Šimon (Old Norse:Sigmundr) was aVarangian (Viking) whose story is related in theKievanPatericon and his story concerns the creation of theKievan cave monastery, where he is reported to have been its most important donor.
Šimon was the son of Afrikan (ON:Afreki), a king in the land of theVarangians. Afrikan was the brother ofYakun (ON:Hákon) who took part in theBattle of Listven. When Afrikan died Jakun expelled Šimon and his brother Friand (ON:Friandi).[1][2]
Šimon would live inKievan Rus' for the rest of his life, and he first servedYaroslav I the Wise and laterhis son. In 1068, he joined Yaroslav's three sons in theBattle of the Alta River against thePolovtsians.[2][3] It is reported that before the battle, saintAnthony of Kiev, predicted a dire outcome for the battle, but he also predicted that Šimon would be saved through a miracle.[2] Šimon survived the battle, but he was severely wounded. Anthony took care of Šimon and healed his wounds.[3] In recognition, when Anthony founded the cave monastery, Šimon donated a belt and a wreath of gold that his father Afrikan had used to adorn a crucifix.[2] The gifts were worth 50 goldgrivnas. The Varangian was probably one of the first to be buried in the monastery and he was the first one to receive a written remission from the monastery that both he and his descendants were pardoned for all their sins.[3]
His son Georgi also showed affection for the cave monastery and sent gold and silver fromSuzdal to the decoration of the grave of SaintTheodosius of Kiev. When Gregori died, he left a letter to his family asking them to help the monastery financially. Šimon's great-grandchildren were buried in the Dmitri church in Suzdal, which was built by its bishop Jefrem who had been ordained in the cave monastery.[2]
Based onVilhelm Thomsen's identification between the namesAlfrekr andAlrikr, Stender-Petersen connected Afrikan to the Alrekr who appears on the runestonesSö 101 andSö 106 in Sweden.[1]Omeljan Pritsak, however, opposes this identification as he considers Jakun to have been JarlHákon Eiríksson who died in 1029, while Alrekr would not yet have been born.[4]
The first scholar who undertook to identify the people mentioned in the Patericon wasFyodor Braun, and he suggested thatAfrikan was based on an archaic pronunciation of the Old Norse dialect ofSödermanland. The form would have been anoblique case of *afreki, i.e. *afriką (son) < *afrikan. The nameFriand would not have been the name of a person, since the name is otherwise not attested among the Old Norse names, and Braun suggested that it was the appellative form offrjá ("to love"),frjándi, and which meant "nephew" in some Old Norse sources. Likewise, he did not considerŠimon to be derived fromSigmundr becauseši reflected the Södermanland pronunciation ofsi, and thusŠimon referred to a Varangian having the Christian nameSimon. According to Braun, the Patronicon was based on the account of a Varangian who would have reported that "Jakun had expelled his nephew (*frjándi) Simon Afrekąson".[4]
Basing himself on Braun's analysis, Pritsak suggests that Jarl Hákon Eiríksson had a brother named *Afreki who is unattested in Old Norse sources. This brother would have died and then Hákon banished his nephew Simon which may have been due to Afreki having cooperated withOlaf II of Norway. Simon would have been only c. 12 years old.[3]