Simon the Zealot

Simon the Zealot is the most obscure apostle mentioned just four times in the Bible (Matt. 10:4; Mk. 3:18; Lk. 6:15; and Acts 1:15), and then he is mentioned only when listing the apostles. If it wasn’t for the legends we would know nothing of Simon. In the traditions, he was brother to James and Jude Thaddaeus – making Simon a cousin to Jesus. He was 28; working as a merchant when called by Peter to serve, at the time he was living in Capernaum with his family, but spent the next four years serving Jesus. Most of the traditions say that Simon worked with Jude through out modern day Iran, Turkey, some say Egypt and as far as Britain.

Zealot or Caaanite ?

His name is a matter of debate. Most modern translations always call him “Simon the Zealot”, but in the King James Version Bible (“KJV”), he is called “Simon the Canaanite” (Matthew and Mark), that would suggest that he was from Cana (the same city where Jesus performed his first miracle), but in KJV-Luke it is translated as “kananaios” which means ‘zealous’. This is the generally accepted “correct” translation of the original Greek and so we call him “the Zealot” to this day. Not all traditions would agree, as some hold that Simon was in fact the very groom where Jesus performed his first miracle.

Figure 4 - Simone Martini: St. Simon

His title “the Zealot” is intriguing because that is the only description of Simon in the NT. The zealots were a group of revolutionaries that were struggling to free Jerusalem from Roman occupation, looking to repeat the Maccabean’s revolt against the Greek conquerors of a century before. The Zealots were more than guerrillas; they had a military and spiritual agenda based on an important chapter in Jewish history. The Maccabean Revolt started with Mattathias an elderly Jewish priest who refused to capitulate to Greek demands of taxes, and most importantly of accepting their gods. When the Greek soldiers tried forcing him to bow before their idols, he rose up and killed one of the soldiers. He and his five sons lead a revolt that eventually overthrew the Greek occupiers. When Mattathias passed away, his son Judas Maccabeus lead the liberated Isrealites. When the Isrealites went to cleanse their Greek-defiled Temple, they found there was not enough oil to light the lamps within the Temple. Using what they had available, they found that by a miracle the oil was not being consumed by the lamps in the Temple for ten days. This miracle, in both the overthrow of the Greeks, and the sign of the lamps is celebrated every year with Menorahs on Rosh Hashanah. (verify spelling/calendar dates).

A century later the Romans came and they turned out to be a more difficult occupier. The Romans did not seek to directly control a territory; instead, it was to their benefit to allow the territory to continue on, (with Roman modifications of course) so that they can pay tribute (taxes) to Rome. King Herod was a deal-maker, working to maintain his own power by balancing appeasements to both the Jews and Romans. He was able to balance the two for the most part – making beautifications to the Temple and ensuring Rome of local stability. When he died the country was thrown into turmoil, and the Maccabean spirit rose again in 7ad, named the Zealots and lead by Judas of Gamala. The name “zealots” taken from Matthahias’ death-bed command “Be zealous for the Law, and give your lives for the covenant of your Fathers.”

A Rebel ?

Was Simon a Zealot? Naturally any revolutionary party that could face a death penalty would not keep written records of its members, so we have no lists to verify with. By reasoning we could hypothesize that Simon wasn’t a member during the time of Jesus. If Simon was an active member of the Zealots we would have expected some action when Jesus was arrested. Why else would he be called a Zealot? A fierce revolutionary Zealot would not stand by idly when the Messiah was being arrested. It seems probable that Simon later joined the Zealot movement. Although not a convincing argument, we could also understand that as a Zealot member, one would like to keep a low profile perhaps explaining why so little of Simon is known.

Most traditions hold that he met with Jude Thaddaeus in Turkey with some wonderful tales being recorded in The Golden Legend. First he preached in Egypt, then met Jude in Persia (at the time, Persia occupied most of Turkey). The duo immediately ran into the trouble makers Zaroes and Arpahaxat that

Matthew had previously chased out of Ethiopia (approx yr?).

Duke Baradach

The next episode, and the most significant, is their meeting with Baradsch, the Duke to the Babylonian King. Baradach was in the final planning stages of an attack into India. He was unsuccessful in getting advice from his idols, so he spoke to the priests of the temple. They explained that the idols fell silent on account of the apostles. The Duke sent for the apostles. When they arrived they were challenged by the temple priests, but surprised the Duke by explaining that the battle was not going to occur, not only that but they prophesized that a surrender would occur the very next morning. And so it was. The priests became infuriated and persuaded the Duke that the two apostles were seeking to overthrow the Duke’s power. Somewhat persuaded the Duke had them put on trial. Here is perhaps the only record of any of Simon’s speaking at the trial:

“Often it happens that among chests of gold made with precious stones are very evil things enclosed and inside chests of wood be laid gold rings and precious stones. Promise that you will forsake the idols and will worship the one, only God invisible, and we will make the sign of the cross on your foreheads, and you will then overcome these enchanters”

[source? Moses c.]

Although persuasive, the trial continued. The priests performed exquisite trickery, and the apostles responded with equally powerful miracles. The climax of the trial was a cloak filled with poisonous snakes forced upon the Apostles. Naturally, the serpents that did not bite the Apostles, but when placed on the priests the serpents bit and tore at them. The apostles would not permit the serpent’s venom to kill the priests, but permitted the pain to last three days. The Duke was moved by the power and compassion of the Apostles and so won over to Christianity. As for the priests, at the end of the 3 days torment, the apostles said “God does not want service by force, so arise and be cured, you are free to go as you please”. The priests fled to Babylonia and plotted their revenge.

All was not well in the Duke’s household. Sometime later his daughter was discovered to be pregnant (and not married – who says such things are only a modern day issue?). When the child was delivered and her shame was then made public, she stated that a deacon had raped her. The outraged relatives of the daughter sought to kill the deacon, and the issue was brought before the apostles. The apostles demanded that the deacon and newborn be brought before them. As the tale goes, the apostles asked the newborn if the deacon had committed the act, and the child spoke stating that the deacon was in fact innocent. Unsatisfied, the relatives now demanded the name of the child’s father. The apostles dodged the issue saying “it is not for us no name the innocents who would bear pains even if responsible” (suggesting that the conception was not by rape, and probably due to the daughter’s seduction). In the middle of the paragraph the story ends. The very next sentence starts with an alarming episode of television-like drama it tells how two tigers escaped from their pit and were busy devouring the people of the town. The apostles rush to the rescue. By their announcing Jesus name the two tigers immediately stopped eating the townspeople and became “meek as lambs”. Nothing else is mentioned of the woman, the deacon, or the tigers. The next chapter depicts the martydom of the apostles.

After staying there for a little more than a year and baptizing some sixty thousand adults, the apostles moved on to Suamar [where is this city?] – the very city that the priests had fled to.  Here is a possible cross-relation with the Acts of Andrew, where it is written that in the Cimmerian Bosphorus there was a tomb in a “with an inscription importing that Simon the Zealot was interred there.” [passage volume/ch/verse ?]

Temple of the Sun

When Simon and Jude arrived at the city the priests seized them and brought them to the temple of the sun. As they were brought into the temple, the idols screamed at them “Oh what will these apostles of God do to us now? Oh how we burned when they arrived in this city!” At that moment an angel appeared to the apostles and told them that they had to choose between the people being slain, or the apostles martyred. They replied that they would rather be martyred if the people were converted to Christianity. So being said, the apostles called for silence among the people gathered to witness the priest’s revenge. They spoke out “To prove that these idols are full of devils, we command that the devils come out of the idols and destroy the statues” At the command two Ethiopians came out of the idols, destroyed the idol and ran away crying in torment. The priests rushed at the apostles and killed them; hacking apart their bodies (and so the tradition that Simon was sawed alive). Dramatically, at the moment the earth shook like thunder, the temple was split into three, and the scheming priests were thrown onto coals. Despite the death of the Apostles, the king there made a huge church to their honor. A later tradition holds that the most of the relics, without arms, were moved to Rome and placed in St. Peters, and other relics at the Cathedral of Toulouse in France.[what relics???]

Bishop of Jerusalem

The story of Simon still continues. According to the other writers, Simon was made bishop of Jerusalem after James The Less’ martyrdom. During his reign, he raised thirty-dead men to life and reigned until the time of Tarjan [when?]. There he was tortured and crucified at the ripe old age of “six score years” (120 years!). The author relates that there is an opinion that this wasn’t the same Simon, rather a cousin of Simon the Zealot, also named Simon, was this bishop.

Another tradition says that Simon did little after the Ascension. When the last revolt failed in 70AD he was crushed in spirit, but eventually over the years he regained the strength he had during the years he had served Jesus. With the renewed spirit he traveled to Alexandria, preached throughout the Nile delta, and into central Africa. After many years of hard word he died and is said to be buried in the heart of Africa.