Simon the Zealot

"We can say with certainty that one member of the group of twelve chosen disciples belonged to the Zealots—or at least had belonged to them before his calling. In the list of disciples found in chapter six of Luke's Gospel, and in the list in Acts 1, which substantially agrees with Luke, he is named Simon the Zealot. This is the same person who is designated as Simon "ho kananais" in the parallel lists of Mark (3:18) and Matthew (10:4). These words are always mistranslated as "Simon the Canaanite" (that is, from Canaan). Actually, however, kananaios has nothing whatever to do with the land of Canaan. It is simply a transcription of the Aramaic designation for Zealots. Zealot is the Greek word, from zelos, zeal. The Zealots are the zealous. Kananaios comes from the Semitic noun "Kana," zeal. Kenana is the Aramaic word for the same member of the Jewish resistance party."