Simon of Cyrene was the man compelled by the Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 to carry the cross

Cross

A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...

 of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

, according to all three Synoptic Gospels

Synoptic Gospels

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes exactly the same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be...

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross

And they compelled one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

By contrast, the Gospel of John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

does not mention Simon, saying only that Jesus carried the cross himself, or carried his own cross . This may mean that Jesus received no assistance on the journey to Calvary; or it may be that John wished to emphasise that Jesus took the load of the cross and therefore of the sins of mankind upon himself.

Because his home town, Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene, Libya

Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

, was located in northern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, a connection arose making Simon of Cyrene the first African saintly Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

. Cyrene was a Jewish community where 100,000 Judean

Kingdom of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....

 Jews had settled during the reign of Ptolemy Soter (323-285 BC). They had a synagogue in Jerusalem, where many went for annual feasts. Tradition states his sons Rufus and Alexander became missionaries

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

; the inclusion of their names in Mark suggests that they were of some standing in the early Christian community at Rome. It has even been suggested that the Rufus mentioned by Paul in Romans

Epistle to the Romans

The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

 16:13 is the son of Simon of Cyrene. Some also link Simon himself with the "men of Cyrene" who preached the Gospel to the Greeks in Acts

Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

 11:20. On the other hand, Simon's name does not prove he was Jewish, and Alexander and Rufus were both common names and may have referred to others.

Simon's act of carrying the cross for Jesus is the fifth or seventh of the Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

. Some analyze the passage that Simon was chosen because he may have shown sympathy with Jesus, but others point out that the text itself says nothing, that he had no choice, and there is no basis to consider the carrying of the cross an act of sympathetic generosity. The Passion of the Christ movie portrays him as a Jew being forced by the Romans to carry the cross, and at first he is unwilling, but as the journey to Mount Calvary continues he shows compassion to Jesus and helps him make it to the top.

According to some Gnostic

Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...

 traditions, Simon of Cyrene, by mistaken identity, suffered the events leading up to the crucifixion, and died on the cross instead of Jesus. This is the story presented in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Second Treatise of the Great Seth is an apocryphal Gnostic writing discovered in the Codex VII of the Nag Hammadi Codices and dates to around the third century. The author is unknown and the Seth referenced in the title appears nowhere in the text. Instead Seth is thought to reference the third...

, although it is unclear whether Simon or another actually died on the cross. This is part of a belief held by some Gnostics that Jesus was not of flesh, but only took on the appearance of flesh (see also Basilides

Basilides

Basilides was an early Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt who taught from 117–138 AD, notes that to prove that the heretical sects were "later than the catholic Church," Clement of Alexandria assigns Christ's own teaching to the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius; that of the apostles,...

 and Irenaeus

Irenaeus

Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...

).

A burial cave in Kidron Valley

Kidron Valley

The Kidron Valley is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem which features significantly in the Bible...

 discovered in 1941, belonging to Cyrenian Jews and dating before AD 70, was found to have an ossuary inscribed twice in Greek "Alexander Son of Simon." It cannot, however, be certain that this refers to the same person.

The Cyrenian or Simon movement, centered in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, takes its name from Simon of Cyrene. It has as its guiding principle 'sharing the burden' which it uses to explain its approach to providing services to homeless and other disadvantaged groups in society, often using volunteers.

Characters playing Simon of Cyrene appear in the silent The King of Kings (1927, played by William Boyd

William Boyd (actor)

William Lawrence Boyd was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.-Biography:...

) King of Kings (1961, played by Rafael Luis Calvo) The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...

(1965, played by Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...

) and The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

(2004, played by Jarreth J. Merz). Also there is a play about Simon by the poet Ridgely Torrence

Ridgely Torrence

Frederic Ridgely Torrence was an American poet, and editor.-Life:Son of Findley David Torrence and Mary Ridgely Torrence.He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Princeton University....

 by the name of Simon the Cyrenian. Among the actors performing Simon of Cyrene in productions of this play is Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

 (in a 1920 YWCA production directed by Bob Cole's

Bob Cole (composer)

Robert Allen "Bob" Cole was an American composer, actor, playwright, and stage producer and director.In collaboration with Billy Johnson, he wrote and produced A Trip to Coontown , the first musical entirely created and owned by black showmen. The popular song La Hoola Boola was also a result of...

 sister Dora). Christian singer Ray Boltz

Ray Boltz

Ray Boltz is a singer songwriter who first came to wide notice in contemporary Christian music, many of his songs tell stories of faith and inspiration. He was raised by his parents William and Ruth Boltz, and was married to his wife Carol Boltz for over 30 years prior to coming out as gay in 2008...

's song "Watch the Lamb" is about Simon of Cyrene's role in Christ's crucifixion.