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].

The purifying and transforming experience of the Holy Spirit, an experience that is painful and joyful at the same time, this "fire of the Spirit," St. Simeon compares to a burning furnace: "Do not be deceived! God is fire, and fire came, and He threw it to the earth. And he goes about everything, seeking a substance to seize it, that is, good will and will, in order to fall on it and set it on fire. And in those whom it has kindled, it rushes upwards like a great flame, and reaches to the heavens, and does not allow that which is kindled to be idle or calm. And not unknown ... burns the inflamed soul, for it is not an insensible substance, but in feeling and knowledge, and in unbearable pain in the beginning, for it is sensitive and reasonable. After this, having completely cleansed us of the filth of the passions, it becomes in us food, illumination and unceasing joy, and makes us ourselves light through communion. For just as a burning furnace at first becomes blacker because of the smoke emitted by the substance, but when it burns violently, it becomes completely transparent and like fire, and from that hour it does not receive any blackness from the smoke after communion, so the soul, which begins to be kindled by divine desire, first sees the darkness of the passions emanating in it in the fire of the Spirit, like smoke, and she beholds, as in a mirror, the blackness inherent in her because of the smoke, and laments it, and feels that thorny thoughts and brushwood-like habits are completely burned and incinerated. When all this is destroyed and only the essence of the soul remains, without passions, then the divine and immaterial fire is essentially united with it. And immediately it is lit and becomes transparent, and communes, like an oven, of this sensual fire. In the same way, the body itself becomes fire through the communion of divine and ineffable light" [838]. Let us note here this transfiguration of the whole person, body and soul, by the fire of the love of the Holy Spirit.

Up to now we have considered mainly those moments when the monk speaks of the Holy Spirit, without mentioning the other Persons of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity, the Son in particular. In this way we tried to determine the special place of the Holy Spirit in the mystical life and the effect that He has on us. It should be noted, however, that we have not been able to "isolate" the Holy Spirit in all cases, and in our quotations Christ is also mentioned together with Him more than once, so inseparable is their action. Now we will try to write about this in more detail.

First of all, the action of the Holy Spirit is manifested in the revelation of the Son of God. "The mouth of God," says Simeon. — is the Holy Spirit, and the word and word are the Son of God and God. Why is the Spirit called the mouth of God? and what about the Son in word and word? For just as through our lips the word that is in us comes and is revealed to others, and it is impossible to say or reveal it in any other way than through the sound of the lips, so the Son of God and the Word, unless it is spoken as with the lips by the Holy Spirit, that is, is revealed, cannot be known or heard" (839). Ave. Symeon develops the analogy, explaining that the revelation of the Word takes place in us through the illumination of the Spirit: "Just as if we do not open our mouths, for when they are closed, our word cannot come out of them, so the mouth of God, His Holy Spirit Himself, if it is not opened by the illumination that has occurred in us, not the Spirit, but our mind, which is illumined by Him, the Son, and the Word of God, is not visible or knowable, and, of course, it is not revealed to our visual and auditory sense" [840].

The inseparable unity of revelation and the vision of the Son in the Holy Spirit is examined by St. Simeon in a Trinitarian context: "Thus, the image of the Father is the Son, and the image of the Son is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he who saw the Son saw the Father, he who saw the Holy Spirit saw the Son, for... The Apostle well said that the Spirit is the Lord in His cry, "Abba, Father!" but that in the Holy Spirit we see and contemplate the Son of God. And that never does the Son without the Spirit, or the Spirit without the Son, reveal Himself to anyone, but that the Son in the Spirit Himself and through the Spirit cries out Himself, "Abba, Father!" [841] Bearing in mind the same context, St. Simeon exhorts us: "May we be caught up in the Spirit in the truest life to the third heaven, or rather spiritually to the very heaven of the Holy Trinity" (842).

In these same Trinitarian texts, St. Simeon speaks of the Son of God, the Divine Logos, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. In other, perhaps more numerous, passages, St. Simeon teaches that the revelation of Christ is given by the grace of the Holy Spirit. However, there is no contradiction between the two statements, because for St. Simeon Christ is always the true God incarnate, only here the incarnation itself is more prominent. Thus, St. Simeon says that the grace of the Holy Spirit shines forth in us Christ: "Thou art the Kingdom of Heaven, Thou, O Christ, the land of the meek... Thou art both joy and repose, Thou art sweetness and glory, Thou art both gladness and gladness, and Thy grace shines forth like the sun, O my God, the Most Holy Spirit in all the saints, and Thou shalt shine, the unapproachable sun, in their midst, and all shall shine according to their faith, deeds, hope and love, purification and enlightenment from Thy Spirit, O God" [843]. The unity of man with Christ is accomplished by the Spirit: "He who has united his spirit with the Divine Spirit has become God-like, having received Christ into the bosom, a Christian from Christ, transfigured into Christ, having in himself undoubtedly elusive and the one, truly unapproachable to all creation" [844]. But in order for Christ to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit, it is necessary that we be completely freed from the passions: "It is impossible, it is impossible," exhorts St. Simeon, "for all of us to receive incorruptible blessings, if we do not feel disgust for corruptible things as for garbage, nor for those who hold on to the temporal, nor for those who hold on to the temporal ones, nor for us to have Christ living in us by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, whose heart is possessed by even a small passion" [845]. Also by the Holy Spirit we become one body with Christ, "for God, being the Spirit... wants us in the Holy Spirit to be united to Him and to cleave to Him, and to be co-incarnates and joint heirs with Him" [846]. Although the name of Christ is not mentioned here, it is clear that it is the Body of Christ, as is evident from the entire context. Here we can establish some similarity with the passage where St. Simeon says that "neither Elijah was taken bodily to heaven without a flaming chariot, nor our Lord and God without the cloud of the Spirit lifting Him" [847].

Our humanity is always lifted up by the Spirit to God in Christ. But if the Holy Spirit reveals and gives us the knowledge of Christ and unites us with Him as in one body, then Christ sends us the Holy Spirit and gives His grace, by His appearance He bestows the Holy Spirit and reveals the Father: "Let it be known to all Christians that the true Christ and God is true, and that He is undoubtedly the one who shows his love for Him by keeping His commandments, as He Himself said. And the Holy Spirit Himself is given to them by His appearance, and again by the Holy Spirit He Himself and the Father are inseparably with them" [848]. That is why St. Simeon turns to Christ with a prayer to send him the Holy Spirit, but at the same time it is a prayer that Christ would reveal Himself to him in light and in His triune glory. "Have mercy on me, Son of God," he says, "and open my spiritual eyes, that I may see the light of the world, Thee, God, and I may become a son of the divine day, and will not remain unpartakers, as unworthy, of Thy Divinity, O Good One. Show me, O Lord, Thyself, that I may know that Thou hast loved me, as having preserved, O Lord, Thy divine commandments. Send me the Comforter, O Most Merciful, that He may teach me Himself concerning Thee, and declare Thy (works), O God of all. Shine upon me, O true light, that I may see Thy glory, which Thou hadst before the world was created with Thy Father. Abide, as I have said, in me, that I also may become worthy to abide in Thee, and consciously enter into Thee, and consciously acquire Thee in myself. Desire to be imagined in me, O invisible one, so that, seeing Thy intolerable beauty, I may clothe myself, O most heavenly one, in Thy image and forget all that is visible. Give me the glory which I have given Thee, O merciful Father, that I also may become like Thee, like all Thy servants, to be God by grace and with Thee continually, now and ever, and unto endless ages. Amen" [849]. It can be said that in this mysterious Trinitarian prayer, pneumatological but above all Christocentric, because He, the Son of God, appears in light and in glory, the quintessence of the spirituality of St. Simeon is briefly indicated. The Son of God sends the Spirit and reveals Himself by the Spirit.

These themes are developed in other works of St. Simeon. Thus, he speaks of the life-giving action of the Holy Spirit, who resurrects us in Christ [850]. Or of the living water given by Christ, which splashes in the midst of his heart, speaks to him, and which is the Holy Spirit. In the Catechetical Homilies, St. Simeon directly explains that this living water is the grace of the Spirit of Christ: "As a cistern of flowing water, so our holy father (Simeon the Pious) partook of the fullness of our Lord Christ and was filled with the grace of His Spirit, which is living water" (852). Ave. Simeon uses another image to explain the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit granted by Christ. This is the image of a soldier, a king and the payment that the latter gives to the soldier. "We must," he says, "... who have fulfilled all virtue, to make our man perfect according to God, that is, in nothing and in no way deficient... and to receive the grace of the Spirit from the most heavenly King Christ, just as soldiers receive daily maintenance from the earthly. And then, as having already become perfect men, having entered into the stature and measure of Christ and numbered among His soldiers and servants, we will go on a campaign against the enemies at war, because, as Paul says... No one fights on his own food. What does he call "sustenance"? Daily royal maintenance. If, therefore, we also have not received from God the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, that is, the grace of the Spirit, for this is the spiritual daily sustenance with which the soldiers of Christ are nourished and with which they are spiritually armed, how, tell me, shall we go out with the host of God, or how shall we be numbered among His servants?" [853]