I'm fascinated by the characters of Simon Magus, who also claimed to be divine during the early Christian Church, and Helen, with whom he began traveling after they met in Tyre. I'm not sure if Simon was a patron of the brothel where she worked, but that's where they met. SM claimed Helen was the reincarnation of his "First Thought" or the Gnostic divine Sophia, wisdom incarnate. The practice of "simony" is named after SM, but I'm not interested in what his enemies had to say. I'm interested in his Gnostic sect and the idea that he was actually the apostle Paul. At least one scholar suggests SM's trying to pay for power of the Holy Spirit was actually Paul asking for money in 2 Corinthians 8. Thecla, a woman sort of "apostle" to Paul is really interesting, too. I want to write about an "atheist Paul" based on Simon Magus, but I want to write about Helen, too, and she's basically defined by her relation to SM. Thecla has the same thing with Paul. So, how can I make my Helen interesting while keeping with the theme?
