Simon was one of the most common Jewish names of the first century — the Greek form of the Hebrew Simeon — and the New Testament alone carries several men who bore it. The glossary keeps this entry as a signpost, because the same name attaches to very different people.
The best known is Simon Peter, the fisherman Jesus renamed (see Peter). Among the twelve there was also a second, Simon the Zealot, set apart by that epithet. The Gospels name a Simon among the brothers of Jesus, and a Simon the leper in whose house Jesus was anointed.
Two more leave a particular mark. Simon of Cyrene is the bystander pressed into carrying Jesus’ cross on the way to the crucifixion (Mark 15:21). And Simon Magus, a sorcerer among the Samaritans, tried to buy the apostles’ power to confer the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:9–24) — an attempt that gave the English word simony, the buying and selling of sacred office.
Explore Simon and related terms in the full glossary → a.fortt.com/glossary-app
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