Shimun Bar Sabbae was born the son of a fuller. He had two sisters ,one of wich was named Tarbula.
In 316, he had been named coadjutor bishop of his predecessor, Papa bar Gaggai, in Seleucia-Ctesiphon (now al-Mada'in). He was later accused of being a friend of the Roman emperor and of maintaining secret correspondence with him. On that basis, Shapur II ordered the execution of all Christian priests. It is also thought that a reason was that Shimoun had converted the kings mother Ifra Hormizid (who was of Jewish descent) to Christianity[2].
Because they would not convert to Zoroastrianism, Shimoun was beheaded with several thousands, including bishops, priests, and faithful. These include the priests Abdella (or Abdhaihla), Ananias (Hannanja), Chusdazat (Guhashtazad, Usthazan, or Gothazat), and Pusai (Fusik), Askitrea, the daughter of Pusai, the eunuch Azad (Asatus) and several companions, numbered either 1150 or 100. Sozomen, a historian of the 5th century maintained that the numbers registered were 16,000 of the martyrs. Another historian, Al-Masoudy from the 10th century, held that there were killed around 200,000 Assyrians. They are commemorated on: