Passion of Simon and Jude

Passio Simonis et Iudae (Thaddaei)

Standard abbreviation: Pass. Sim. Jude

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 193; CANT 284

VIAF: 169144782965737622369 (Apostolic Histories)

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Related literature: Passion of James, Passion of Matthew, Golden Legend 159

Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Passion of Simon and Jude.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/passion-of-simon-and-jude/

Created April 2023.

1. SUMMARY

Two versions of Pass. Sim. Jude have been published to date: one that combines the exploits of the two apostles with the Passion of James (Lazius) and one that does not (Nausea, and the French translation by Alibert et al.). The following summary is based on Alibert et al.

The text begins with an introduction to two Persian magicians named Zaroes and Arfaxat. Though they are portrayed as idol worshipers, their beliefs about Christ bear similarities to Manichaeism: they call the Christian God the god of darkness and he is the creator of the human body, whereas the soul contains a particle of another God; they worship the sun and moon as gods and consider water to have a divine essence; and Jesus was not a real man, nor was he born of the Virgin, crucified, resurrected, etc. It is said that these two magicians fled from the face of Matthew in Ethiopia—an allusion to the Passion of Matthew, which seems to be an adaptation of Pass. Sim. Jude.

Simon and Jude arrive in Babylon and meet with Varardach, the general of King Xerxes. The general’s retinue of priests and soothsayers could not consult their demons because they were silenced by the apostles’ presence. Varardach asks the apostles why they are there; they say to rescue the people from the worship of statues. Varardach is about to depart to repel an invasion from India. The apostles use this opportunity to demonstrate their God’s superiority over the demons of the priests. The apostles allow the demons to speak again but only so that the priests can prophesy about the invasion, which they say will not go well for Varardach; Simon and Jude, however, promise that his scouts will return the next day with an Indian peace party. The apostles are proven right and Varardach confiscates the property of the priests and gives it to Simon and Jude, who in turn disburse it to the poor.

Varardach reports all of this to the king, who is attended by Zaroes and Arfaxar. Concerned about the arrival of the apostles, the two magicians offer a display of their power. They summon the lawyers of the court and use their powers to silence them, render them immovable, and then strike them blind. Varardach tells the apostles, and they propose a second contest. The lawyers are summoned and told that if they promise to exchange their worship of idols for God, then the apostles will help them win against the magicians. At first the lawyers are skeptical, because the apostles are clothed in rags; but Simon demonstrates through several analogies that cheap containers can contain treasures. He says also that humans have been led astray by the angel of jealousy to worship created things; it is this angel who is the source of the magicians’ power. The lawyers agree to the apostles’ terms and go into battle blessed by the sign of the cross. When Zaroes and Arfaxar are unable to silence the lawyers, they call forth a multitude of serpents. The apostles are summoned and send the serpents back toward the magicians. The two men are savagely bitten but the apostles save them from death. They allow the magicians to writhe in pain for three days and then heal them. Unrepentant, Zaroes and Arfaxar flee the city.

At the bequest of the king and general, the apostles remain in Babylon where they perform healings and exorcisms and establish a church. Three miracle stories are told: a deacon named Euphrosinus is exonerated from an accusation of fornication made by the daughter of a rich satrap when the apostles make her newborn baby proclaim the deacon’s innocence, Simon heals a friend of the king called Nicaron from an arrow wound, and the apostles tame two wild tigers who escape from a cage.

Simon and Jude announce their plans to leave the city. The people beg them to stay, so they remain another fifteen months, performing more healings and baptizing 60,000 men as well as women and children. They ordain a bishop named Abdias, a disciple of Jesus who had come with them from Judea and then depart.

For the next twelve years, Simon and Jude travel to other cities, preceded by Zaroes and Arfaxar who warn the cities about the apostles and then move on to another city. But the four men meet again in Suanir. At the urging of the magicians, the priests of the city come to the apostles and demand that they sacrifice to the gods of the sun and moon. Simon and Jude have visions of the Lord calling to them, and Simon is told by an angel to choose between killing all of the people or their own martyrdom. Simon chooses martyrdom and calls upon the demon residing in the sun statue to come out and reduce it to pieces; Jude does the same with the moon. Two naked Ethiopians emerge from the statues and run away, screaming. Angered, the priests jump on the apostles and kill them. Suddenly, a great lightning strikes the temple, collapsing its roof, and Zaroes and Arfaxar are burnt to cinders. As for the priests, King Xerxes confiscates their property. He brings the bodies of the apostles back to Babylon and buries them in a great basilica. The day of their death is given as 28 October, though some manuscripts have 1 July.

The text concludes with a statement that Abdias wrote an account in ten books of the apostles’ exploits in Hebrew (though an earlier chapter attributes the text to a disciple named Craton), and this was translated into Greek by Eutrope, and translated into Latin by Africanus. Pass. Sim. Jude is said to be taken from the first and the tenth books.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abdias, Abraham (patriarch), Arfazar, Craton, Euphrosinus, Eutrope, Holy Spirit, Isaac (patriarch), Jacob (patriarch), Jamnes, Jesus Christ, Judas (not Iscariot, apostle), Julius Africanus, Mambres, Matthew (apostle), Moses (patriarch), Nicaron, Paraclete, Sennes, Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Varadach, Xerxes, Zebeus, Zoroes.

Geographical Locations: Babylon, Ethiopia, India, Judea, Medea, Persia, Suania/Suanir.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Use in Popular Culture

Missick, Stephen Andrew, dir. The Spear of Destiny: The Passion of Saint Simon and Saint Jude. 2020. ~ IMDB

2.2 Web Sites and Other Online Resources

“Simeon of Jerusalem.” Wikipedia.

“Simon the Zealot.” Wikipedia.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Latin (BHL 7749–51)

Sources include:

Angers, Bibliothèque municipale, 281, fols. 154^v–167^v (11th cent.)

Dublin, Trinity College, 737 (olim G.04.16), fols. 116^v–126^v (9th and 12th/13th cent.)

Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de médicine, 55, fols. 30^v–35^v (ca. 800)

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 22020, fols. 53^r–59^v (12th cent.)

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 13074, fols. 121^r–131^r; illustrations fols. 120^r, 120^v (1175)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 12604, fols. 69^v–76^r (12th cent.)

Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek Weissenburg, 48, fols. 115^v–124^v (9th cent.)

Würzburg, Universitätsbibliothek, M.p.th.f. 78, fols. 29^r–35r (8th cent.)

Fabricius, Johann Albert. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Hamburg: Schiller, 1719 (a reprint of Lazius’s edition via Lefèvre in vol. 2, pp. 608–36).

Giles, J. A. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti: The Uncanonical Gospels and Other Writings. 2 vols. London: D. Nutt, 1852 (reproduction of Fabricius, vol. 1, pp. 375–93).

Lazius, Wolfgang. Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et apostolorum discipuli de historia certaminis apostolici libri decem. Bale, 1552 (Repr. Paris: Guillard & Belot, 1566; reprint by Jean Lefèvre in 1560) (based on ONB 455 and 534, pp. 71r–85r).

Mombritius, Boninus. Sanctuarium seu Vitae Sanctorum. 2 vols. Milan: Tip. epónima, 1477–1478; repr. Paris: Fonetmoing et Socii, 1910 (Latin text based on unidentified manuscript, pp. 534–39).

Nausea, Friedrich. Anonymi Pilalethi Eusebiani in vitas, miracula passionesque apostolorum rhapsodiae. Cologne: Peter Quentel, 1531 (edition based on unidentified source, pp. 66v–73r).

Philippart, Guy. Les légendiers latins et autres manuscrits hagiographiques. Typologie des sources du Moyen Age occidental 24–25. Turnhout: Brepols, 1977 (list of manuscripts, pp. 13–20).

Piñero, Antonio, and Gonzalo del Cerro. Hechos apócrifos de los Apóstoles. 3 vols. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 2011 (Latin edition based on Fabricius with facing Spanish translation, vol. 3, pp. 730–61).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in English Translation. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993 (summary, pp. 528–30).

James, M. R. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924; corrected edition, 1953 (partial translation, pp. 464–66).

3.2.2 French

L’Histoire apostolique d’Abdias, premier évêque de Babylon institué par les apostres, tournie d’hebreu en grec par Eutrope, puis en latin par Jule Africain . . . et nouvellement traduite en nostre vulgaire. Paris: G. Guillard, 1564. Second ed. Lyon: B. Rigaud, 1582 (translation of the edition by Lazius, pp. 86v–98v).

Alibert, Dominique, Gisèle Besson, Michèle Brossard-Dandré, and Simon Claude Mimouni. “Passion de Simon et Jude.” Pages 839–64 in volume 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 (French translation based on Wolfenbüttel 48, Angers 281, Dublin 737 and Paris lat. 12604).

Migne, Jacques-Paul. Dictionnaire des Apocryphes. 2 vols. 1856. Repr., Turnhout: Brepols, 1989 (translation of the edition by Fabricius, vol. 2, cols. 939–54).

3.3.3 German

Borberg, Karl Friedrich. Bibliothek der neutestamentlichen Apokryphen, gesammelt, übersetzt, und erläutert. Stuttgart: Literatur-Comptoir, 1841 (translation of the edition by Fabricius, vol. 1, pp. 603–29).

3.3.4 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (translation of the edition by Fabricius, vol. 2, pp. 561–71).

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (translation of the edition by Fabricius, vol. 2, pp. 1539–53).

3.2.5 Spanish

3.3 General Works

See also works on the Apostolic Histories collection.

Gutschmid, A. von. “Die Königsnamen in den apokryphen Apostelgeschichten. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des geschichtlichen Romans.” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Neue Folge 19 (1864): 161–83 and 380–401, esp. 380–85.

Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: An Introduction. Translated by Brian McNeil. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008 (p. 246). English trans. of Apokryphe Apostelakten. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2005.

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (see vol. 1, pp. 176–77, and vol. 2.2, pp. 142–78).

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).

Otero, Aurelio de Santos. “Later Acts of Apostles.” Pages 426–82 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 2: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992 (see p. 481–82).