Saint Simeon of Jerusalem

When the Jews had massacred, in 62, Saint James the Less, the fir st bishop of Jerusal em, Saint Simeon had the courage to reproach them for this horrible cruelty. He was not unaware of the danger to which he was exposing himself; but he was animated by that spirit of strength which makes one superior to any feeling of fear. Some time later, the Apostles and disciples, having assembled in Jerusalem to give a successor to Saint James, elected Simeon with one voice. It is believed that he had previously assisted his brother in the government of his church.

The Romans, weary of the continual revolts of the Jews, finally resolved to destroy Je rusalem; they therefore set out to execute their design: but God, who wished to save his servants, warned them miraculously to leave a city upon which he was about to unleash his vengeance in the most formidable manner. The Christians, docile to the voice of heaven, departed with their bishop and withdrew to the small town of Pella, situated beyond the Jo rdan. This happened in the year 66 of Jesus Christ and before Vespasian had formed the siege of Jerusalem. The faithful crossed back over the Jordan after the ruin of this unfortunate city and came to dwell in the midst of its debris. The Church was soon seen to flourish there again.

God visibly declared himself its protector, and he glorified it with so many wonders that a great number of Jews embraced Christianity. Things remained in this state until the final years of Hadrian, who had Jerusalem entirely razed.

The joy that Saint Simeon felt in seeing the disciples of Jesus Christ multiply every day was troubled by the birth of two heresies: that of the Nazarenes an d that of the Ebionites . The Naz arenes approached both Jews and Christians on several points, although at heart they detested both. In truth, they regarded Jesus Christ as the greatest of the Prophets; but at the same time, they denied that He was God. They observed both the Sabbath and Sunday, and created a monstrous alloy of the ceremonies of the Old and New Law. To all these errors, the Ebionites added others that were peculiar to them: they taught, for example, that divorce was lawful and that one could indulge in infamous crimes without scruple. The author of this latter sect first dogmatized in the village of Cocabe, beyond the Jordan; he later moved to Asia, and came as far as Rome. The heretics, until then timid, did not dare to spread their errors in public during the episcopate of Saint Simeon, who lived longer than any of the Lord's disciples. But no sooner had God withdrawn him from this world than one saw a frightful multitude of impious doctrines emerge from hell, which openly attacked the purity of the faith.

Providence had allowed our Saint to escape the searches that Vespasian and Domitian had made for all those who were of the race of David: but Trajan, for a de testab le reason of State, persecuted not only the Christians as enemies of his gods, but also all the Jews who descended from the race of David, because he had heard it said that a prince was to be born in this royal family, who would deliver his people from servitude and make himself formidable to the whole earth.

Simeon, aged one hundred and twenty years, was therefore accused and brought before the tribunal of Atticus, a consular personage and lieutenant of the emperor. The accusation was based on two counts: one was his religion, the other his birth. Atticus entered into a conference with Simeon, to persuade him to renounce the faith of Jesus Christ and to obey Caesar; but, seeing that he was working in vain, he had him whipped several times, and exposed him to other cruel torments, which the holy old man suffered with such courage and with such resolution, that the judge and the assistants were surprised to see a body worn by the years resist such atrocious pains. But God, who had given to such a great number of innocent virgins and to little children the strength to endure the rigor of the elements and to despise the pains that the rage of the barbarians invented every day to persecute them; God gave to this venerable old man the courage to suffer constantly and to die finally on a cross like the Savior. His death occurred on February 18, the year of Our Lord 107 or 109, under the empire of Trajan.

It is with h is death that the so-called apostolic times end, that is to say that Saint Simeon is considered the last survivor of those who had had the happiness of seeing Jesus Christ on earth.

God permitted that the denouncers of the disciple of His Son should fall themselves into the nets they had set for him. The Roman judges found or feigned to find that they were also of the royal race: they paid with their heads for the crime of their birth, but without having the consolation of dying for Jesus Christ, like Saint Simeon.

The Greeks honor his memory on April 27, and the Latins on February 18. Some Western churches, those of Brindisi and Bologna in Italy, that of Brussels in Belgium, and that of Torrelaguna near Madrid, are said to possess some of his relics. Blodphere Calixte wrote of his martyrdom, and the Roman Martyrology, along with others, commemorates him.