Simon Niger is a person in the

Book of Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

. He is mentioned in

Acts 13 Acts 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus and Pisidia. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early ...

:1 as being one of the "prophets and teachers" in the

church of Antioch The Church of Antioch ( ar, كنيسة أنطاكية, Romanization: kánīsa ʾanṭākiya, IPA: a.niː.sa ʔan.tˤaː.ki.ja was the first of the five major churches of the early pentarchy in Christianity, with its primary seat in the ancient ...

: 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