SIMEON BAR ṢAḆA, St. — Archbishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Persia), martyred by Shapur II at Karkha de Ledan on 17 April 344 (according to Peeters, 341).
According to the Acts, which are worthy of credence, the Saint refused to collect double tribute from Christians to finance war against the Romans. He is the head of about a hundred Persian martyrs, among whom stand out Ghiistàzàd, a eunuch who had been Shapur’s tutor, Abedechala and Anania, priests, and Pusicio, prefect of the imperial artisans. Feast: 21 April.
BIBL.: The Acts, with a special introduction by M. Kmosko, in Patrologia Syriaca, II, Paris 1907, pp. 660-1055; P. Peeters, Le Passionnaire d’Adabène, in Anal. Bolland., 43 (1925), 266; Martyr. Romanum, p. 149; P. Peeters, La date du martyre de St. S., in Anal. Bolland., 56 (1938), pp. 118-43. Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina.
SIMEON, Bishop of JERUSALEM (photo: Vatican Library)