One of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ was named Simon Cananite. He was the son of the first marriage of Joseph, the spouse of Mary, who was the half-brother of Jesus. The nickname Kananit from Aramaic translates as "zealot". The Apostle Luke in his writings calls the Apostle Simon not Cananite, but in Greek - Zealot, which means the same thing.
The first miracle of Jesus Christ
The Gospel of John tells us that during the marriage ceremony of his half-brother Simon, Jesus Christ performed his first miracle, namely, he made water into wine. Seeing this, the newly made bridegroom believed in his brother Jesus Christ and became his zealous follower and disciple (apostle). In the Christian faith, Simon Zilot is considered the patron saint of newlyweds and matrimony. For 2,000 years, during the Christian wedding ceremony, the priest recites lines from the Gospel that tell of God's creation of this miracle.
Traveling around the world
According to biblical writings, after the Savior ascended into heaven, the apostle Simon Cananit, like all the disciples of Christ, received a divine gift that came upon him in the form of a fiery tongue. Since then, he began to preach the teachings of his brother Jesus Christ in various countries: in Judea, Edessa, Armenia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Britain, Spain and others. This can be learned from the ancient traditions of these peoples.
The message of the resurrection of Christ reaches the Black Sea coast
20 years after the resurrection of Christ, three of his apostles - Andrew the First-Called, Matthew and Simon Zilot - went to the lands of Iver and then to the mountains of present-day Ossetia and Abkhazia. In the city of Sevast (Sukhumi), their paths diverged. The apostle Simon Zilot settled in a cave located in a deep gorge of a mountain river, where he descended with a rope, and Andrei went further along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Each of them preached the teachings of Christ, spoke about his life, about miracles performed, about martyrdom and resurrection, and sought to convert the local inhabitants to Christianity.
New Athos
The area in which Simon Zilot lived in those days was in the vicinity of the modern resort of New Athos. Here, the apostle by the power granted to him by heaven worked miracles and signs and thanks to this he could find followers and convert them to Christianity. In Abkhazia in those distant times, a pagan rite operated, according to which not only animals, but also innocent babies were brought to the sacrificial altar. Cannibalism was also common among locals. Through the efforts of the apostle Simon, the locals realized how inhuman, cruel and savage these ancient customs were, and soon abandoned them. Simon Kananit also practiced healing and healed the sick with the power of his prayer and simple touches. This, like nothing else, instilled the faith of the local population in him and his teachings. As a result of this, more and more pagans asked Zealot to baptize them and accepted the Christian faith.
Persecution and Martyrdom
Georgian king Aderky, an ardent supporter of pagan faith, began persecution against the apostle and his followers. As a result of this, Simon Zealot was caught and after much torture he was brutally killed. Some testimonies mention that he was crucified on the cross, in others - they sawed him alive with a saw. His lifeless body was buried by his students near the cave in which he spent the last years of his life. After that, many needy, sick and destitute came to his grave to pray for help and salvation, and the number of believers in Christ grew every day.
Temple dedicated to the Apostle Simon of Canaan
More than 800 years later, Christian pilgrims came to the tomb of the apostle from the Greek city of Athos. They erected a white temple of local calcareous rocks near the Zilot’s grave, and the nearby settlement has since become known as New Athos. In the 11-12th centuries, Abkhazia became a Christian state. Since then, monasteries, temples and churches began to be erected throughout Abkhazia. Later it was attacked by the Arabs: most Christian churches, including Simono-Kananitsky, were destroyed, and the people, under the coercion of the Arab invaders, converted to Islam.
In the 19th century, after the entry of Abkhazia into the Russian Empire, Christianity again spread in these places and this name - Simon Zilot, began to be mentioned more and more often. The temple, once dedicated to him, was rebuilt, and the construction of the New Athos Simon-Kananitsky monastery began nearby, which turned into a large spiritual and educational Orthodox center on the entire Caucasian coast of the Black Sea. The eponymous cathedral, which is located in the center of the monastery complex, is a wonderful example of Orthodox architecture of the late 19th century. Its inner walls are painted with beautiful icons by skilled craftsmen, and the musical chimes of the bell tower were donated to the cathedral by the Russian emperor Alexander the Third.
Conclusion
Today this place, located near the city of New Athos in Abkhazia, is one of the main attractions on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. This spiritual and historical complex includes a monastery, a temple and a cave (grotto of the apostle Simon), in which Simon Zilot, one of the first disciples of Jesus Christ, lived before the martyrdom was accepted. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come for blessing and in the hope of recovery to his grave.