Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Simeon (1)
Simeon (1), 2nd bp. of Jerusalem, succeeding James, the Lord's brother.
According to the statement of Hegesippus preserved by Eusebius, Simeon was the son
of Clopas "mentioned in Holy Scripture" (John xix. 25), the
brother of Joseph, and therefore, legally, the uncle of our Lord, while Simeon himself—ὁ
ἐκ τοῦ θείου τοῦ Κυρίου—was, legally, his cousin,
ὄντα ἀνεψιὸν τοῦ Κυρίου, and of the royal line
of David (Eus. H. E. iii. ii, 32 ; iv. 22). The language of Hegesippus (H.
E. iv. 82) evidently distinguishes between the relationship of James and Simeon
to our Lord. Dr. Mill, however, follows Burton (H. E. i. 290) in regarding
Simeon as a brother of James and also of Jude, though perhaps by another mother
(Mill, Pantheistic Principles, pp. 234, 253). Such an interpretation of Hegesippus's
language is very unnatural and at variance with the statement of Epiphanius that
Simeon was the cousin—ἀνεψιός—of James the
Just (Epiph. Haer. lxxvii. c. 14, p. 1046; cf. Lightfoot, Galatians,
p. 262). Bp. Lightfoot regards his age as "an exaggeration," and suggests that his
being "a son of Cleopas mentioned in the Evangelical records "requires us to place
his death earlier than the generally received date. According to Hegesippus, Simeon
was unanimously chosen to fill the vacant see of Jerusalem on the violent death
of James the Just, the date usually assigned for which being 62 or 63 (see Josephus,
Ant. xx. 9. 1). Whether the appointment of Simeon immediately succeeded or
was not made till the retirement of the Christian Jews to Pella cannot be determined.
The former seems rather more probable. His retreat at Pella would save him from
the inquisition after descendants of the royal line of David, made by Vespasian,
according to Eusebius (H. E. iii. 12), as well as the later inquiry instituted
by Domitian (ib. 19, 20). He must have returned with the Christians to Jerusalem
when allowed to do so by the Roman authorities. Of his episcopate we know nothing.
He was martyred in the reign of Trajan (ἐπὶ Τραϊανοῦ;
Eus. H. E. iii. 32), but the exact date is uncertain. By a misinterpretation
of the Chronicon of Eusebius, which seemed to assign his martyrdom with that
of Ignatius to the 9th or 10th year of Trajan, Simeon's death has been assigned
to 107 or 108. Bp. Lightfoot has shewn good reason for placing it earlier in Trajan's
reign (Lightfoot, Ignatius, i. 21, 58–60, ii. 442–450). Hegesippus says that
in his 121st year Simeon was accused before Atticus, then proconsul, by certain
Jewish sectaries, first, that being of the line of David, he was a possible claimant
of the throne of his royal ancestor, and secondly that he was a Christian. He was
tortured for many days in succession, and bore his sufferings with a firmness which
astonished all the beholders, especially Atticus himself, who marvelled at such
endurance in one so advanced in age. Finally he was ordered to be crucified (Eus.
H. E. iii. 32).
[E.V.]