On the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon the Zealot (also called Simon the “Cananean,” the Aramaic word meaning “Zealot”) and by Judas of James, also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. (“Judas” in New Testament contexts corresponds to “Judah” in Old Testament ones. Note that masculine names ending in “-ah” when translated from Hebrew directly to English usually end in “-as” when the translation passes through Greek, since in Greek a terminal “-a” is normally feminine, but a terminal “-as” is normally masculine. Thus we have “Elijah” => “Elias,” “Jeremiah” => “Jeremias,” etc.)
Apostle Jude File:Anthonis van Dyck 088.jpg Created: circa 1619/1621
Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together.
Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on these lists. Some modern writers have used his surname as the basis for conjectures associating him, and through him Jesus and all His original followers, with the Zealot movement described by Josephus, a Jewish independence movement devoted to assassination and violent insurrection. However, there were many movements that were called Zealot, not all alike, and Josephus tells us (Jewish War 4,3,9) that the movement he is describing did not arise until shortly before the destruction of the Temple in 70 Ad.[ read ]
Source: Simon and Jude, Apostles
- Unless otherwise indicated, this biographical sketch was written by James E. Kiefer and any comments about its content should be directed to him. The Biographical Sketches home page has more information.
- Simon and Jude, Apostles. 2016. Simon and Jude, Apostles. [ONLINE] Available at: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/277.html. [Accessed 28 October 2016].
- Image: By Anthony van Dyck – [1], Public Domain, By Anthony van Dyck – [1], Public Domain,
franciscansonthemountains 