Saint Simon “the Zealot”, Simon Kananites, or Simon Cananeus also “the Cananean” the Apostle. The name Simon was of Hebrew origin and it means one who harkens or listens. Simon is referred to as Kananite or Cananeus are both words are derived from the Hebrew root qanna meaning zealous. This is not a reference to Simon being from Cana, it is a reference to his zeal, most likely for Israel’s independence from Roman rule.
Saint Simon Zelotes was one of the twelve apostles chosen and invested (ordained, See Mark 3:14) by Jesus. He was a Jewish merchant in the village of Capernaum which was on the north shore of the sea of Galilee. He was 28 years old when he was chosen and invested (ordained) by Christ. Simon was one of the most obscure of the Apostles. He is not to be confused with Simon Peter (see above) or Simon the Sorcerer (Simon Magus).
Eastern Orthodox Church tradition holds that it was Simon’s wedding that Christ and his disciples attended in Cana of Galilee in which Christ turned water in six stone jars to wine. He is called zealot because in seeing this miracle, Simon left his home, his parents and his bride and followed Christ. While this narrative is, in its own way, fun it does not have a factual historical basis.
Simon turned his zeal from being focused on Israel’s independence to a zeal for God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Ancient oral tradition also states that after Pentecost, Simon the Zealot’s apostolic journeys took him to Egypt and then to far western coastal region of Africa called Mauritania. After evangelizing in Africa, Simon joined Jude in Persia and they journeyed to Armenia and/or Beirut, Lebanon, where Jude was martyred around AD 65. Simon is reported to have suffered martyrdom by being sawn in half when he returned to western Persia (sometime after the martyrdom of James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus who was the 1st Bishop of Jerusalem).
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