The sudden and radical transformation of man, internal and spiritual in character, but embracing the whole person, is called by St. Simeon by various names: spiritual birth, mystical resurrection, baptism of the Spirit, deification, and finally, it is impossible to clearly define in what ways these states differ from each other.

Deification, however, seems to be the strongest and last concept, referring to ontological change in man rather than to a purely spiritual one, although it does not imply the assertion that man loses his nature as a created being by becoming a god by adoption. In addition, St. Simeon distinguishes three stages of deification – during earthly life – on which St. Simeon especially insists – after death, in the afterlife, and in the general resurrection. The latter is an endless ascent to fullness, which is never attained. In general, deification is a part of God's saving Work, its goal, and it is difficult to speak of it without touching upon other manifestations of God's saving Works.

Conclusion

Our work is completed, but we are again faced with the same perplexed questions: who was St. Simeon, what exactly does his nickname "New Theologian" mean? How could such a personality appear in the Byzantine world? Where does it come from spiritually and what is its place in Orthodox spirituality and in Orthodoxy in general? For truly and irreproachably Orthodox, never condemned for any spiritual or dogmatic deviation, he was not, however, Orthodox "like everyone else." This is obvious to anyone who comes into spiritual contact with him. And why was this great saint and at the same time a remarkable writer, a genius, we would say, in spite of the unevenness of his literary work, long disputed, then almost forgotten or even disfigured,1198 why was his place in the church calendar reduced to a minimum, and why was his service composed only in the eighteenth century?1199 Even if we admit that there could have been an older service, The fact that it was lost in the course of centuries means quite a lot. Nevertheless, St. Simeon always had ardent admirers and disciples, and his manuscripts were constantly, albeit few, copied, especially in the fourteenth century, in particular on Mount Athos (although St. Simeon's popularity was often based on writings that did not actually belong to him, such as the Discourse on the Three Forms of Prayer). And even in our days, pious and traditionally Orthodox Christians with a mystical disposition, as well as educated people seeking spiritual renewal, are attracted by the beauty of the writings of St. Simeon. In short, St. Simeon always remains a living reality, and all scholarly dissertations, no matter how necessary they may be, will not be able to make of him a museum exhibit of interest only to specialists.1201 However, few people in our time, as in his time, are able to fully accept the spiritual teaching of St. Simeon about a conscious vision of God in this life, as necessary for salvation and accessible to all. The spiritual exactingness of St. Simeon, the postulate of absolute faithfulness to the Gospel commandments, in our days meet with the same reaction as that of his contemporaries: "This is impossible!"

The spiritual battle for and against St. Simeon continues, although no one seems to dispute his significance and sincerity. It should be borne in mind, however, that in the demand for the attainment of high mystical states, the vision of light above all, St. Simeon is less categorical than it seems at first glance. In general, St. Simeon has a lot of common sense, even moderation, as, for example, can be seen from his cautious and restrained attitude towards ecstatic phenomena. Moreover, it is precisely this feeling (that the goal of the Christian life – the vision of Christ in the light – has not yet been achieved) that can, in the eyes of St. Simeon, become salvific, for repentance and the tears that it engenders quickly lead to a state of "spiritual intoxication." Divine love is the pinnacle of all perfection and the fruit of the adoring Holy Spirit.

It is clear that we are most interested in St. Simeon's direct mystical experience, but it is inseparable from his entire theological attitude. That is why we wanted to give in this work a proper place to his theological thought, to show all the richness of contemplation of God and His actions. To show, moreover, the inner unity of his speculation, which is not hindered by the absence of any systematization, which exists even in spite of some apparent contradictions and a certain vagueness in formulations. But this unity, so to speak, is dialectical.