SIMONY

SIMONY. The sin of “purchasing” grace with money was named for the attempt of Simon Magus to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit (q.v.) (Acts 7:9–14). In later use the term came to signify the purchase either of high ecclesiastical office or of the sacraments (q.v.). The former was a continual problem throughout the Middle Ages of both East and West, and much exacerbated in the East during the Ottoman Empire (q.v.). Thus, in the Byzantine era (q.v.), the kanonikon was expected as a matter of course for ordination (q.v.) or the performance of a sacrament.