According to the Gospel of Mark (15:21-22), Matthew (27:32), and Luke (23:26) Simon of Cyrene (שמעון "Hearkening; listening", Standard Hebrew Šimʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Šimʿôn) was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion: The Gospel of Mark is the second in the familiar sequence of the New Testament Gospels, as they were established by Jerome and appear in many but not all early manuscripts of complete gospels, and as they are commonly printed. ... The Gospel of Matthew is one of the four Gospels of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ... Tiberian Hebrew is an oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient forms of Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Bible, that was given written form by masoretic scholars in the Jewish community at Tiberias in the early middle ages, beginning in the 8th century. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. ... A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars intersecting each other at a 90° angle, dividing one or two of the lines in half. ... Jesus, also known as Jesus Christ*, Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus the Nazarene, is the central figure in Christianity. ... Religious depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus typically show him supported by nails through the palms. ...

"And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross." (Matthew 27:32)

"And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross." (Mark 15:21)

(In John Jesus carries the cross himself.)

Because his home town, Cyrene, Libya, was located in northern Africa, a connection arose making Simon of Cyrene the first Black saintly Christian. Tradition states his sons Rufus and Alexander became missionaries. The inclusion of their names in Mark certainly suggests that they were of some standing in an early Christian community. Cyrene, the ancient Greek city (in present-day Libya) was the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region and gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). ...