Among the shining stars in the sky of the righteous saints, three are worthy of the title of “theologian”: Saint John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved and who leaned on His chest at supper and scooped up living waters to know the Word of God. And Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, who, after examining with a purified inner eye the mystery of the Holy Trinity, proclaimed it, harnessing to his service the best creations of Hellenic eloquence. In addition to these two, there is Saint Simeon the New Theologian, who, after immersing himself in the light of the Holy Spirit, was sent by God as a new prophet to a Byzantine society dependent on formal and official Christianity, as a witness to the fact that every Christian worthy of his name is called, too, to holy enlightenment and to become a son of God in the Holy Spirit.
Our saint was born in Galatia, Phalogonia, in Asia Minor, in the year 949 AD to a powerful family of nobles. When he turned twelve, they sent him to the royal city to continue his studies in preparation for entering the service of the Tsar. He was reckless for some time, but the Lord God had mercy on him, and when he slipped into the pits of corruption, he even pulled him out of the pit through spiritual readings he had, so he began searching, afterward, for a holy man who was able to guide him to salvation despite the discouraging words he heard from those around him. They said about his time that a holy man like the one who seeks does not exist. Despite this, he continued searching until he found a spiritual father, a monk confined in the Studio Monastery. This was the pious Simon. But this Simon did not want to accept him as a monk and contented himself with giving him the book of Saint Mark the Hermit to read. As soon as our saint opened the book, he saw the following saying: “If you are looking for healing, take care of your conscience and do what it tells you, and you will find benefit” (Saying 69). He considered the situation and proceeded to follow what he indicated. His conscience, out of love for Jesus, told him to fast and stay awake more, so he began to do so. It was not long before he received a token of favor with God in a wondrous vision of the uncreated light that transported him as if he were outside the world and outside his body. He was filled with great joy, and he was filled with hot tears and began repeating without stopping or tirelessly: Kyryalison (O Lord, have mercy). In the heart of that light, he saw his spiritual father, Simon, standing to the right of a bright cloud, teaching him the art of prayer without distraction.
Since his first experience of beholding divine glory was not based on the pillars of divinity, he soon fell into apathy and laxity. But he returned and repented as if he had committed a great sin. For six or seven years after that, he continued his relationship with his spiritual father without seeking to leave the world and its annihilation.
Once again, the Lord God had compassion on him and plucked him from the mire of the world like his hair and set him before His face. He went out to his hometown on a mission during which he arranged his pending affairs and quickly returned to the royal city to join under the banner of his spiritual father, surrendering himself completely to him.
He settled in a small cell under the stairs of Simon his father's cell. There he was always looking at his sins and performing the most despicable actions, completely nullifying his own will, considering his father as Christ himself, a sinner, and with great honor every place where his father stood to pray as if it were the Holy of Holies. Therefore, as our saint took refuge in Simon’s prayer, he was able to fend off, without fear, the attacks of the demons who tried, with all their might, to instill in him fear, laziness, impurity, and envy, with all violence, to instill despair in his soul.
He became a stranger to everything, maintaining frequent silence. He would stand during liturgical services with his head bowed, shedding tears as he heard the noble texts. Some monks were disturbed to see the progress made by a new student. They considered it a judgment on them and their lukewarm conduct. They accused him before the abbot of the monastery of having too close a relationship with his spiritual father. When our saint resorted to his father’s prayers to strengthen himself, his father assured him that he would receive a blessing from on high that was twice as great as the blessing he had himself. After that, he entered his cell that night, and saw a heavenly light that seized his mind and filled him with divine love with indescribable joy. Although he was still a little knowledgeable, God has bestowed on him a degree of wisdom since then that amazed his companions. But his envious people envied him and conspired against him until they succeeded in expelling him from the Studio Monastery.
From the Studio Monastery, our saint moved to a small monastery, the Monastery of Saint Mama. He joined it as a monastic student, but maintained his ties with his spiritual father, Simeon the Pious. He remained like this until the Iskim took his hand and also took the name Simon. That occasion marked the beginning of a new phase of spiritual advancement in his life, so he resorted to complete silence, as well as prayer and contemplation of the Holy Book, contenting his body with food with some legumes. His cell, from which he no longer came out except to participate in divine services, became for him a burning furnace into which he immersed himself completely, transforming into a pure flame of love through which his Lord often put him into a state of astonishment and astonishment. Simeon, in one of his articles, likened himself to a wretched man after he fell into a pit of silt. His Lord pulled him out of it out of compassion, and then the hand of his spiritual father led him through the traps of the enemy and the great difficulties he suffered to the springs of water to wash and purify himself of what was stuck in him, and to transform from blindness to seeing spiritual things. As much as his insight was refined, yes, with luminous visions that became clearer and clearer. In a formless light like the sun, the veil of his insensibility fell, so he saw, little by little, the face of Christ and recognized it with increasing purity. He was taken out of the body and became stunned. Christ spoke to him and called him a brother and stepson. He did not understand until after a series of visions and after shedding tears in front of the icon of the Mother of God that he had acquired, within his heart, that personal love which is the Lord Himself.
Two years have passed since our saint lived in the Monastery of Saint Mama, during which his superior noticed that he had made amazing progress in spirit, so he ordained him a priest. On the day of his ordination, the Holy Spirit descended as a simple, shapeless light to envelop the sacrifice. Since then, and throughout his priestly life, not a day goes by when he performs the sacrifice without a similar vision. As he was surrounded by a bright cloud, he had such an angelic expression on his face that no one could stare at him whenever he blessed the people.
The abbot of the monastery fell asleep and Simon was chosen as his successor. Monastic life there was lax and the place was impossible for public burials. Since then, our saint began rebuilding what had been destroyed except the church. He also began to mobilize the monks in an effort to attract them to seek the face of the Most High as he knew it. To this end, he used to stand and preach like fire three times a week. Not only did he remind them of the principles of common life, but like “a poor man filled with brotherly love,” whenever he received a special blessing, he ran joyfully to the company of misfortune to show them what he had obtained and to urge them to move quickly so that they, too, could benefit from the generosity of the one who had been good to him. Thus, Simeon began to reveal to his monks the wonders that his Lord had accomplished in him, strongly affirming that all of us, from now on, in this life, can attain the vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. This deep desire to share with his brothers the grace he received is what lay behind the personal intimacy of his writings, the likes of which we rarely find among the fathers.
This “unbridled diet” of Simeon aroused the objection and sarcastic remarks of some monks. These people preferred an easy life and condemned him as a braggart. The resistance movement against him intensified until thirty monks violently interrupted him, one day, during one of his sermons, and began to roar at him like ferocious animals. He did not leave his place. He maintained his smile and calmness, thus limiting their agitation. All they had to do was leave the church in a great uproar, and sought the face of Patriarch Sisinius complaining. When the latter looked into the matter, he completely justified the saint and sentenced them to exile. However, Simon's love was too great to hand his sheep over to error, so he worked to nullify the punishment against them and went out to reconcile them, ask for their forgiveness, and beg them to return to the monastery.
It was not long after that incident until peace returned and the monks began to be active in the paths of ascetic life until the place became one of the most prominent spiritual fortresses in the city. This good development attracted many ordinary believers and students who came from afar to the monastery. Simon's pastoral duties doubled. However, none of his ascetic duties were fulfilled, so he would recline in his cell three times a day, at specific hours, to wash the ground with his tears. For him, tears became second nature, and from them flourished love and compassion towards everyone, as well as patience in times of adversity. An attractive touch of divine grace illuminated his face from the soul with inner joy. Following a new enlightened vision, he received the gift of divinity. Since then, if he was kidnapped, he would become distraught, otherwise he would spend his nights composing wondrous songs of divine love, which continued to constitute one of the most valuable testimonies of the effects of grace in the soul of a saint. The spread of his writings and teachings allowed many to regain the fervor of the time of the Holy Fathers, which is, from afar, the victory of hesychasm as the official doctrine of the Orthodox Church.
In the year 1005, Simeon resigned from the presidency of the monastery and, for the love of God, retired to one of the cells in order to give himself completely to the path of holy tranquility and to support, through prayer, the efforts of his monks, like Moses ascending to the top of the hill. He had written about the divine scenes and the news of knowing the future and what creation would lead to. One night, he became in the light that penetrated all his limbs and made him, in its entirety, fire and light. And behold, a voice from above proclaimed to him that this glory that He had made manifest was His, being stored up for the elect in the general resurrection. Since then, the Holy Spirit of the Lord possessed him and he became God by grace, he began writing his theological and mystical articles.
Although our saint had reached perfection, as much as it is possible for a human being on earth to achieve, he suffered new hardships and toils. Stephen, the Metropolitan of Nicomedia, who became an assistant to the Patriarch and was a man of great knowledge and of great weight in official circles, when he saw the status Simon enjoyed in the hearts of many, he envied him and began looking for opportunities to challenge and shame him. He raised a sensitive theological issue with him, and the saint gave him a brilliant answer in the form of poetic verses. From what he said to him, speaking about theology is only for those who have experienced the Holy Spirit. This answer aroused the bishop’s hatred, so he did everything in his power to overthrow Simeon until in 1009 AD he was able to issue an order to banish him. He was accused of honoring, as a saint, a sinful man, Simon the Pious, his spiritual father. Our saint had created an icon for his father after his death and prepared a liturgical service to honor him, and for sixteen years he held an annual memorial for him in the presence of legions of believers.
Our saint resided in exile, in the depths of winter, on a barren plateau near Chrysopolis. He remained there until his disciples and admirers of the Patriarch intervened. After that, he appeared before the Synod. When they approached him about his spiritual father, he refused to give up his respect for him. The result was that the Patriarch relented and released Simeon, saying: “You are a Studite monk without deceit. You have your deep love for your spiritual father, but you also have the stubbornness of the Studites.” Perhaps there is something worthy of praise in your position!”
Following Simon's return, he received more divine blessings despite what the demons provoked against him. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he continued composing his hymns and writing articles in which he taught that neither forgiveness of sins nor sanctification can be given to anyone without the conscious abiding of the grace of the Holy Spirit within us. This grace did not only make Simon amazed, but it performed a number of miracles in him to relieve his disciples and provide comfort to his visitors.
When Simeon reached advanced old age, he was struck by a painful illness in the entrails that lasted for a long time, and he lay motionless in his bed. Despite this problem, one of his disciples saw him, while he was praying, rising from the ground surrounded by an indescribable light. Finally, he knew precisely the day of his death, as well as the day his remains were transferred thirty years after that, and he rested in the Lord on March 12, 1022, complete with virtues.
(On the Lives of the Saints - Synaxarium, and other feasts in the Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Monk Thomas Bitar)
The church celebrates it on March 12.
