Simon, Apostle, Saint

SIMON, Apostle, Saint. - Called "the Canaanite" (ὁ Καναναῖος, or ὁ Καναναῖος in codd. SΔWΘ 13 etc.) in Mt. 10:4 and Mk. 3:18; "the Zealot" (ὁ Ζηλωτής) in Lk. 6:15 and Acts 1:13. The title "Canaanite" does not mean "a native of Cana," as St. Jerome and certain Greek, Coptic and Ethiopian authors thought, who sometimes identified him with Nathanael (v.) of Cana, or with the bridegroom of the wedding celebrated there (Jn. 2:1 ff.), but derives from the Aramaic qan'ânâ, which means "zealot" or "zealous." Perhaps he had been a member of the party of the Zealots (v.), or he had been zealous for the law and Jewish traditions. In the New Testament nothing else is known of him but the name.

Several ancient authors identify him with St. [Simon], brother (cousin) of Jesus ([v.] cf. Chronicon Pasch.: PG 92, 591, 607, 610; Ps. Hippolytus, De XII Apostolis: PG 10, 953; Bede, Super Acta Ap., 1: PL 92, 943). This identification, upheld also by several modern authors along with J. Freundorfer, can be confirmed by the fact that in Mt. 10:3, instead of Thaddaeus, several codices of the Old Latin (abghq) have Judas zelotes, and by the proximity of this Judas (Thaddaeus) to Simon in Mt. 13:55 and Mk. 6:3 in the list of the "brothers of Jesus" (v.). Accepting this hypothesis, one could apply to the apostle S. the Canaanite or Zealot what Hegesippus and other ancient authors apply to Simeon, brother of Jesus, successor of James, also a brother of Jesus (and probably an apostle, v. JAMES the LESS) in the leadership of the Church of Jerusalem. The name Simeon is the Semitic form of S. He is said to have governed the community from 62 to 107, in Jerusalem and then in Pella, where, on account of the Jewish war, the Christians had moved. S. is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of 120, under the emperor Trajan and the governor Atticus (cf. St. Jerome, Chronicon, ed. R. Helm, Berlin 1913, pp. 192-94). According to an Abyssinian tradition, S. the Zealot, after exercising his apostolate in Samaria and his episcopate in Jerusalem, was crucified. Several ancient depictions show him on the cross. According to other, more or less legendary traditions, he also evangelized other regions and suffered martyrdom by the saw. In the Latin liturgy the apostle S. is celebrated together with Judas on Oct. 28; in some Western martyrologies on July 1, among the Greeks and Copts on May 10. S. bishop of Jerusalem, on the other hand, is celebrated by the Latins on Feb. 18, by the Greeks and Syrians on Apr. 27 or Sept. 18.

Pietro De Ambroggi