Some Bible translations preserve Jerome’s mistake out of respect for tradition, calling Simon “the Cananite” or “the Cananaean” in Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18. This mistake led to the idea that Simon was present at the wedding in Cana in John 2, where Jesus performed his first miracle and turned water into wine, and that he was the same person as Simon, the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55). They assumed he was from Cana-a town within Galilee-or possibly Canaan, an ancient region in the near east which was frequently mentioned in the Bible. Simon is mentioned occasionally in early church writings, but centuries after the gospels were written, Saint Jerome and others mistranslated Simon’s title, believing that Matthew and Mark referred to him as Simon the Cananite or Simon the Cananaean. Or even zealous for Jesus and his teachings. Or he may have simply been zealous for the Mosaic Law. He may have belonged to a Jewish sect known as the Zealots, who were bent on revolution and looking for a Messiah to violently overthrow Rome. Even his moniker, “the Zealot” is ambiguous enough that we can’t be sure what it means-though there are several strong possibilities. We know almost nothing about Simon the Zealot. He was one of the 12 main disciples of Jesus Christ, but he plays no particular role in the gospels and is only mentioned by name in lists of the apostles (Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:1-13). Simon the Zealot is one of the most obscure apostles.

Zealot life and times of jesus