Saint search

[Olga]

I have an Orthodox friend who has named her new baby Simon, after Simon the Cyrenian who carried Christ's cross for him on the way to the crucifixion. She referred to him as St Simon the Crossbearer, and his feast day being "some time in early December". She would like to find out more about this saint, and an icon if possible. I have trawled through my usual print and online sources (English and Russian/Slavonic) and come up with nothing, not even an entry for him as a saint. Does the Orthodox church recognise him as a saint, or is it only the Western churches? Any help would be appreciated.

[Irene]

Olga, I hope you have had some luck finding this Saint, I can't find him anywhere unless I leave out the Orthodox from the search and then I come up with all different Christian religions mentioning him but of course no icons.

[Marie-Duquette]

Olga and Irene,

In answer to your inquiry about an icon of St. Simon of Cyrene, I have found a web site called:

www.iconarts.com/gallery (http://www.iconarts.com/gallery)

The Iconographer is from the USA and can be reached at Irene@iconarts.com That is if the web site is accessible in Australia. I looked into the web site and found that there was a beautiful selection of icons. The one depicting St. Simon of Cyrene is of course in the scene from the Gospel where Simon carries the Cross for Jesus. It is beautifully done!

Hope this at least helps so that you can see an icon of St. Simon of Cyrene.

As to his life, there are quite a few renditions. You can find these in searching the Yahoo search engine.

In Christ Jesus,

marie_duquette

[Olga]

Thank you, Marie. Yes, I have seen the icon you mentioned, but I noticed that Simon is shown with an inscription of his name, but without a halo. I have yet to find any reference to him as a saint in any of the Orthodox resources I have access to (in various languages), only in RC and other Western sources. It may be safe to assume then that he is not venerated as a saint in the Orthodox church.

[Marie-Duquette]

Dear Olga,
Peace of Christ Jesus be with you this day!

You and your question concerning Simon of Cyrene was on my mind so I checked web sites and found -- stmaryofegypt.net/africa.shtml --

There is an article on Ancient Christianity in Africa on the site; and it does mention the reference to Mark 15:21 in the short clip concerning this Saint.

" ... Symeon of Cyrene (the Canaanite) who was of Cyrene which is now modern-day Libya who helped Christ carry the cross and was a follower and disciple. He was also an Apostle . Both he and his two sons followed Christ. His sons (Alexander and Rufus)turned out to be strong and effective messengers of the Gospel and became leaders in the Church. ... "

This site is very interesting! At least it does recognize Simon of Cyrene. As to his canonization and a date referring to him in the Church calendar, I do not know. But, it seems to me that on "Good Friday" when this Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus Christ to carry his cross to the Golgatha hill, could be a day to remember him as being so closely attatched to the Passion of Christ in His Way of the Cross.

Hope this is a little more information concerning this person: Simon of Cyrene.

May this Nativity Fast be blessed!

marie_duquette