And they compel one passing by Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross. It seems from St. Matthew (Matthew 27:32) that our Savior bore his own cross from the palace to the gate of the city.
The tablet, with the inscription afterwards attached to the cross, would be carried before him; and a certain number of soldiers would be appointed to go with him to the place of execution, and to see the sentence carried out.
Having passed out through the gate of the city, they met one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and they compel him ( ἀγγαρεύουσι); literally, they impress him. The Cyrenians had a synagogue in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9), and this Simon may probably have been one of those who had come up to keep the Passover.
He must have been a Hellenistic Jew, a native of Cyrene, on the north coast of Africa. Alexander and Rufus, his sons, were no doubt, at the time when St. Mark wrote his Gospel, well-known disciples of our Lord.
St. Paul, writing to the Romans (Romans 16:13), sends a special salutation to Rufus, "chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine;" a delicate recognition by St. Paul of something like maternal care bestowed upon him by the mother of Rufus.
It is probable that his father Simon, and perhaps his brother Alexander, may have been dead by this time. Rufus is also honorably mentioned by Polycarp in his Epistle to the Philippians. There is a tradition, mentioned by Cornelius a Lapide, that Rufus became a bishop in Spain, and that Alexander suffered martyrdom.
To go with them, that he might bear his cross. St. Luke (Luke 23:26) adds the touching words, "to bear it after Jesus ( φέρειν ὔπισθεν τοῦ ἰησοῦ)."