Do not say that God is invisible to men;

Do not say that people do not see the Divine light

Or that it is impossible in the present times!

It's never impossible, friends!

But it is very possible for those who want to.

Ave. Symeon the New Theologian. Hymn 27 (125-132).

PREFACE

In the Orthodox world, the works of St. Symeon the New Theologian have never been completely forgotten, thanks mainly to Athonite monasticism, although official theology ignored them, and the church hierarchy treated them with restraint. They were first published in print – until then they were known only from manuscripts – at the end of the eighteenth century, but not in the original text, but in a modern Greek translation, or rather, a paraphrase by Dionysius of Zagorey. This translation is often quite inaccurate, and most importantly, incomplete, since Dionysius Zagoreysky feared that much in the writings of St. Simeon might confuse the pious simple reader, and therefore considered himself entitled to "censor" the Holy Father, both in terms of style and content [1]. From this far from perfect and even tendentious translation of Dionysius Zagoreysky, the famous ascetic and spiritual writer of the 19th century, Bishop Theophan (Govorov), made a Russian translation, making changes on his part, so that his text could be called a paraphrase of the paraphrase [2]. This translation by Bishop Theophan was published by the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos and became the main source of acquaintance of the pious Russian people with the works of St. Simeon [3]. Unfortunately, however, Bishop Theophan refused to translate into Russian the Hymns of St. Simeon, published in the original, albeit with large omissions, by Dionysius, since he found them too lofty and thereby dangerous for the average reader. This gap was largely filled in by Hieromonk Panteleimon (Uspensky), who published in 1917 a Russian translation (but not the Greek text) of almost all the hymns, based on the text of Dionysius, the Latin translation of Pontanus (1603) and on some manuscripts of the Holy Mountain of Athos. But subsequent events prevented this publication from becoming widely distributed [4]. This cautious and even restrained attitude towards the works of St. Simeon, manifested even in such a spiritual writer as Bishop Simeon. Theophanes, who refused to translate the Hymns, is even more characteristic of many hierarchs, and even more so of the professorial theological milieu in our time. Thus, quite recently, Professor P. Trembelas of the Faculty of Theology in Athens, a pillar of Greek conservative theology, stated in a pamphlet published by him that the visions of St. Simeon's light can be explained by a simple strain of nerves! (This statement by Prof. Trembelas caused an outburst of indignation on Mount Athos.) On the other hand, a Russian metropolitan once said to me: "I can't stand Symeon the New Theologian, he's not in my spirit. Several times I tried to read it, but I couldn't continue." And one Greek metropolitan went even further. "Who is this Symeon the New Theologian, of whom are you talking to me? He said to me. "Who is he, a Russian?" You, Russians, always invent faces that no one has ever heard of."

Only in the most recent years (1957-1973) was the original Greek text of the works of St. Simeon, restored on the basis of existing manuscripts, published for the first time in the West by the French publishing house Sources Chretiennes (Christian Sources) in nine volumes (the tenth volume, containing the Epistles of St. Simeon, had not yet been published, but we were able to use these Epistles for our work). The publication of Sources Chretiennes fully covers all the writings that really belong to St. Simeon, and thus for the first time provides an opportunity for a scientific and theological study of his works and even a correct and holistic understanding of his personality and spiritual teaching. Naturally, in the West, this edition, in which the Greek text is accompanied by a French translation and extensive commentaries, aroused interest in St. Simeon, who had previously been known in the West almost exclusively in narrow circles of Byzantine scholars, he began to become "fashionable", he began to be read, with varying success, in Catholic monasteries, but on the whole this spiritual food was not always within the reach of modern Western man. On the contrary, it is gratifying to note that on the Holy Mountain of Athos, among its Greek monks, these new editions of the Greek texts of St. Simeon are read with great eagerness, contributing to the spiritual revival that is now taking place on Athos. On the other hand, the publication of Sources Chretiennes has caused the appearance in recent years of extensive and scholarly works by the Germans, W. Volker and C. Deppe, which are little accessible in their scientific heaviness to a wide range of readers. To these can be added the book of the American Jesuit G. Malone, who sympathizes with the Pentecostals, "The Mysticism of Light and Fire", intended for the reader who is not an expert and has no scientific pretensions, but on the whole it is not bad. It is a pity that so little is written about St. Simeon on the Orthodox side. The purpose of this work is not to compete with the above-mentioned scholarly works, which are massive in volume, full of abundant notes, and inaccessible to the non-specialist reader. It would be a task beyond my strength, and at the same time useless, because no one would read such a work. What I would like is to give a lively, objective, well-documented in the words of St. Simeon himself, and, in particular, a truthful image of the great saint, accessible to a wide range of educated readers interested in the spiritual life of Orthodoxy and the mystical phenomenon in general, and not only to professional Byzantines, or, especially, only to confessional polemicists. My book was written with great love for St. Simeon, but at the same time, I hope, with love for the truth. I would not like to give a stylized image of St. Simeon, to schematize or simplify his personality, or to make him a forerunner of the modern pentocostal movement, or an extreme "enthusiast," or a kind of Protestant mystic rebelling against hierarchy, or even an "unconscious Messalian," as many of his modern researchers do. And I especially wanted to avoid rhetoric and Orthodox triumphalism. To some, my book may seem incoherent, but the complexity of St. Simeon's personality and the richness of his spirituality sometimes compel me to say things that may seem contradictory. What, however, remains above all contradictions is his vision of God in this life, his love for Christ in the light and in the Holy Spirit, although St. Simeon had to struggle all his life not to lose it. My goal is to let St. Simeon speak as often as possible, which is why the book is full of quotations. I translated these quotations directly from the Greek text, always trying first of all, if possible, to translate accurately and close to the original. For this reason, my text often, but not always, differs from the translation of Ep. And I am ready to admit that his translation is sometimes smoother and even more understandable, but I did not consider myself entitled to "improve" the style of the Holy Father, much less to "correct" his theology. To show the real St. Symeon the New Theologian – this was my task, and if I succeeded in this at least partially, then I will be happy and grateful for this to God and His saint.

PART I THE LIFE AND PERSONALITY OF ST. SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN

1. THE BROTHERLY BEGGAR [5]

St. Symeon the New Theologian was born in the year 949 in the town of Galati, in Paphlagonia (Asia Minor), of parents who belonged to the wealthy and influential provincial nobility in public affairs [6]. This was during the Macedonian dynasty, one of the best periods of Byzantine history. The life of St. Simeon coincides for the most part with the reign of the most famous representative of this dynasty, Emperor Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer (976-1025). At the age of about eleven, St Simeon was brought by his father to Constantinople to study in the schools of the capital, in order to later enter the imperial service. His uncle, Basil, then held an important position at court and intended to present his nephew to the emperor, but the young Simeon declined this honor. He also refused, after graduating from what we might call secondary schools, to continue his education in higher schools.

Later, St. Simeon describes himself in this period of his life in the following, somewhat ironic words: "A certain young man, named George [8], about twenty years old, lived in our times in Constantinople, handsome in appearance and having something ostentatious in his appearance, manners and gait, so that even some had bad opinions of him because of this" [9]. He seemed to be leading the distracted life of a young man in the capital, but he remained deeply dissatisfied. "I thank Thee, O Lord, Lord of heaven and earth," he writes later, recalling this time, "... that when I, ungrateful and contemptuous, like a horse that has broken free from its leash, plunged myself into the abyss, fleeing from Thy power, Thou didst not leave me lying down... but the mercy of Thy heart hast sent for me, and brought me out of thence, and honoured me more brightly. And Thou hast freed me by Thy ineffable destinies from kings and rulers who intended to use me to serve their desires as a vessel of no value" [10]. Under the influence, as it seems, of reading spiritual books, and the lives of saints in particular, young Simeon keenly felt the insignificance of his condition at that time and, in his desire to find the way to God, began to look for a holy man who could guide him and reconcile him with God [11]. Those around him did not understand him. "But when I heard," he writes, "all those who unanimously without exception told me that such a saint does not exist on earth at the present time, then I fell into even greater sorrow" [12]. However, he lived with faith and trust in God, so characteristic of him always: "I never, however, believed this... And he said: My Lord, have mercy! Has the devil become so much stronger than the Lord God that he has drawn everyone to himself and made everyone his supporters, so that no one has remained on God's side?" [13]