Simon and Jude, Saints and Apostles

(Two of the apostles. Very little is known about them. Simon is known as Simon the Canaanaean and Simon the Zealot. He was probably a member of the political sect known as the Zealots, which was violently opposed to the domination of Palestine by Rome. Tradition claims that he carried the Christian faith to Egypt, Cyrene, Mauritania, Armenia, and Persia, and that he died in Persia by being sawed in half. Jude, also known as Thaddeus and Lebbaeus, was probably the author of the epistle of Jude. By the twentieth century Jude had become popular as the “patron of hopeless causes.” According to tradition, Simon and Jude labored and died together. They are commemorated in the Episcopal calendar of the church year on Oct. 28.