"They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world; that is to say, with images of Phythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They also have other modes of honoring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles"
(Against Heresies, I.25.6)
So, who was this "Christ" that these followers of Simon Magus were dipicting and claiming to be followers of that Holy Scriptures? It was Simon Magus.
"He was glorified by many as a god; and he taught that it was he himself who, forsooth, appeared among the Jews as the Son, while in Samaria he descended as the Father, and the rest of the world he came as the holy Spirit. That he was the highest power, to wit, the Father over all, and that he allowed himself to be called by whatever name men pleased."
(Against Heresies, I.23.1)
"They [the Gnostics] also have an image of Simon made in the likeness of Jupiter, and Helen in that of Minerva and they worship the statues." (Against Heresies, I.23.4)
At first these followers of Simon Magus were called Simonians, but they deliberately began to designate themselves by other names and finally became known generally as "Gnostics". By the third century, these Gnostics had abandoned their connection to Simon Magus and Helen and began to call themselves by more respectable names that the people in the world would accept. Origen said there were few in his day calling themselves Simonians. (Against Celsus, vi.11)
Magus wanted to be called by names of more dignity and grandeur. Simon and Helen wanted to be designated by the names of the chief pagan gods and goddesses, but with one difference, they also wanted to be called "Christians". Christians who were supposedly knowledgeable of what were the deep and profound truths of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They accepted the Holy Spirit as a person, but, to the Simonians that person was Simon Magus.
Simon and Helen told their followers that anyone knowing the deepness of the mysteries would recognize Simon and Helen as the chief deities and not as mere humans.
"They have statues of Simon in the form of Zeus, and one of Helen in the form of Athena [the virgin], which they worship, calling the former Lord and the latter Lady. And if any among them on seeing the images, calls them by the name of Simon or Helen, he is cast out as one ignorant of the mysteries." (Hippolytus, Philosophumena, VI.20)
By the third century, the Gnostics who followed the teachings of Simon and Helen distanced themselves from being called Simonians and took up the better name "Chrisitans", who understood all the mysteries, including those of the pagan religions. To many Gnostics, Simon had beconme Zeus (or YHVH) and Helen became Minierva (the Virign Lady who merged into the image of Mary, the Mother of Christ). Helios the Sun god was another form of Zeus (as well as the Egyptian god Sarapis).