Is This Simon Of Cyrene's Tomb?

By Nigel Tomes

We know very little about Simon of Cyrene. He makes a fleeting appearance in the gospels, before disappearing into obscurity. As the lynch mob led Jesus outside Jerusalem to be crucified, Matthew tells us, “they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; whom they compelled to carry Jesus’ cross” (27:32). Luke says, Simon was “coming from the country,” when “they placed the cross upon him to carry it behind Jesus” (23:26) to the place called, “The Scull.” Evidently this Simon belonged to the Jewish dispersion; he hailed from Cyrene in N. Africa (today’s Libya). Entering Jerusalem from the surrounding countryside, he was coerced into bearing Jesus’ cross to Golgotha. Having assisted Jesus on the “way of tears” (Via Dolorosa), Simon of Cyrene disappears from the pages of Scripture. No doubt Simon’s brief encounter with Christ, at that crucial juncture, made a lasting impression upon him. Did it cause him to come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Son? Scripture doesn’t give a direct answer.

Did Simon of Cyrene’s two sons become Believers?

But, perhaps we can deduce a little. Mark in his gospel tells his readers that Simon was “the father of Alexander and Rufus,” (15:21) assuming this tidbit of information would place Simon in context and identify witnesses who could verify his gospel account. “The mention of Alexander and Rufus leads many [scholars] to conclude that they were believers in the early church at the time Mark wrote his Gospel,” notes the ESV Study-Bible. This suggests Simon of Cyrene’s two sons became Christian believers. That would justify Mark’s inclusion of their names in his gospel record. If as scholars suggest, Alexander and Rufus became believers, was it due to their father’s witness to his own faith? Scripture is tantalizingly silent.

Did Simon’s wife and son belong to the Church in Rome?

Most commentators think Mark wrote his gospel from Rome, so it’s interesting that Paul ends his letter to the Roman believers by greeting “Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother as well as mine” (Rom. 16:13). We note that Paul writing to Rome and Mark writing from Rome, both mention “Rufus.” Could both be referring to the same person--Rufus, Simon of Cyrene’s son? The ESV notes, “It is not certain that this is the same Rufus… mentioned in Mark 15:21, but it is possible that he is the son of Simon of Cyrene.” If they are indeed the same man, this implies that Simon of Cyrene’s wife and at least one son, Rufus, became Christian believers, meeting and serving with the Church in Rome (Rom. 16:13). If so, then Simon of Cyrene’s encounter with Christ did produce fruit in the form of believers within his own family.

What became of Simon of Cyrene’s son, Alexander?

Beyond mark’s gospel, the New Testament may indicate something about Simon’s wife and his son, Rufus. But Mark mentions “Alexander and Rufus,” two sons of Simon of Cyrene. It seems Mark expected his first readers to be familiar with both sons, which suggests they both belonged to the Christian community. Commentators think Simon’s son, Rufus was in the Church in Rome (along with Rufus’ mother). What became of Alexander, Simon of Cyrene’s other son? Scripture doesn’t tell us; there’s no reason to link other Scripture references to “Alexander” with this family. However, there is some extra-biblical data which is suggestive. It’s a Jerusalem ossuary [“bone box”] from that era with the inscription, “Alexander the son of Simon,” and (perhaps) the Aramaic word, “Cyrenean.”

The “Alexander the son of Simon” Ossuary

In 1941, Israeli archaeologists discovered a tomb in the Kidron valley outside Jerusalem. Pottery dated it to the 1^st century AD. The tomb contained 11 ossuaries bearing 12 names in 15 inscriptions. They were catalogued, stored and sat unnoticed in an Israeli storeroom for the next 60 years. Some of the names on the bone boxes were common in Cyrene. The inscription on one ossuary [#9] says: “Alexander (son of) Simon”. On this ossuary’s lid, there’s an inscription bearing the name “Alexander” in Greek, and then the Hebrew [Aramaic] letters, QRNYT. The meaning of these letters isn’t clear, but it’s possible the inscriber meant to write QRNY –the Hebrew for ‘Cyrenian’—a person from Cyrene.

What’s the Significance?

“If this is true (and it is disputed),” says Dr. Craig A. Evans of Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, “then we have a very interesting constellation that suggests that we may actually have the ossuary of the person [Alexander] mentioned in Mark’s gospel.” [Jesus and Archaeology, J. H. Charlesworth (ed.) p. 339] Prof. Evans notes further, that while “Simon” and “Alexander” were common names in that era, this ossuary “attests the only known instance of ‘Alexander, son of Simon.’ That and the possibility that both father and son are from Cyrene are very suggestive,” he says. Prof. Evans concludes that “the identification of Alexander’s ossuary remains inconclusive, but very suggestive.” (p. 340). Israeli expert, Dr. Tal Ilan considers it “very likely” that this ossuary actually belonged to Alexander, Simon of Cyrene’s son, mentioned in Mark’s gospel (15:21). Tom Powers also deduced that “the chance that the Simon on the ossuary refers to the Simon of Cyrene mentioned in the Gospels seems very likely.” If their judgments are correct this ossuary provides “hard evidence” that Simon of Cyrene really existed and links him to Jerusalem. If so, it also means Alexander, Simon of Cyrene’s son, ended his days near Jerusalem, close to the place his father aided Christ on the Calvary road.