Simon of Cyrene

I am a Berber.
Of Muslim background, I met Jesus thirty-seven years ago. I therefore asked myself some questions about the Christian history of North Africa. Gratuated in Documentarian Sciences, a journalist by profession, formerly a teacher at the University of Algiers, I have long researched the biblical history of my people. This research led to the publication of a book in 2018 entitled "The Berbers in the Bible".

My research has also led me to discover that North Africa has played an important role in the evangelization of the West. In Acts 11, it is said that it was brothers from Cyrene (North Africa) and Cyprus who evangelized Antioch. And this is the place where for the first time the disciples were called "Christians". It is these same Berbers who evangelized Egypt, Spain, Catalonia and a part of France.

Going further in the research, I discovered that Saint Mark, who wrote the first gospel, was a native of Cyrene. In the same region as Simon, and his two sons, Alexander and Rufus. While the father carried the cross of Jesus at Passover, tradition tells us that Alexander and Rufus were among the one hundred and twenty disciples who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. St. Mark is regarded by the Copts (egyptian christians) as the founder of the Church of Egypt.

So these first data pushed me to go in search of the history of the first Christians in North Africa, and their role in the evangelization of the West, alongside Peter, Barnabas and Paul, with as a gateway, Simon of Cyrene and his two sons, Alexander and Rufus.

I am an author of several books, in addition to "The Berbers in the Bible," published in 2018. There was also "Wonders in the Bible" who was translated into Spanish "Maravillas en la Biblia", 2013-2018 ; "La dix-huitième épouse", and its English translation "The Eighteenth Woman", 2016; "L’Amour au temps de la terreur = Love in the time of terror", 2018; etc. I also have titles pending publication.

I am also co-author of a film script, an Algerian-Portuguese feature film entitled "Zeus" by Paulo Felippe Monteiro; and in the theater, in an Algerian-German play,
"Fear must change sides". I have also written a film script about the Trial of Jesus (Mishpat Iudicium), currently looking for a producer.

Being a researcher and a journalist, I have also published numerous articles on newspapers and on the Internet, and gave numerous conferences in Algeria and in France.