Arria and Simeon of Ghergesa

Inhabitants of Gherghesa. Simeon is a violent husband and fraudster. Arria is a woman of the gentile people, who became an Israelite through love.

Jesus has the opportunity to heal Simeon for the first time.

Unfortunately, he does not convert and, following a brawl, finds himself injured again.

"She, you see, is in despair... She has several children and they are still young. The blindness of her husband would mean misery in the house..."

"I healed him once and told him: 'Sin no more.' He sinned even more. Did he not promise to sin no more? Did he not vow to no longer be a usurer and thief if I healed him, and to return the ill-gotten goods to those he could, and when he could not, to use them for the poor?"

"What would you choose," Jesus asks Arria, "if I offered you two things? These: to heal your husband and let him live so he can continue to mock God and accumulate sins on his Soul, or to convert him, forgive him, and let him die?"

Simeon, for his part, recovers:

"To die now, no! Hell!... I stole. I stole the money of the poor! I used lies. I struck my Neighbor and made my own suffer. Oh!... You cast out demons and forgive faults, do not raise your hand to heal me, but to forgive me and deliver me from the demon that holds me..."

Jesus will satisfy him, granting him Peace, but will not heal him, also according to Arria's choice.

His name

Arria: unknown origin Simeon, like Simon (Chimon- Shim'ôn), means "he who hears". Historical reference: the second son of Jacob who was held hostage by his brother Joseph, who became Pharaoh’s steward.

Where is he mentioned in the work?

EMV 159 EMV 458