By Fr. George Dorbarakis
1. This is Simon, who was also called Nathanael and who served as the bridegroom at the wedding to which Christ was invited with His disciples in Cana, where He also changed the water into wine. Therefore the bridegroom, after abandoning the wedding and the wine, followed the Friend and Wonderworker and Bridegroom-Leader, and he was present with the Apostles in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues. And after being filled with this Spirit and traveling through almost the whole earth, he set ablaze all the deceit of polytheism. He went throughout all Mauritania and Africa and preached Christ. Afterwards he arrived in Britain, and after enlightening many with the word of the gospel, he was crucified by the unbelievers, and reaching the end of his life he was buried there. And because he was possessed by burning zeal for the almighty God, he received as his surname the manner of his life.”
2. The poet of the Canon of the holy and glorious Apostle Simon the Zealot is once again Saint Theophanes, disciple of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer. What is striking in the Canon of Theophanes is that there is absolutely no reference to the incident at Cana, nor therefore to the fact that Saint Simon was the bridegroom at the wedding. The Hymnographer focuses his attention exclusively and solely on the fact that Simon was deemed worthy by the Lord to be called as His disciple, to become His follower for three years, to become a partaker of the fiery tongues of Pentecost, and to labor as an apostle carrying the flame of the faith to various parts of the world. Whatever is usually hymnographically proclaimed concerning the other apostles, whose uniqueness in evangelizing mankind is emphasized, the same is also proclaimed concerning today’s apostle. Saint Simon, that is, was shown to be a faithful mediator between God and men (“Simon, all-blessed one, you have been shown to be a faithful mediator between God and men” - Aposticha of Vespers). “You traversed creation like a high-flying eagle, O most sacred Simon, disciple of the Savior and Apostle, and having burned up all the delusion of idols like brushwood with your fiery-speaking doctrines, you led the nations from the abyss of ignorance to divine knowledge” (Doxastikon of Vespers).
This great activity of his is justified, as we said, by the fact that he was called by Christ to become His disciple, which means that he was initiated into the divine mystery of the incarnation of God by the Savior Himself, receiving His heavenly radiance (“You were initiated into the divine mystery of the incarnation, O divinely-inspired Apostle Simon, having received from the Savior Himself His radiance beyond this world” - Ode 3), that he continually accompanied Christ as His companion (“accompanying the Word and becoming His companion” - Ode 7), and of course that he too eagerly received, while sitting in the upper room in Jerusalem after the Ascension of the Lord, the Spirit of God appearing as a tongue of fire (“With fire, O all-blessed one, you eagerly received the visible tongue of the Spirit while seated in the upper room” - Ode 5). Therefore we glorify his memory as a day of salvation (“Let us all now praise the memory of the Apostle as a day of salvation” - Oikos of the Kontakion).
What Saint Theophanes likewise emphasizes over and over again, wishing to show Saint Simon’s total dedication to Christ, is his divine zeal. Many of his troparia are in fact devoted to explaining his surname “the Zealot.” Simon the Zealot, because: he showed great zeal for the almighty God, proving that his life interpreted his surname; because: he was zealous for Christ’s Passion, His sacrifice on the Cross; because: he showed zeal for the pure and eternal life. “Having been called by the name of zeal, O Simon most admirable, you zealously burned for God the Almighty, and He revealed you full of divine wonders. For possessing extraordinary zeal, O blessed one, you were fittingly called Zealot, and your calling agreed with your manner of life” (Doxastikon of Vespers). “It seems, O Christ, that Simon says this to You: Zealous for Your Passion, I endure the suffering of the Cross” (Verses of the Synaxarion). “O Simon the Zealot for the undefiled life, put to death our living sin by the life-giving power of the Life-Giver, whose energy you received” (Ode 4).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.