Simon of Cyrene

Biblical Account

Simon appears in a single verse in each of three Gospels. After Jesus had stood trial and was being led to Golgotha, the soldiers seized Simon as he was passing by and made him carry Jesus' cross (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26). Matthew and Mark state that he was "compelled" to bear the cross. The Greek word used here refers to the practice of Roman soldiers forcing civilians to carry loads, and the same word appears in Matthew 5:41: "whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile."

Mark introduces Simon as "the father of Alexander and Rufus," and both Mark and Luke note that he was "coming out of the country." Cyrene was a Greek city in North Africa with a Jewish community. For this reason, many regard Simon as a Diaspora Jew who had come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, although the text does not say so directly. Scripture records nothing of his later life.

Significance Within Scripture

Luke writes that Simon was made to carry the cross "that he might bear it after Jesus." This wording is often read in connection with Jesus' call to take up one's cross and follow him (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34–35). According to a widely known interpretation, Mark named Simon's two sons because the first readers of his Gospel knew them.

People from Cyrene appear several times in the book of Acts. They were among the crowd gathered at Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and they were among those who preached the gospel to the Greeks in Antioch (Acts 11:20).

Interpretations and Issues

• Differences among the Gospels: John 19:17 states only that Jesus went forth bearing his cross and does not mention Simon. Many therefore harmonize the accounts by reading that Jesus first carried the cross himself and that Simon took it over along the way.
• Relationship to Rufus: Some identify the "Rufus … and his mother" of Romans 16:13 with the Rufus of Mark's Gospel. Some also identify "Simeon that was called Niger" in Acts 13:1 with Simon of Cyrene. Both identifications are conjectures and cannot be confirmed from the text.
• Substitution theory: Irenaeus reports that the followers of Basilides, a second-century Gnostic teacher, taught that Simon was crucified in Jesus' place. The orthodox church rejected this claim as a view akin to Docetism, which denies the actual death of Jesus.
• Later traditions: Accounts that Simon was converted through this experience or that he carried the gospel to Africa are later traditions not found in the biblical text. In the Stations of the Cross devotion of the Catholic Church, Simon's carrying of Jesus' cross is one of the stations.

In the Korean Church

Simon frequently appears in sermons around Holy Week and Palm Sunday. Sermons commonly emphasize that a cross borne under compulsion became instead a way of following Jesus, and some preachers draw on Mark's mention of Simon's sons to connect the account with the faith of a family. When children are taught the story of Jesus' Passion in Sunday school, Simon is introduced as the man who helped carry the cross.