Saint Symeon the Martyr, Bishop of Jerusalem

St. Symeon the Brother of our Lord (Feast Day - April 27)

According to Eusebius (Church History, Book III, ch. 11), Saint Symeon is said to have been the son of Cleopas, otherwise called Alpheus, who was father also of Saint James the Lesser, of Saint Jude the Apostle, and of another son named Joseph. Alpheus, according to tradition, was Saint Joseph’s brother; thus Saint Symeon was the nephew of Saint Joseph and the cousin of our Savior.

However, Symeon is sometimes identified with Symeon, the "brother of the Lord", who is mentioned in passing in the Bible (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3) (although Aramaic had no term for "cousin") and pointing to Hegesippus referring to him as the "second cousin" as bishop of Jerusalem. James the Brother of our Lord was the first bishop of Jerusalem. Other exegetes consider the brothers to be actual brothers and Hegesippus' wording as subsuming both James and Symeon under a more general term.

We cannot doubt but that he was an early follower of Christ; tradition assigns the family’s residence to Nazareth. He certainly received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, with the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles. When the Jews massacred Saint James the Brother of our Lord, his brother Symeon reproached them for their atrocious cruelty. After this first bishop of Jerusalem had been put to death in the year 62, that is, twenty-nine years after Our Savior’s Resurrection, the Apostles and disciples met at Jerusalem to appoint a successor, and unanimously chose Saint Symeon, who had probably already assisted his brother in the government of that Church.

In the year 66 or 67, during which Saints Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome, civil war broke out in Judea as a result of the hostility of the Jews against the Romans and their seditions. The Christians of Jerusalem were warned by God of the impending destruction of that city. With Saint Symeon at their head, they therefore left it in that year and retired beyond the Jordan to a small city called Pella, before Vespasian, Nero’s General, later Roman Emperor, entered Judea. After the taking and burning of Jerusalem they returned there once more, still under the leadership of Saint Symeon, and settled amid its ruins.

The Jerusalem church flourished again for a few years until razed by Adrian, and multitudes of Jews were converted by the great number of prodigies and miracles wrought in its midst. The emperors Vespasian and Domitian had commanded all to be put to death who were of the race of David; but Saint Symeon escaped their searches. When Trajan renewed the same decree, however, certain heretics and Jews accused the Saint before the Roman governor in Palestine, as being both of the race of David and a Christian.

The holy bishop was condemned to be crucified. He died in the year 107, after having undergone during several days the usual tortures, though he was one hundred and twenty years old. He suffered these torments with so much patience that he won universal admiration. He had governed the Church of Jerusalem for about forty-three years.

HYMN OF PRAISE: THE HOLY APOSTLE SYMEON

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Symeon, glistening with youth and strength,
When he, the good Teacher approached
Saw not a relative, known to him according to the flesh
But, the unknown God in bodily form;
And the entire world became dark to him from this great light,
When he came to himself, with the world He parted
And as a powerful eagle in lofty flight
Toward heaven and the heavenly world, he raises his spirit.
He, through Christ, recognized the goodness of God,
And immortal life and immortal beauty
Yet through Christ, True Man he recognized,
That is why he scorns glory and the honor of this age;
As a honey bee, he devoted himself to labor,
Not grieving over youth, not grieving over the body,
But, to the end to fulfill the law of Christ
And to become worthy of Paradise divine.
And crucified on the Cross, the elder centenarian,
Did not feel the deadly sting,
For with the spirit, long ago he resurrected,
Now waits with the body to resurrect gloriously.

Apolytikion in the First Tone
We sacredly acclaim thee as Jesus Christ's kinsman, and as His steadfast Martyr, O all-lauded Hierarch. For bravely hast thou destroyed all deception and kept the faith. Hence, O Symeon, we keep thy holy remembrance on this festive day; and by thy prayers, we are granted the pardon of grievous sins.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Since the church hath Symeon, the God-proclaimer, as a great and shining star, she is now guided by his light as she doth cry out in joy today: Rejoice, O ven'rable summit of martyred Saints.

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