Simeon Niger

Simon Niger is a person in the Book of Acts in the New Testament. He is mentioned in Acts 13:1 as being one of the "prophets and teachers" in the church of Antioch:

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.^[1]

The nickname Niger is interpreted by some to mean "black", referring to a dark complexion or African descent, since niger is the Latin word for black.^[2]

Some commentators identify Simon as the same person as Simon of Cyrene, and Simon's son Rufus as the same person as Rufus named in Romans 16.

References

1. Acts 13:1
2. Kistemaker, Simon J. (1990). Acts. Baker Book House. p. 454.