Simeon (Jerusalem)

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Simeon († 107 in or near Jerusalem ) also Simeon bar Cleophas to the Aramaic "Qlopha (קלופא)" was the second bishop of Jerusalem and a martyr and saint .

identity

Eusebius of Caesarea reports in his church history that Simeon was a 120 year old man during his martyrdom, which is dated to the year 107, so that he was 13 BC. Would be born. The exact identity of Simeon was repeatedly controversial among church historians. Hegesippus , who lived in the 2nd century, calls him a son of Clopas , Simeon bar Cleophas (שמעון בר קלופא) who was a brother of the biblical Joseph . That would make Simeon a cousin of Jesus. However, Simeon was also identified with the “gentleman brother” Simon from Mk 6.3  EU . In any case, his relationship to Jesus may have played a role when a successor was sought after the stoning of James the Just (around 62), who headed the Jerusalem early community and was himself referred to as "the Lord's brother". Simeon was able to prevail against a Thebutis .

Episcopate and martyrdom

The Acts concerned for the period after the Council of Jerusalem , especially with the missionary journeys of Paul , so about the conditions in the out of her little Jerusalem community is evident, but probably still a leading position enjoyed. So Paul has a collection collected for the Christians in Jerusalem. At the same time, however, the differences between the “Judaist” Jewish Christians , who also included James and Simeon, and the Hellenists , who represented a criticism of the temple and enforced the approval of the Christian mission to the Gentiles at the apostolic council, became increasingly clear.

With the start of the Jewish War , the Jerusalem community was forced to leave their hometown and fled to Pella (community development ). She returned after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 ( Conquest of Jerusalem (70 AD) ). In the meantime, however, the mission within the Roman Empire kept creating new churches, so that the Jerusalem church was increasingly pushed into the background. With the execution of Simeon in 107, which took place under Emperor Trajan and on the orders of the proconsul Atticus, the community was weakened again, his successor was Justus I , 'Ιούστος . He was followed by Zacchaeus around the year AD 111 .

Another 30 years later, the Jerusalem community was practically completely dissolved in connection with the Bar Kochba uprising (132-135) and it was only under Narcissus around 200 that the city's Christian community began to work again.

Commemoration

Simeon is venerated as a saint, his feast day is February 18 in the Catholic Church and April 27 in the Greek Orthodox Church.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reza Aslan: Zealot. Jesus of Nazareth and his time. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2013, ISBN 978-3-498-00083-7 , p. 264
personal data
SURNAME Simeon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Jerusalem, saint and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 107
Place of death near Jerusalem