Talk:Simony

Initial text
Am I the only one who doesn't understand what the last paragraph ("Clerk") contributes to the understanding of the lemma? --87.65.156.187 16:57, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
 * No, you're not... it looks like it was copy-pasted out of an 8th grade history report. I removed it, since I can't think of any reason it should stay. --Colage 17:32, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Rigid Definition?
One of the descriptions i associate with Simony is of someone paying money to get spiritual /magickal powers. Of getting abilties and powers by paying for it. There needs to be a wider view presentation of Simony here. Its too narrow.--Redblossom 14:24, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Simony is the selling of church offices and roles.EJET63 (talk) 01:35, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

Search for 'Simoniacs' has no result
I just tried a search for 'simoniacs' and found nothing. Hopefully entering this term in this discussion might resolve that. Otherwise, the term should be included in the main article for the search engines to find. 72.141.160.63 (talk) 20:57, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


 * sorry, but it's called simonist not simoniac.--85.177.150.34 (talk) 19:44, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

temporal authority
Could someone please wikify the word temporal. I can't quite figure out what it means in this context. Thanks.--85.177.150.34 (talk) 19:47, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

"Temporal" means "of this world of money and things" -- contrast with "spiritual" Gdt (talk) 12:57, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

first line
Simony is not defined, per se, in the new testament. The church's teaching on simony is derived from an account in scripture (the one cited in Acts 8). The first line of the article should be updated to reflect this distinction. 76.167.93.99 (talk) 06:17, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

The History section ...
... opens with the statement: "Simony is an offence against the law of the church." It doesn't say which church, or for that matter, which law. A sub-heading later on narrows the focus to "Church of England", but there are no other sub-headings describing the specifics of the Catholic, Orthodox or other Protestant churches' treatment of simony. Is this because simony is primarily a CoE issue?

The second paragraph under the CoE sub-heading goes on to discuss simony as an offence under statute (ie non-church) law. So the opening statement about simony as 'an offence against the law of the of the church' is again inaccurate and inadequate.

I might get around to editing the article if I'm feeling particularly theological one day, but that day may be some distance off, so feel free to do it sooner. Wayne 09:06, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

When is sale of a benefice simony?
In the CE, owners bought and sold the land rights, which included the responsibility of paying clergy, along with the right to select the paid clergy. Why wasn't this simony? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.188.47.239 (talk) 02:21, 24 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Rectors, Parsons etc were provided with a 'living', which essentially meant (usually the bishop) would give them a parish with land and buildings that they derived an income from. They were able to dispose of some of land to provide an income for their pension. Although they held the land in freehold they were not able to leave the benefice to anyone, if they vacated it, it would go to the next post holder. The problem was that as priests disposed of land  from their living what was left was less valuable. This practice was not forbidden however it has  been replaced by the Church Commissioners who are responsible for financial matters. The priest can no longer sell his land. The practice was never regarded as simony as it is not really a spiritual matter. Having more than one benefice was regarded as simony, for example a bishop could not have two diocese. Wilfridselsey (talk) 23:28, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Nicacea?
In the third paragraph under Origin, should 'Nicacea' be 'Nicaea' (where the first council of Christian bishops was held in 325 AD)? Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 10:48, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've changed it and added links ... and also fixed up the Synods of Antioch article, which previously looked like this, along the way. Graham87 (talk) 17:15, 14 December 2023 (UTC)