Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/February 18

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Saint Simeon of Jerusalem, son of Cleophas, was a Jewish Christian leader and, and according to most Christian traditions the second Bishop of Jerusalem.

Eusebius of Caesarea gives the list of the bishops of Jerusalem. According to a universal tradition the first was Saint James the Just, the "brother of the Lord", who according to Eusebius says he was appointed bishop by the Apostles Peter, St. James (whom Eusebius identifies with James, son of Zebedee), and John.

According to Eusebius, when James was killed at the instigation of High Priest Ananus about the year 63.

Eusebius relates that Simeon was elected by the community at Jerusalem chose to succeed James:

After the martyrdom of James and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh (for the majority of them also were still alive) to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James. They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph.

According to Hegesippus. Simeon prevailed against Thebutis, whom the church fathers deemed a judaizing heresiarch, and led most of the Christians to Pella before the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 and the destruction of Herod's Temple in 70.

About the year 106 or 107 he was tortured and crucified under Trajan by the proconcul Atticus in Jerusalem or the vicinity.

Simeon is sometimes identified with Simon, the "brother of the Lord", who is mentioned in passing in the Bible (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3), considering the "brothers" as "cousins" and pointing to Hegesippus referring to him as the "second cousin" as bishop of Jerusalem. Other exegetes consider the brothers to be actual brothers and Hegesippus' wording as subsuming both James and Simeon under a more general term.

He has also been identified with the Apostle Simon the Zealot.
Attributes: Bishop, Martyr
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