simony

• The term simony comes from a sorcerer named Simon Magus, who tried to bribe the Apostles into selling him their power (Acts 8: 18-20). —  orrologion
• The said abbot is to be accused of simony, as well for taking money for advocation and putations of benefices, as for giving of orders, or, more truly, selling them, and that to such persons which have been rejected elsewhere, and of little learning and light consideration 2. —  Froude's Essays in Literature and History With Introduction by Hilaire Belloc
• The king or prince who possessed the right of investiture was sure of finding some one willing to pay something for important benefices Sidenote: Origin of the term simony The sin of buying or selling church offices was recognized as a most heinous one. —  An Introduction to the History of Western Europe
• The pretence for this appropriation was to prevent simony--in others, not in his Holiness--as the sale of benefices was carried by him to an enormous height. —  The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch
• This casket is loaded with your sins; 'tis the cargo of rapines, simony, and extortions; the iniquity of thirty years muftiship converted into diamonds Muf. —  The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 07

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context