Forgotten Connections to the Shroud
Both, in their own spiritual way, have a connection to the Shroud.
Both share the same feast day, February 18.
Today, we are just going to write about the first one chronologically. This Saint is Simeon — not the prophet mentioned in Luke 2:25; but a different early believer.
Simeon is actually one of the so-called “brothers” of the Lord called out in the Gospels of Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.
Only “Simeon” is called “Simon” in those verses.
Later, to distinguish him from two Apostles, the Rock known as Simon Peter, and Simon the Zealot, the early Christians will refer to this Simon as “Simeon.”
Simon is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Simeon.
While Simeon/Simon was a relative of Jesus, his mother was not the Mary who gave birth to our Lord, but a different Mary mentioned in the Bible.
Simeon was actually the brother of James, Joseph and Thaddeus (Matthew 13:55).
All four were sons of Cleophas, the brother of St. Joseph, Jesus’ foster father.
When Cleophas died, as tradition held in 1st-century Israel, his widow, Mary of Cleophas (also known in other languages as Alpheus), took her children to live with Cleophas’ brother, St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary and Jesus in their home in Nazareth.
These three boys, who grew up with our Lord at early ages, thus became known as the “brothers” of the Lord.
Sorry, biblical idiot protest-ants (BIPs), but that’s the Truth!
Indeed, Mary of Cleophas, who stands with our great Queen at the Foot of the Cross on that tragic but Redemptive day, becomes known as the “sister” of the Blessed Virgin, when, in reality, Mary of Cleophas is the sister-in-law of Jesus’ Mother.
This, alone, is the type of proof why the BIPs are fools when reading the Scriptures. The main reason is that they do not take into account history and tradition. If it is not written in the Bible for them, they seem to think it has no bearing on Truth.
Surprise!
Mary of Cleophas, the mother of Jesus' so-called brothers, is known as the “sister” of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary in the Bible, when she is her sister-in-law! How many sane parents, do you know, give their daughters the same name?
Just as the word sister does not literally mean what we think it means, the same is true for the word brothers.
Simeon, the “brother of the Lord” (his cousin, of course!), will take up an important role after his blood brother James the Less (later known as James the Just) is martyred as the first bishop of Jerusalem. Simeon becomes the City of Peace’s 2nd bishop.
After being supernaturally warned by God in 66 A.D. that the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, Simeon (which means “to hear” in Hebrew) followed the Lord’s instructions and led a group of early Christians to the city of Pella.
This will not be the first time the Lord will ensure his 1st cousin survives death to keep the early Church alive. Over the years, Simeon escaped death several times when the Romans decreed that all those of Hebrew origin were to be executed.
Martyrdom finally came to our Lord’s cousin after he was more than 100 years old. Like Jesus, Simeon was tortured and crucified by the Romans during the persecution of Christians under the reign of the evil emperor Trajan on February 18, 107 A.D.
What is Simeon’s connection to the Shroud?
It is a bloodline connection.
For it is his brother, the Apostle Jude Thaddeus, who is given the Lord’s burial cloth. You see, Jesus likes to keep things “all in the family.”
Jude Thaddeus, Simeon’s brother, is the Apostle who takes the cloth out of Jerusalem during the time that their brother James the Less is bishop of the city.
Jude Thaddeus, whose real name is Judas, but is called Thaddeus, which means courageous one in Hebrew to distinguish him from the traitor, will first evangelize Northern Africa (Mauritania) with the Shroud.
After returning to Jerusalem for the first council of Church leaders around 50 A.D., the Lord will inspire his cousin Jude to take the cloth to fulfill Jesus’ earthly vow, as recorded by the first Church historian, Bishop Eusebius, to heal the king of Edessa, Turkey, known as Agbar the Black.
Simeon’s brother Jude will, again, under Divine Inspiration entrust the cloth to this king, Agbar V. Why? Because the Lord knew that soon Jude, with the Apostle Simon the Zealot (not to be confused with Simeon/Simon), were to become martyrs for the faith in Persia.
As apparent from today’s headlines, the “prince of Persia” does not like those who preach Truth, whether Old or New Covenant, and stirs up the people of the area to kill those who are the true messengers of God.
This was so even for the Lord's Apostles.
But as God has proven through the numerous miracles of the Bible and the proof of His Resurrection on the Shroud, we, as believers, do not have to “be afraid of those who kill the body,” only the Lord, who “has the power to cast into hell”
Luke 12:4-5.
© 2003 Angus Dei Presents!
the names change, but the people remain the same.
Isn't that so even today?
How many of us received new and different names as we got older, whether through Confirmation, marriage, death of a loved one (junior becomes senior), or any other various means, like nicknames
and titles.
Our own names, which we are so familiar with, can become unfamiliar to us when they are written in another language.
The same was true for the people of Jesus' time. And the message is simple, especially for those who literally interpret the Scripture to attack Mary's virginity: don't play name games with the Word!
He knows better than you!
the king of Babylon,
of whom you are
greatly afraid:
fear not,
saith the Lord:
for I Am with you,
to save you,
and to deliver
you from his hand.'
Jeremias 42:11
