O God, we thank thee for the glorious company of the apostles,
and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray thee
that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we
may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
"In the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon the Zealot (also called Simon the "Cananean," the Aramaic word meaning "Zealot") and by Judas of James, also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. ("Judas" in New Testament contexts corresponds to "Judah" in Old Testament ones. Note that masculine names ending in "-ah" when translated from Hebrew directly to English usually end in "-as" when the translation passes through Greek, since in Greek a terminal "-a" is normally feminine, but a terminal "-as" is normally masculine. Thus we have "Elijah" => "Elias," "Jeremiah" => "Jeremias," etc.)
Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there.
If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together."
And a tip of the hat on this day to two younger members of St. Andrew's Church, brothers Simon and Jude Sweeney!
Bruce Robison
No comments:
Post a Comment