some acts that did not involve the sale of offices, but the sale of spiritual authority: the sale of tithes, the taking of a fee for confession, absolution, marriage or burial, and the concealment of one in mortal sin or the reconcilement of an impenitent for the sake of gain. Just what was or was not simony was strenuously litigated: as one commentator notes, the widespread practice of simony is best evidenced by the number of reported ecclesiastical decisions as to what is or is not simony.

Simony did serious harm to the moral standing of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
. Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante Alighieri, was a Florence poet of the Middle Ages. His Magnum opus, the Divine Comedy , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature....
 condemns simonists to the eighth circle of hell in his Inferno
The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy , written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature....
, where he encounters Pope Nicholas III
Pope Nicholas III

Pope Nicholas III , born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, Pope from November 25, 1277 to his death in 1280, was a Roman nobleman who had served under eight Popes, been made cardinal-deacon of St....
 buried upside down, the soles of his feet burning with oil, in a mock baptism. Dante goes on to predict the damnation of both Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Caetani, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303....
, the Pope in office at the time the Divine Comedy is set, and Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V

Pope Clement V , born Raymond Bertrand de Got , was Pope from 1305 to his death. He is memorable in history for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar, and as the Pope who moved the Roman Curia to Avignon - although, as a matter of fact, he moved the Roman Curia to Carpentras - in 1309, after staying four years in Poitiers....
, his successor, for that sin. Writers in the early Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
, such as Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccol? di Bernardo dei Machiavelli is the philosopher, writer, and Italian politician considered the founder of modern political science. As a Renaissance Man, he was a Diplomacy, Political philosophy, musician, poet, and playwright, but, foremost, he was a Civil Servant of the Florence....
 and Erasmus, condemned the practice, while Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal , was a France mathematician, physicist, and religion philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a civil servant....
 attacked the casuistic
Casuistry

Casuistry is an applied ethics term referring to case-based reasoning. Casuistry is used in juridical and ethical discussions of law and ethics, and often is a critique of principle or rule base reasoning....
 defenses offered by those accused of simony in his Lettres provinciales
Lettres provinciales

The Lettres provinciales are a series of eighteen letters written by France philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte....
.

Church of England

The Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 also struggled with the practice after its separation from Rome. While English law recognized simony as an offence, it treated it as merely an ecclesiastical matter, rather than a crime, for which the punishment was forfeiture of the office or any advantage from the offence and severance of any patronage relationship with the person who bestowed the office. The cases of Bishop of St. David's Thomas Watson
Thomas Watson (Bishop of St David's)

Thomas Watson was an England clergyman, Church of England Bishop of St. David's . A supporter of King James II of England, he opposed the Revolution of 1688 but was ultimately deprived of his ecclesiastical offices for the offence of simony and gaoled for his failure to pay his legal costs....
 in 1699 and of Dean of York
Dean of York

The Dean of York is the member of the clergy who is responsible for the running of the York Minster cathedral....
 William Cockburn
Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet

Sir William Cockburn, 11th Baronet was a Church of England clergyman. He was Dean of York and was famously defended on a charge of simony by his nephew Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet in 1841....
 in 1841 were particularly notable.

, simony remains an offence. An unlawfully bestowed office can be declared void by the Crown
The Crown

Throughout the Commonwealth realms, the Crown is an abstract metonymy concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government....
, and the offender can be disabled from making future appointments and fined up to £1000. Clergy are no longer required to make a declaration as to simony on ordination
Ordination

In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies....
 but offences are now likely to be dealt with under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003, r.8.

bibliogrophy

  • Lord Mackay of Clashfern (ed.) (2002) Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th ed. Vol.14, "Ecclesiastical Law", 832 'Penalties and disability on simony'
  • — 1359 'Simony' (see also current updates)*Weber, N. A. (1913) "", Catholic Encyclopaedia

See Also

Concordat of Worms
Concordat of Worms

The Concordat of Worms, sometimes called the Pactum Calixtinum by papal historians, was an agreement between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor on September 23 1122 near the city of Worms, Germany....
 Gregorian Reform
Gregorian Reform

The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the Roman Curia , circa 1050?80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy....