Simon, called 'the Zealot' (Greek Zelotes) or 'the Cananaean' (Aramaic Qan'ana — 'the Zealous'), is named in all the apostolic lists but given no separate narrative in the Gospels. The title may indicate he had been associated with the militant Zealot party that resisted Roman rule, or simply mean 'zealous for the Law.'
Eusebius and other early sources hold that he preached in Egypt, Cyrene, and finally in Persia with St. Jude. Both apostles were martyred there: Simon, according to the tradition consistently preserved by Western and Eastern sources, by being sawed in two.