Simon Niger is a person in the

Book of Acts The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. He is mentioned in Acts 13:1 as being one of the "prophets and teachers" in the

church of Antioch The Church of Antioch (, ; ) was the first of the five major churches of what later became the pentarchy in Christianity, with its primary seat in the ancient Greek city of Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey). The earliest record of the ch ...

: The nickname ''Niger'' is interpreted by some to mean "black", referring to a dark complexion or African descent, since ''niger'' is the Latin word for ''black''. Some commentators identify Simon as the same person as

Simon of Cyrene Simon of Cyrene (, Standard Hebrew ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian Hebrew ''Šimʿôn''; , ''Simōn Kyrēnaios'') was the man compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three ...

, and Simon's son Rufus as the same person as Rufus named in Romans 16.

References

{{Acts of the Apostles Christian saints from the New Testament People in Acts of the Apostles Prophets of the New Testament