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Saint Simon the Zealot
One of the Twelve; not Simon Peter
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Life and witness
Matthew 10:4 and Mark 3:18 call this apostle the Canaanean, while Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 use Zealot. These designations distinguish him from Simon Peter. The New Testament supplies little individual biographical detail and does not explicitly describe membership in a particular political organization.
Historical setting
Matthew 10:4 and Mark 3:18 call this apostle the Canaanean, while Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 use Zealot. These designations distinguish him from Simon Peter. The New Testament supplies little individual biographical detail and does not explicitly describe membership in a particular political organization.
Legacy and remembrance
Later accounts of Simon’s preaching and martyrdom differ in the places and circumstances they describe. This profile does not combine them into a single certain itinerary or treat the traditional association with the wedding at Cana as a statement made by John’s Gospel. His selected fixed feast is May 10.
More about the life
The individual church Life preserves the tradition that Simon was the bridegroom at Cana and later preached across widely separated regions. John’s Gospel does not name that bridegroom, so the identification remains a church tradition rather than a fact stated by the evangelist. The same source cautions that this Simon is distinct from Peter and from the relative of the Lord who became bishop of Jerusalem. Preserving those distinctions is more useful than filling the sparse record with a single confident but unsupported life story.
Quotes
A sourced selection, not a popularity ranking. Quote wording stays in the cited language; context notes are editorial.
No quotations have been approved for this collection yet. This does not mean that no authentic words survive. See the readings and sources below.
Readings
Selected reading
Acts 1:12-14 (the apostles gather in Jerusalem)
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
Editorial context
After the Ascension the apostles return to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and gather in the upper room in prayer, Simon Zelotes named among them. Acts gives the list of the Eleven, the scriptural record of his place.
View source text
Source text and edition
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
King James Version, the English translation cited here. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations through this English text, not direct translations from the Greek.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%201&version=KJV
Words recorded in the sources
No words are reliably recorded for this saint in the sources used here, so only the selected reading is published.
Translations and context are AI-assisted and editorially reviewed, not independently certified by a scholar. Compare the displayed source text; short selections are not complete works.
Writings and works
Checked against Eastern Orthodox sources. Written works, recorded teaching, and works about the saint are distinguished.
No securely attributed writing is listed in the sources reviewed for this profile. This is not proof that the saint never wrote; the Church account below is a work about the saint, not by the saint.
Church life and commemoration
Work about the saint
Attribution source: Eastern Orthodox Church account
External sources may be in another language. Modern editions and translations can be copyrighted; full books are not copied here.
Miracles and testimony
These summaries distinguish Scripture, hagiographical accounts and later testimony. A source establishes that an event was reported, not independent proof of its supernatural cause. Miracles are attributed to God, not autonomous powers of saints. Reports of healing are not medical advice or a promise of recovery.
Scriptural account
Acts 5:12–16
Acts reports signs and healings through the apostles collectively. This passage does not identify which individual apostle performed each event; it is not evidence for a separate personal miracle attributed to this apostle.
Read the sourceResearch and reading notes
These are original editorial biographies, not copied source translations. Scripture, historical writing, and hagiographical tradition are distinguished in the text. This page is a study introduction, not an exhaustive critical edition or a personal spiritual rule.
The saints listed here are commemorated by Eastern Orthodox churches. These summaries and translations are independent editorial work, not official Church publications or Church-approved translations.
Church sources
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/06/30/101711-synaxis-of-the-holy-glorious-and-all-praised-twelve-apostles
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/05/10/101337-apostle-simon-the-zealot