Simeon, brother of the Lord

Saint Simeon the Apostle, or Simon, is mentioned in the New Testament among the "brothers" of the Lord, alongside James, Joses and Jude. Tradition numbers him among the Seventy Apostles. After Saint James he is regarded as the second bishop of Jerusalem. He is commemorated on 27 April.

The Gospels say: "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?" In the Eastern Church the "brothers of the Lord" are regarded as sons of Cleopas, the younger brother of Saint Joseph the Betrothed, and of the Mary mentioned among the myrrhbearing women, or as sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage, which is also supported by the testimony of Blessed Jerome. The Catholic Church, holding to the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God, says they are not Mary's biological sons, but either sons of Joseph by an earlier marriage or cousins of the Lord. Some Protestant interpreters take him as a half-⁠brother of Jesus. Papias of Hierapolis says that Mary, wife of Cleopas or Alphaeus, was the mother of Simon. Saint Dimitry of Rostov writes that some think Simeon the same as Cleopas, mixing father and son, and others say Simeon was Cleopas's companion on the road to Emmaus. He is sometimes identified with Simon the Zealot, one of the Twelve.

According to Eusebius, from the history of Hegesippus, Simeon shepherded his flock for some forty years, until his death. His martyrdom is placed in the year 107, under the emperor Trajan, in the time of the consul Atticus, between 105 and 107. He was the second bishop of Jerusalem.