Simon of Cyrene

Simon of Cyrene (, Standard Hebrew Šimʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Šimʿôn; , Simōn Kyrēnaios; ) was the man compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three Synoptic Gospels:And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. He was also the father of the disciples Rufus and Alexander. Simon is not mentioned in the Gospel of John. Instead, according to John 19:17 Jesus carried the cross by himself. Cyrene was a Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica, in eastern Libya, in northern Africa. It had a Jewish community, where 100,000 Judean Jews had been forced to settle during the reign of Ptolemy Soter (323–285 BC), and was an early center of Christianity. The Cyrenian Jews had a synagogue in Jerusalem, where many went for annual feasts. Simon's act of carrying the cross, patibulum (crossbeam in Latin), for Jesus is the fifth or seventh of the Stations of the Cross. Some interpret the passage as indicating that Simon was chosen because he may have shown sympathy with Jesus. Others point out that the text itself says nothing, that he had no choice, and that there is no basis to consider the carrying of the cross an act of sympathetic generosity. Mark 15:21 identifies Simon as "the father of Alexander and Rufus". Tradition states that they became missionaries; the inclusion of their names may suggest that they were of some standing in the Early Christian community at Rome. It has also been suggested that the Rufus (in Greek: Ῥοῦφον or Rhouphon) mentioned by Paul in Romans is the son of Simon of Cyrene. Some also link Simon himself with the "men of Cyrene" who preached the Gospel to the Greeks in Acts . On the other hand, Simon's name alone does not prove he was Jewish, and Alexander and Rufus were both common names and may have referred to others. A burial cave in the Kidron Valley discovered in 1941 by E. L. Sukenik, belonging to Cyrenian Jews and dating before AD 70, was found to have an ossuary inscribed twice in Greek "Alexander son of Simon".