In , people ask concerning
Jesus, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?" while in they ask, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" The
Catholic Church defined that "brothers of Jesus" are not biological children of
Mary, because of the
dogma of the
perpetual virginity of Mary, by virtue of which it rejects the idea that Simon and any other than Jesus Christ could be a biological son of Mary, suggesting that the so-called
Desposyni were either sons of
Joseph from a previous marriage (in other words,
step-brothers) or else were cousins of Jesus. The
Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Simon may be the same person as
Simeon of Jerusalem or
Simon the Zealot.
Robert Eisenman suggests that he was Simon Cephas (Simon the Rock), known in Greek as
Peter (from
petros "rock"), who led the Jewish Christian community after the death of James in 62 CE. ==References==