It is quite obvious how much the Christological piety of St. Simeon, based on his personal experience of the vision of Christ, and therefore simple and indivisible in its origins, expressing love for the Savior, is at the same time rich in theological content, diverse in manifestations and emotional coloring. Christ, the object of St. Simeon's contemplations, is one. He is, St. Simeon repeats it many times, the Divine Logos, the Creator of the world, consubstantial with the Father, and He remains so in His kenosis, His incarnation, in His sufferings, His death and resurrection. For St. Simeon, these are not abstract formulas, but the reality of faith and vision. God and man are never separated from each other in the mysticism of St. Simeon. And when he speaks of the imitation of Christ, of participation in His sufferings, of His cross which we must bear – all this constitutes a very important part of the Christocentric spirituality of St. Simeon – he is not speaking of a simple man whom he calls us to follow, but of God, "unproud and loving to mankind," who truly became man in order to save us. Seeing Him in the light, He Himself is the ineffable light, His glory and His grace are Divine light, and so He appears to St. Simeon. Christ will shine with all the splendor of His Divinity at the Second Coming, and now He illuminates St. Simeon like a distant star, which, however, draws near to him and enters his heart. As Christ now draws near to him and then moves away to draw nearer again, St. Simeon describes these changes using the bold image of Christ slowing down His steps in order to allow Himself to be reached. Or it is a dog — evidently St. Simeon himself — chasing a hare. Christ withdraws, and Fr. Simeon holds Him by the hem of His garment. These abrupt changes are vividly reflected in the soul of St. Simeon: sorrow, sorrow when Christ is withdrawn, inexpressible joy and incomparable sweetness when He is near. Christ is the source that quenches all thirst, or, on the contrary, He intensifies it, because the fullness of His vision cannot be attained in this life. But in order to see the King-Christ, the Good Shepherd, in eternity, one must see Him while still here, or, in any case, ardently desire to attain in this life the vision of Him Who is incomparable beauty. Those who love Christ and keep His commandments will be loved by Him, and He will appear to them with the Father and the Holy Spirit according to the promise of the Gospel, which Fr. Simeon always understands in the most precise sense. This is the basis of all his spirituality.

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT

Ave. Symeon was not a systematic theologian, so it is in vain to look in his writings for a complete, within the framework of the Trinitarian doctrine, dogmatic teaching about the Holy Spirit. But in everything he wrote, especially in the Hymns, Theological and Moral Words, one can find quite a lot of references to the fact that there is a Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit. The Trinity in general and what is His manifestation in spiritual life in particular. Ave. Simeon speaks first of all about the procession of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is from the Father in inseparable unity with the Father and the Son, so that it cannot even be said that in the Trinity there is a first, second, and third: "Neither the Father is the first, although He is the cause of the Son, nor the Second Son, although He is from the Father, nor the Holy Spirit the Third, although He proceeds from the Father (έκτου Πατρός έκπορεΰηται)" (811). Or in another place: "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, being co-natural and united, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, as being worshipped and glorified with Them with every breath" [812]. The procession of the Holy Spirit must always be contemplated together with the birth of the Son: "(The Father) begets the timeless and eternally consubstantial Son, who is in no way separated from Him, together with Whom proceeds (συνεκ–πορεύεται) and the Divine Spirit, consubstantial with the Son from the consubstantial Father" (813). "Confess therefore with me," says St. Simeon in another place, "the Father who begets but does not pre-exist, the Son who is not later begotten or begotten, the Holy Spirit, who proceeds, but is co-eternal and consubstantial with the Son to the Father Himself" (814).

The consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son and His direct procession from the Father are especially emphasized. However, proceeding from the Father, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Son to people: "The Holy Spirit, inexpressibly proceeding from the Father, and through the Son (δι Ύίοΰ) coming to us who are the faithful" (815). Or: "The Holy Spirit, since it proceeds from the Father and through the Son (δια toΰ Υίοΰ), is given to us unworthy, not so much as it is sent or given unwillingly, but as fulfilling what is pleasing to the Father, as its own will, through the One of the Trinity, the Son Himself" (816). As has already been noted [817], St. Symeon expounds here the traditional teaching of the Greek Fathers about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and that He is sent through the Son into the world, as grace. In another place, speaking of the sending down of divine grace, which comes from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit, St. Simeon writes: "This grace of the Spirit is distributed to the saints by the Son of God... from the nature and essence of His co-eternal Father... that is, the Divinity" [818]. In the same sense and in the same threefold context, St. Simeon calls the Holy Spirit "the mouth of the Lord": "This is what," he says, "the Father has spoken through the Son, and the Spirit has spoken, Who is the mouth of the Lord" (819).

However, Fr. Simeon speaks especially insistently about the action of the Holy Spirit in us and in the world. Without this action, our soul would be dead and our virtues would have no value. The Holy Spirit gives them life. Ave. Simeon speaks at length about this, inspired by the vision that the prophet Ezekiel had, that is, the vision of bones and joints in which there was no life: "As if a man, having folded dead bone to bone and joint to joint, which can be applied to deeds and the acquisition of virtue, achieves nothing, if there is no one who is able to weave meat and nerves over them. But if he does this too, and binds the joints to the nerves, and dresses these dead bones with flesh and skin, and makes a body out of them, he will achieve nothing, since it is devoid of the life-giving and moving spirit, that is, it has no soul. In the same way, think about the dead soul and transfer your mind to its inner members, and look at all the collected actions, fasting, I say, and vigil, lying down and drying, non-acquisitiveness and unwashing, and the accompanying ones, as at dead bones, folded together and one after the other and united, and as if in some way forming the whole body of the soul. What is the use if it lies soulless and devoid of spirit, since there is no Holy Spirit in it? Only He, having come and dwelt in us, like members torn apart from one another, so binds dead virtuous actions with veins of spiritual power and unites us with love with God, and then makes us new from the old and alive from the dead. Otherwise, it is impossible for the soul to come to life" [820].

The Holy Spirit accomplishes the real resurrection of a dead soul to life in Christ: "Think of yourself mentally dead," says St. Simeon, "tell me, therefore, how could you truly be made alive without being united with true life, that is, with the Holy Spirit, through Whom every believer is reborn and revived in Christ?" [821] And in general, without the Holy Spirit, a person is incapable of doing any good work. Ave. Simeon thanks Christ for giving him His Spirit, which he calls the tree of life: "Blessed art thou, O Lord, blessed art thou, the only ... who gave in my heart the light of Thy commandments, and planted in me the tree of Thy life, and showed me another paradise... mental among sensible things, sensuously mental. Because Thou hast united with the soul another of Thy Divine Spirits, which Thou hast infused into my inwards. He alone is truly the tree of life, which, no matter what earth he is planted in, that is, in the soul of man, and takes root in the heart, immediately shows it as the brightest paradise, adorned with all plants, beautiful trees and various fruits... This is humility, joy, peace, meekness... rains of tears and strange delight in them, the radiance of Thy grace, which shines upon all who are in paradise. Thou art the cup that pours out the waters of life for me, Thou givest me abundantly the words of divine knowledge. But when You do not want and take them away, I become insane, insensitive, like a stone. The trumpet will never sound without the spirit, so I am soulless without You. It is impossible for the body to act without the soul, just as the soul cannot move without Thy Spirit and keep Thy commandments, O Saviour. It cannot see Thee, nor stand before Thee, nor sing Thy glory intelligently, O my God" [822]. In this prayer, addressed now to Christ, now to the Holy Spirit, and it is impossible to clearly distinguish when he passes from one to the other, so inseparable is their action, St. Simeon speaks in detail about the fruits of the Spirit, which he contrasts with human efforts.

In the Catechetical Homilies, the monk again uses the image of a musical instrument and a breath, this time to explain that what he is saying is inspired by the Spirit and that His action is irresistible: "Brothers and fathers," he addresses his monks,

And, despite the insignificance of the musical instrument, do not sit down with disgust at what is to be said. But, lifting up your eyes to the grace of the Spirit, which inspires from above and fills the hearts of the faithful, and to the very finger of God, which strikes the strings of the mind and stirs us up to speak, with fear and trembling, in understanding and great silence, listen to the sound of the trumpet of the Lord, or, to express it more truthfully, how the King of all, through a musical instrument, speaks to us" (823).

Ave. Simeon states that "grace ... (or) the gift of the All-Holy Spirit makes us partakers and partakers of God" [824]. This divine seed, by its growth in us, unites us personally (καθ'ύπόστασιν) with God: "The mustard seed," says St. Simeon, interpreting the Gospel parable, "is the All-Holy Spirit. And... He is the Kingdom of Heaven... Just as, therefore, a garden without seed yields nothing of use, except thorns and wild herbs, and the seed, if it is not thrown into the garden, does not bear fruit, but remains only as it is, so, of course, our souls truly without the divine seed remain and become barren and growing thorns. For the divine seed, before being cast in us, that is, in our hearts, itself remains the same as the whole of God is, receiving neither addition nor undergoing any diminution, and in us it does not grow or grow at all. For how can he who is far from contact manifest increasing power, as in those with whom he comes into contact? In no way, just as fire ever ignites a substance that it has not touched, and a substance does not ignite unless it is personally united with fire" [825].

In this text, where St. Simeon seems to identify grace with the Holy Spirit in us, the most important thing is the growth of the divine in us, accomplished by His contact with man both together and through free cooperation. In Himself, the Holy Spirit remains unchanged, being God, but He reveals growth and growth, being grace. In another place, St. Simeon, again insisting on the need to receive the Spirit in order to know the mysteries of God, asserts that without inner virtues we cannot become the dwelling place of the Spirit: "Let no one deceive you with empty and cunning words, as if anyone can comprehend the divine mysteries of our faith at all without the mysterious and enlightening Spirit. But even without meekness and humility, no one can become a vessel of the grace-filled gifts of the Spirit. For it is indisputably necessary for all of us first to lay well in the depths of our souls the foundation of faith, and then to exalt inward piety as a strong wall by means of various kinds of virtue. And thus, when the soul is enclosed on all sides by walls, and virtue is as it were established in it, as on a good foundation, then the roof of this edifice must also be erected, which is the divine knowledge of God, and the whole house must be built by means of the Spirit" [826]. In short, the action of the Holy Spirit could be expressed in the following words of St. Simeon, in which he speaks of people who have already received the fullness of grace.

But why do I try to enumerate everything by saying a lot, and behold, they are innumerable! For that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor ascended into the heart of man, how shall the tongue, which has measured it, tell in words? Truly in no way! For even if we possess all these things, because we bear them God, we are absolutely unable to measure them with our minds or with words" (827).

As we can see, St. Simeon is very stressful about the impossibility of expressing in words the experience of the Spirit, nevertheless he often testifies to it. Thus, he writes about the vision of the Spirit, saying that "the divine apostles and those who were vouchsafed to receive Him saw the Holy Spirit" (828). He even says that the mental vision of the Spirit in this life is an indispensable sign of the reality of the gift. "Let us depart," he says, "from the harmful and heretical teaching and assumption of those who say that the glory of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus is not now revealed in us faithful through the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the gift is given by revelation, and revelation works through the gift. Thus, no one receives the Holy Spirit unless He reveals Himself and is not seen mentally, nor does He see revelation unless He is enlightened in the Holy Spirit, nor can He be called truly faithful unless He has received the Spirit of God" (829). St. Simeon especially insists on the conscious nature of spiritual experience. In another place, having said that "the fruit of the Holy Spirit ... there is love, joy, peace, goodness... which are beautifully followed by the knowledge of God, the wisdom of the Word, and the abyss of the hidden thoughts and mysteries of Christ" [830], he describes the change experienced by man, which is called "pregnancy by the Holy Spirit," and which takes place in ineffable joy when one has reached the abyss of humility: "Whoever reaches such a state, and being qualified in it, is changed by a good change and from a man becomes an angel. Here he moves with people in body, and in heaven he moves in spirit and lives together with the angels, and from inexpressible joy he expands into the love of God. None of the people can ever approach this love, unless he first cleanses his heart with repentance and many tears, and does not reach the depth of humility, and does not become pregnant with the Most Holy Spirit (έγκύμων τού Παναγίον γένηται Πνεύματος)" [831].

In another place, St. Simeon speaks of the Spirit Who gives us a vision of the divine light, with which He is almost identified. Thus, the monk says that "when... we will be satisfied with the ineffable blessings of the Kingdom of God through the consolation of the Spirit, further... let us acquire a pure heart in perfect impassibility and behold God, that is, the Holy Spirit Himself, acting and telling in us the hidden mysteries of the Kingdom of God... then we will be able to give ourselves, as the last slaves, for the benefit of others" [832]. It should be noted that here, and often in other places, St. Simeon speaks of the vision of the Spirit as if in passing, among other divine gifts, in any case does not set out to give a detailed description of it. In another place, he returns again to the vision of light. He speaks of the need to purify our soul with tears "in order to receive the Divine light, the Very Sun of God's righteousness. He will both justify us by the gift of His Holy Spirit, and show us righteous by union with Himself, making partakers of the unspeakable blessings of His kingdom" [833]. Here, rather, Christ, the Sun of righteousness, is the divine light, but the gift of the Spirit gives us to see Him.

The presence of the Spirit is manifested in us by love and is seen by us as light: "Who will comfort the pain of my heart? – asks St. Simeon in the Hymns, and answers: – But by saying "pain", I indicated the desire of the Saviour, and the desire of the Spirit is an action, or rather, it is essentially His presence, visible within me, hypostasized in the light. And this light is incomparable, completely ineffable" [834]. Here is an apophatic description of light, but in other places he speaks of it as fragrant: "Instead of myrrh and aromas, let the fragrance of the Holy Spirit perfume you intelligently. His smell is ineffable, and His vapors are luminous to the sense of smell" [835]. Finally, St. Simeon tells us about the sweetness of the Spirit of the Comforter, who dwells in those who have attained complete purification. Thus, he rebels against those who do not believe in the possibility of such a spiritual state. "Why do they endure this? he asks. "Because they do not know the sweetness and pleasantness of complete purification, moreover, they do not believe in it and convince themselves that it is impossible for a person to be completely cleansed of passions and to receive within himself essentially all the Comforter" [836]. And, in addition, St. Simeon speaks of the "strange pleasure" given by the Spirit [837].