Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

And if Matthew and Luke knew a text that didn't mention these two other people, the identification of Simon as the father of X and Y might be immaterial to understanding the gospel's literary construction.

If Matthew and Luke were really copying canonical Mark why leave out the bit about Alexander and Rufus? I can't get over that. It's tempting to say it was never there in their copies of the ur-text. But you can't say anything definitively of course.

καὶ ἀγγαρεύουσιν παράγοντά τινα Σίμωνα Κυρηναῖον ἐρχόμενον ἀπ' ἀγροῦ, τὸν πατέρα Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ῥούφου , ἵνα ἄρῃ τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ. Mark Ἐξερχόμενοι δὲ εὗρον ἄνθρωπον Κυρηναῖον ὀνόματι Σίμωνα· τοῦτον ἠγγάρευσαν ἵνα ἄρῃ τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ. Matthew Καὶ ὡς ἀπήγαγον αὐτόν, ἐπιλαβόμενοι Σίμωνά τινα Κυρηνα...

I don't think canonical Mark is the ur-gospel. There is a repeated tradition in the Church Fathers that a Hebrew text was the ur-gospel. If that is true then it is possible the orthodox translator either deliberately or accidentally mistranslated Simon's status as a Hebrew (= proselyte) and rendered...

Are you saying that העברִים in Psalm 129.8 [128.8 LXX] should be translated as the Hebrews, not as [the] passersby

עברִים = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrews

I've already said that I think 'passerby' is a deliberate corruption of עברי (so he was originally identified as a 'Hebrew' rather than a passerby). So in the original text he's just 'Simon a Hebrew.' Why Cyrene? The editor of Acts has a pronounced interest in Cyrene for some reason also.

this still leaves Alexander and Rufus utterly unexplained

An attempt to distinguish two Simons (falsely) when there was only one.

My supposition was based on my familiarity with another literal sect - the Samaritans. All that Eznik reports has to have been based on the gospel or the letters of Paul. It's just that simple. I personally can't make any of what Eznik says about the Marcionite 'myth' square with either of these tex...

How do you get around the fact that the scapegoat story in Leviticus and Jesus's crucifixion took place on two different days?

If you dig through the Clementine Literature there is a reference to the story of Miriam being afflicted with leprosy and it is applied to Simon Magus (where Peter is Moses).