The teacher
(Quotations from Symeon the New Theologian)
Table of Contents
Editor's note
The man speaking below is St. Symeon the New Theologian. He makes many references to his spiritual director, Symeon the Studite, also known as Symeon the Pious. Following Eastern Orthodox custom, St. Symeon the New Theologian frequently refers to his spiritual director as "father." When St. Symeon the New Theologian says "we", he is referring to himself and to his spiritual brethren, i.e. other men who were also directed by Symeon the Studite.
Symeon the Studite
- God's abundant grace overflows his saints for the refreshment of many:
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Just as a cistern is filled by running water, so our holy father partook of the fullness of our Master Jesus Christ and was filled by the grace of His Spirit which is "living water" (Jn. 4:10). A man may take water from a cistern that overflows and runs down on the outside till his thirst is quenched. Similarly we have seen and have received from our holy father that which overflowed and constantly poured over; we drank of it and washed our faces with it, even our hands and feet, and bathed our entire bodies (Jn. 13:9f.) and our very souls with that immortal water. What a strange and wonderful mystery, brethren!...
Therefore, since we are not at all able to hide our Master's talent (Mt. 25:25) and keep silence about the gift that God has bestowed, we openly confess God's mercy. We who are unworthy have been more than abundantly refreshed by the water we received from God through our father... As far as in us lies, we, who are the last of all and "unprofitable servants" (Lk. 17:10), have glorified and continue to glorify God who has glorified our holy father. Through our father God has glorified us, lowly and unworthy though we are. Let no one think that I am lying and speak against my soul and against my father...
There are many who harm those who hear them by saying that nobody can be like {the fathers of the church}, or in his deeds attain to what our great fathers achieved, or be found worthy of the spiritual gifts that were granted them. Their unbelief compels me, unwilling as I am, to say the things I never wanted to say, and so to proclaim publicly the reality of God's love for man in order to reprove the slothfulness and carelessness of those who make those claims.
Our blessed and holy father Symeon so greatly wearied himself as to surpass many of the holy fathers of old. He endured such great trials and temptations as to be the equal of many of the more famous martyrs. Accordingly, God glorified him so that he became free from passions and a saint, and received within himself the wholeness, so to speak, of the Paraclete. Then, just as a father freely gives his son a share [of his estate], so he bestowed on me his unworthy servant, freely, without effort on my part, the Holy Spirit. Who among you, tell me -- I hesitate to say so -- has accomplished all that he did and (as far as he was able) spoke of, or even fully understands it?
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", pp. 124-126)
- Experiencing the saint's holiness:
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Already Thou {O Lord} didst dwell in {Symeon the Studite} and didst shine with Thy divine glory, so I drew near to him and in penitence and faith took hold of his feet. At once I perceived a divine warmth. Then a small radiance that shone forth. Then a divine breath from his words. Then a fire kindled in my heart, which caused constant streams of tears to flow. After that a fine beam went through my mind more quickly than lightning. Then there appeared to me as it were a light in the night and a small flaming cloud rested on his head, while I lay on my face and made supplication. Afterwards it moved away and shortly after appeared to me as being in heaven.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 363)
- Reverencing the living saint:
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As for my fellows worker and my helper -- Thy holy disciple and apostle -- {i.e. Symeon the Studite} I reverenced him as Thee who hast created me. I honored and loved him with my soul. Day and night I fell at his feet and asked him, "If you can do anything, help me" (cf. Mk. 9:22) for I had confidence that whatever he would, he was able to do before Thee.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 373)
- A prayer following Symeon the Studite's death:
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For Thou {i.e. Christ} ... knowest that ... I have no help from any man, since Thou hast physically taken away my fellow-worker and helper, who was Thy apostle, even as Thou hast willed it. Thou knowest my weakness; Thou understandest my misery and my complete inability to do anything. Do thou therefore have compassion on me even more from henceforth, O Lord who art rich in compassion. With my heart I fall before Thee, that Thou, who hadst done me so many benefits, abandon me not to my will, but in Thy love establish my soul and make Thy love take deep root in me, that in accordance with Thy holy, unspotted, and infallible promise Thou mayest be in me and I may be in Thee (Jn. 14:20) and I may be protected by Thy love and may protect and guard it in me.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 377)
St. Symeon the New Theologian on his own experience as a spiritual director
In a passionless way I became very partial toward all of you. Though I have been enjoined to love all equally, yet I admit I conceived a special love for {Father Theophylact}... My soul was sensibly moved and kindled by affection when I heard him speak the words and make his vow to Christ. I had never expected to hear those words from his mouth, words that God Himself recorded and that wounded my heart like an arrow. More than that, they became like a fire in it that constantly consumes and burns me up... Day and night they have caused me equal pain; they have banished sweet sleep and forced me to refuse nourishment. I have no thirst for water, but only for seeing the outcome of what he has said {in his vows}. I have no desire at all to see the visible sun, so great is my desire to see my brother approach the spiritual Sun with fervor. So much is this so that hot tears flow and are offered to Christ for my desire, that {Father Theophylact} may be washed clean by them and spiritually lift up the eyes of his mind and recognize his Maker. I utter groans from the depth of my heart that I may bring the soul I have loved out of the abyss of evils. I lie prostrate and lament continually, that I may lift up him whom I love well, who is prostrated on the ground. I cry aloud as I invoke the Almighty Lord, that He may snatch from the bonds of the ruler of this world (cf. Eph. 6:12) him who has allowed himself to be held by them...
{Speaking to all his monks:} Let me know not only by words, but in deeds, that God is with you and that I have not labored in vain (Phil. 2:16)! If that is not your wish, why do you come and lay burdens on me, and leave me even more heavily burdened? Yet it is a burden that, paradoxically, causes me both unspeakable joy and infinite sorrow, joy because I pray for you and rejoice at the prospect of regaining you {for Christ}, sorrow because I fear that you will be suffocated by the world... The very thought thereof causes me to tremble and be beside myself! It is this that consumes my soul and allows me neither rest nor joy. For this reason I mourn, and truly go about in heaviness, and tearfully wish for death, for I do not consider it a gain to be saved all by myself, nor do I want to glorify God apart from you. If then my defense is sufficient, make your defense if you wish, and tell me on whose side you are. Establish your word with action, so that I may either have joy or else sorrow... But this is my hope as I invisibly look toward the Lord, and I pray that you will not lie, nor dissemble with words, but rather show in deed what you have promised in words.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", pp. 227-228)
Listen carefully and do not try to justify yourself, but humble yourself before God and say: "Lord, Who desires not the death of a sinner, but that he turn and live; Who came down to earth for this reason, that You might raise up those who were lying slain by sin and make them worthy to see -- so far as it is possible for man to see -- You, the true Light; send me a man who knows You so that, by serving and obeying him with all my strength as I would You, and by doing his will as I would Yours, I may be well-pleasing to You, the only God, and may be deemed worthy, even I a sinner, of Your Kingdom.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 96)
... constantly call on God, that He may show you a man who is able to direct you well, one whom you ought to obey as though he were God Himself, whose instruction you must carry out without hesitation... It is better for you to be called a disciple of a disciple rather than to live by your own devices and gather the worthless fruits of your own will... So, brother, do as we have said, and go to the man whom God shows you, either mystically in person, or externally through His servant.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 232)
... by the intellectual illumination of the Spirit {the truly penitent} obtains and sees a mediator and a shepherd and intercessor.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 367)
Nor should you circulate in search of famous monks, nor inquire into their lives. Rather, if by God's grace you have chanced on a spiritual father, tell only him about yourself. If not, but as seeing Christ, look always at Him and in all things keep Him alone as the One Who sees your sorrow and affliction.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p.95)
I give Thee thanks, because when I longed to see one of Thy saints and when I came to faith through him, I found mercy from Thee. Not only hast Thou done this, O Gracious One, by showing to me Thy true servant, that is, the blessed and holy Symeon {the Studite}, and wast pleased that he should love me, but hast also granted me thousands upon thousands of other blessings I did not hope for...
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 360)
God is fire and He is so called by all the inspired Scripture (cf. Heb. 12:29). The soul of each of us is a lamp. Now a lamp is wholly in darkness, even though it be filled with oil or tow or other combustible matter, until it receives fire and is kindled... The man whose soul's lamp is still in darkness, that is, untorched by the divine fire, stands the more in need of a guide with a shining torch who will discern his actions.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 339)
This taking form in us of the God Who truly is {Gal 4:19}, what is it if not surely to change and re-shape us, and transform us into the image of His divinity? We know that the holy Symeon the Pious ... became such a one, and we have been confirmed in this by experience itself...
Yet more: the lamp of our own soul was kindled by communication from his light, as flame from one lamp to another. We preserve [that flame] unquenched, are guarded by his prayers and intercessions, whence our faith in him is watered and grows, and -- I speak with boldness before God -- will grow yet more in the divine light until it bears fruit a hundredfold.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", 120-121)
Do not be alone by yourself, lest you be seen carried off by the world who destroys souls, or succumb to one disease after the other and so die spiritually, or, as you succumb, you attain to that woe (cf. Eccles. 4:10). He who gives himself in the hand of a good teacher will have no such worries, but will live without anxiety and be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 237)
{He who} has not the light of the Holy Spirit in him, can neither see his own actions properly nor have sure knowledge whether they are pleasing to God. He is unable either to lead others or to teach them... until he has the light shining in him. For Christ says, "Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes" (Jn. 12:35). If, then, he does not know where he goes, how will he show the way to others?
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 340)
Do you not tremble at guiding others to the divine light while remaining yourself deprived of it? Are you not afraid of shepherding others, you who are still sitting in darkness and do not possess that eye which sees the true light? Are you not ashamed to play the physician with others while you are yourself sick and incapable even of taking stock of your own wounds? So, tell me! Unless you have known yourself to be dispassionate and have discovered the dispassionate God dwelling within yourself, what other reason can you have for making so bold, for daring to insinuate yourself into the works of those who are dispassionate, into the ministrations of God's holy servants?
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 77)
... if by all these people... you were invited and besought with tears to accept the care of them, to pastor and edify them, before you had been exhorted to do so by God Who had arranged that you reign together with Him, and despising Him you abandon what is above and the eternal good things which He had given you in order to live here among what is corruptible and visible with those who have invited you, will He not justly deprive you of all the former and permit you to have your lot and your possessions only in the latter, both while you live and after your departure from the body?
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", pp. 140-141)
In truth those who have the skill properly to direct and heal rational souls are rare, and especially at the present time. Many, perhaps, have made a pretense of fasting and vigil and a form of godliness... As for learning many things by heart and teaching them in words, this is easy for most men, but as for eliminating the passions and acquiring the capital virtues so that they cannot be lost, very few are found [who do this]. Now we call "capital virtues" humility, which eliminates the passions and obtains heavenly and angelic impassibility, and love, which never ceases or fails (cf. 1 Cor. 13:8) but continually presses on to that which lies ahead (cf. Phil. 3:13-14) as it adds desire to desire and love to love. It supplies perfect discernment, and by itself is a good guide to those who follow after it and infallibly carries us across the spiritual sea... Do not follow the wolf instead of the shepherd (cf. Mt. 7:15), nor enter into a flock that is diseased (cf. Ezek. 34:4).
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 236-237)
©1999 by Deb Platt
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