Martyrium Simonis Cananaei
Standard abbreviation: Mart. Sim. Can.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 222; CANT 282.2
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Simon and Theonoe, Preaching of Simon the Canaanite
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of Simon the Canaanite.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-simon-the-canaanite/.
Created May 2020. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The protagonist of the text is identified as “Simon the son of Cleophas, who was called Jude.” He is to be identified, as in the Preaching of Simon the Canaanen, with the “Simon the Canaanean” (Simon “the Zealot” in Luke and Acts 1:13) among the Twelve Apostles. Some sources, including the Chronicon paschale identify Simon the Canaanite as Simon son of Clopas (John 19:25), the successor of James the Righteous as bishop of Jerusalem (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. III.32; IV.5). Eusebius appeals to Hegesippus for traditions of his martyrdom: “Some of these [heretics] charged Simon son of Clopas with being a descendant of David and a Christian, as a result he suffered martyrdom at the age of 120, when Trajan was emperor and Atticus consular governor.” Hegessippus also says he was tortured for days and crucified. Eusebius concludes from this that he was an “eyewitness and earwitness of the Lord.”
Mart. Sim. Can. begins after Simon has succeeded James as bishop of Jerusalem. It is said, following Hegesippus, that Simon lived 120 years (though Malan’s Ethiopic manuscript says 37). During his tenure, he built churches in Jerusalem and appointed presbyters and deacons. Several of these churches are described further: the first church was built in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; the second in the name of the Virgin Mary; the third in the name of Michael the archangel, and the fourth in the name of the apostles (the Ethiopic text begins with Mary and the name of the second church is unclear). Simon is said to have been a successful evangelist and leader, with the Jerusalem Jews forsaking the synagogues en masse and packing the churches. Nevertheless, a small group of Jews conspire against Simon. They put him in chains and deliver him to the emperor Trajan. They accuse Simon of being a wizard. Simon denies the charge and confesses his faith in Jesus. Angered, Trajan hands him over to the Jews for crucifixion. He dies on 15 Bashans (10 May Julian), the day of his commemoration in the Coptic church (the manuscript used by Smith Lewis gives the date as 9 Abib; the shorter text in the Coptic manuscript MONB.GQ has 18 Abib).
Named Historical Figures and Characters: James (the Righteous), Jesus Christ, Mary (Virgin), Michael (angel), Satan, Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Trajan (emperor).
Geographical Locations: Jerusalem.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
“Simeon of Jerusalem.” Wikipedia.
“Simon the Zealot.” Wikipedia.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 1110)
3.1.1.1 Arabic Script
Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale de l’Université Saint Joseph, 1426 (1855) ~ contents unconfirmed
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Graf 472 (18th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 1 (13th/14th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 2 (14th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 3 (1626)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 6 (not dated) ~ contents unconfirmed
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 16 (15th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Museum, 60, fols. 216r–217v (19th cent.)
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 29, fols. 172v–174r (ante 1664)
Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Or. 1067 (Tischendorf 32) (15th cent.)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 539, fols. 186v–187v (12th cent.)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 602, 9 (17th cent.)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. Ar. 541 (Nicoll 49), fols. 67v–68v (18th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 81, fols. 135r–136r (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4770, fols. 295v–297v (19th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. ar. 223 (1729)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 500, fols. 152v–152v (15th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 171 (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 694, fols. 54r–54v (14th cent.)
Wadi El-Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), no shelf number, fols. 122v–123v (14th cent.)
3.1.1.2 Garšūnī Script
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 40, fols. 171r–172v (ca. 1750)
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 446, fols. 246r–247r (ca. 1750)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Syr. 232, fols. 293r–293v (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 124, fols. 151v–153r (16th cent.)
Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (list of 31 Arabic manuscripts of the Arabic acts collection, pp. 97–101).
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, pp. 258–65).
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Sinaitica. Studia Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay & Sons, 1896 (Arabic text from Sinai arab. 539, pp. 68–69 [Arabic numbering]).
Lewis, Agnes Smith, ed. Acta Mythologica Apostolorum, Transcribed from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine, on Mount Sinai. Horae Semiticae 3. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904. (Arabic text based on unidentified Deir al-Surian MS, pp. 99–100).
3.1.2 Coptic (BHO 1116; CPC 0570; PAThs entry; see links for editions)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M635 (=MICH.CG), fols. 17r–18r (ca. 10th cent.)
MONB.DM, pp. 173–174 (ca. 10th–12th cent.)
MONB.BY, pp. [101]–[102] (ca. 10th cent.)
MONB.GQ, pp. 35–36 (ca. 10th cent.)
Unconfirmed witnesses:
Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 34 (PAThs entry)
3.1.3 Ethiopic (BHO 1115)
London, British Library, Or. 678, fols. 27v–28v (15th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 683, fols. 113r–113v (17th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 685, fols. 28r–30r (18th cent.)
Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Eth. 6, fols. 24v–26r (19th cent.)
Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (list of 31 Arabic manuscripts of the Ethiopic acts collection, pp. 93–97).
Budge, Ernest A. W. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. Vol. 1. London: Henry Frowde, 1899 (Ethiopic text based on British Library, Or. 678 and 683, pp. 70–72).
Pisani, Vitagrazia. “The apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: unknown witnesses from East Tәgray.” Pages 75–93 in Essays in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies. Proceedings of the International Conference Manuscripts and Texts, Languages and Contexts: the Transmission of Knowledge in the Horn of Africa. Hamburg, 17–19 July 2014. Edited by Alessandro Bausi, Alessandro Gori, and Denis Nosnitsin. Supplements to Aethiopica 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015 (descriptions of ten Ethiopic manuscripts cataloged for the Ethio-SPaRe project).
3.1.4 Simon the Zealot in the Copto-Arabic and Ethiopic Synaxaria
The Synaxaria tell a different story of the martyrdom of Simon, here identified as Nathanael of Cana. Two tales are given of his early life, followed by his evangelizing mission in the country of the Zindj and the Bedjas, as well as the Island of Bartanaii. He is opposed by the inhabitants but baptizes many. He is martyred when some gentile opponents hang him on a tree.
Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite: Les de Barmahat, Barmoudah, et Bachons.” Patrologia orientalis 16 (1922): 186–424 (edition and French translation, pp. 384–86).
Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (English translation of the Ethiopian Synaxarion, vol. 3, pp. 890–91).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (martyrdom of Simon the Zealot given on Ginbot 15 but the account is different; see vol. 1, pp. 510–12).
Budge, Ernest A. W. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. Vol. 2 (English translations). London: Henry Frowde, 1901 (English translation of the Ethiopic text, pp. 75–77).
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Sinaitica. Studia Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay & Sons, 1896 (English translation of the Arabic text from Sinai arab. 539, pp. 65–66).
Lewis, Agnes Smith. The Mythological Acts of the Apostles, Translated from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine on Mount Sinai and in the Vatican Library. Horae Semiticae 4. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904 (English translation of the Arabic text from the unidentified Deir al-Surian MS, pp. 118–19).
Malan, Solomon C. The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles, An Apocryphal Book of the Early Eastern Church. London: D. Nutt, 1871 (English translation based on the Ethiopic text from Rylands Eth. 6, pp. 27–29).
3.2.2 Italian
Guidi, Ignazio. “Di alcune Pergamene Saidiche della Collezione Borgiana.” Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei ser. 5, 2 (1893): 513–15 (edition of the shorter text of Coptic MONB.GQ with Italian translation, pp. 513–15).
3.3 General Works
McDowell, Sean. The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus. Abingdon: Ashgate, 2008. Repr. London and New York: Routledge, 2015 (pp. 245–50).
Morard, Françoise. “La légende copte de Simon et Théonoé.” Langues orientales anciennes. Philologie et linguistique 4 (1993): 147–83 (pp. 144–45).
Otero, Aurelio de Santos. “Later Acts of the Apostles.” Pages 426–82 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 2: Writings Related to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. 6th ed. 2 vols. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992 (see pp. 479–80).