...continued from part four.
37. But what are we to do, brothers, we Christians and monks of this evil age—or, rather, we who are the refuse of Christians and monks? What are we to do, or what means are we to employ, in order to please God and be saved? Let us imitate the example of the God-pleasing life and conduct of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Symeon. For this is why we have gathered today to celebrate his venerable memory: not so much to honor him, because the transcendent honor and glory that he enjoys in the heavens are sufficient for him, and he does not need any further addition of honor and glory from us; rather, we celebrate the memory of the sacred Symeon so that we ourselves may benefit by imitating his life according to God. For thus Basil the Great instructs us:
“His memory, therefore, is sufficient for continual benefit. For those men have no need of an addition to their good repute; rather, remembrance is necessary for us who are in this life, for the sake of imitation. For just as giving light follows fire spontaneously, and fragrance follows perfume, so benefit necessarily follows good deeds.”³⁴
38. Did the divine Symeon have the fear of God in his soul, together with remembrance of death, judgment, and punishment? Let us likewise implant the divine fear in our hearts, and let us always remember death, judgment, and eternal punishment, so that through fear our flesh may be nailed down and not leap about under the influence of irrational passions, as the divine David said: “Nail down my flesh with Your fear” (Psalm 118:120, LXX). Through remembrance of the end of our days, let us also be restrained from sin. “Remember the end of your days,” says Sirach, “and you will never sin” (Wisdom of Sirach 7:36).
39. Did Saint Symeon keep the Lord’s commandments for the reward of the Kingdom of Heaven? Let us likewise keep the Lord’s commandments for the same reward, and let us work in the spiritual vineyard of the Lord’s commands. As we labor, let us not lose heart before the appointed hour and season; rather, let us endure the burden of the whole day and the heat until evening—that is, until the end of our life. Then the master of the house will give us the full reward for our toil.
“Wait, therefore, for the One who exalts rightly, O ascetic, and do not lose heart at all over present things. For you are an athlete and a laborer of Christ, having undertaken to compete throughout the whole day and to endure the heat of the entire day. Why, before you have even completed the measure of the day, are you pursuing rest? Wait for evening, the end of life here, so that when the master of the house comes, he may reckon your wages for you. ‘When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages”’ (Matthew 20:8); not in the middle of the day, nor at the beginning of the hiring. Wait, therefore, for the end of life, and then you will receive your wages worthily.”³⁵
40. Did Saint Symeon keep the commandments out of love for God, who commanded them? Let us do the same.
a) Because we are indebted to love God, since He first loved us, according to the beloved disciple: “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
b) Because God, in Himself, is worthy and more than worthy of all love, we ought to keep His commandments solely out of love for Him, and not for any reward or other end.
37. But what are we to do, brothers, we Christians and monks of this evil age—or, rather, we who are the refuse of Christians and monks? What are we to do, or what means are we to employ, in order to please God and be saved? Let us imitate the example of the God-pleasing life and conduct of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Symeon. For this is why we have gathered today to celebrate his venerable memory: not so much to honor him, because the transcendent honor and glory that he enjoys in the heavens are sufficient for him, and he does not need any further addition of honor and glory from us; rather, we celebrate the memory of the sacred Symeon so that we ourselves may benefit by imitating his life according to God. For thus Basil the Great instructs us:
“His memory, therefore, is sufficient for continual benefit. For those men have no need of an addition to their good repute; rather, remembrance is necessary for us who are in this life, for the sake of imitation. For just as giving light follows fire spontaneously, and fragrance follows perfume, so benefit necessarily follows good deeds.”³⁴
38. Did the divine Symeon have the fear of God in his soul, together with remembrance of death, judgment, and punishment? Let us likewise implant the divine fear in our hearts, and let us always remember death, judgment, and eternal punishment, so that through fear our flesh may be nailed down and not leap about under the influence of irrational passions, as the divine David said: “Nail down my flesh with Your fear” (Psalm 118:120, LXX). Through remembrance of the end of our days, let us also be restrained from sin. “Remember the end of your days,” says Sirach, “and you will never sin” (Wisdom of Sirach 7:36).
39. Did Saint Symeon keep the Lord’s commandments for the reward of the Kingdom of Heaven? Let us likewise keep the Lord’s commandments for the same reward, and let us work in the spiritual vineyard of the Lord’s commands. As we labor, let us not lose heart before the appointed hour and season; rather, let us endure the burden of the whole day and the heat until evening—that is, until the end of our life. Then the master of the house will give us the full reward for our toil.
“Wait, therefore, for the One who exalts rightly, O ascetic, and do not lose heart at all over present things. For you are an athlete and a laborer of Christ, having undertaken to compete throughout the whole day and to endure the heat of the entire day. Why, before you have even completed the measure of the day, are you pursuing rest? Wait for evening, the end of life here, so that when the master of the house comes, he may reckon your wages for you. ‘When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages”’ (Matthew 20:8); not in the middle of the day, nor at the beginning of the hiring. Wait, therefore, for the end of life, and then you will receive your wages worthily.”³⁵
40. Did Saint Symeon keep the commandments out of love for God, who commanded them? Let us do the same.
a) Because we are indebted to love God, since He first loved us, according to the beloved disciple: “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
b) Because God, in Himself, is worthy and more than worthy of all love, we ought to keep His commandments solely out of love for Him, and not for any reward or other end.
Thus, moved by such love to keep the divine commandments, David said: “And I meditated on Your commandments, which I loved exceedingly; and I lifted up my hands toward Your commandments, which I loved” (Psalm 118:47, LXX). If we love God in this way, then, since love is a reciprocal disposition, God will surely love us in return, as it is written concerning Wisdom: “I love those who love me” (Proverbs 8:17).
41. Did Symeon become a son of God by grace? Let us strive to become such as well.
a) Because the only-begotten Son of God became the Son of Man for this very purpose: that the sons of men might become sons of God. He gave those who believed in Him spiritual power to acquire divine adoption, as it is written: “But to all who received Him, He gave authority to become children of God” (John 1:12).
b) Because every birth, according to the natural order, always makes the one who gives birth resemble the one who is born. Since we Christians were born of the Holy Spirit, who is God by nature, through Holy Baptism, we are therefore obliged to resemble the Holy Spirit who gave us birth; that is to say, to resemble God who begot us, and consequently to be spiritual beings, gods, and sons of God by grace, as the Lord said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
42. Did the sacred Symeon become the brother and mother of Christ, as we have demonstrated? Let us also take care to become such, for this is by no means impossible. It has happened, is happening, and will happen to us as well, if we keep the commandments of Christ, as He teaches us and as the great Symeon himself experienced.
To speak briefly: just as the great Symeon trampled upon all earthly things and rose above them through his angelic and superhuman way of life, and was thus deemed worthy to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit actively in his heart, so we too, if we trample upon earthly things and rise above them, can then receive the Holy Spirit. This is affirmed by Basil, the heaven-revealing one. For, interpreting that passage of Isaiah which says, “He who established the earth and the things upon it, and gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it” (Isaiah 42:5), he says: “For those who trample upon earthly things and rise above them have been attested as worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit.”³⁶
For the entire reason why we Christians and monks today are not deemed worthy of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we are attached to and love the corruptible and temporary things of this present world, and admire them rather than despising them, as is fitting.
43. Therefore, just as a prudent father, when he sees his children admiring the smallest and most worthless things, such as little cakes, pebbles, toys, and similar objects, does not entrust his wealth to them, because, not knowing its value, they despise it and lose it, but gives it to them when he sees that they have acquired mature understanding and despise childish things, so God likewise does not entrust us with the wealth of His gifts. He sees how, like ignorant little children, we admire these temporary and vain things and do not love those spiritual and heavenly things as mature men should. For if He were to give us His wealth, we would despise it and easily lose it, and thereby suffer even greater punishment.
Thus the eloquent and melodious tongue of Chrysostom affirms:
“He who admires present things would never be deemed worthy of the vision of the things to come; but he who looks down upon these things and considers them to be no better than a shadow and a dream will quickly attain those great and spiritual things. For we too show the wealth befitting men to our children when we see that they have become men and look down upon all childish things; but as long as they admire those things, we consider them unworthy of them.”³⁷
44. Above all, let us continually read the most soul-profiting and milk-and-honey-flowing book of Symeon the Theologian: the treasury of the virtues, the hospital of the passions, the invocation of divine grace, the trumpet of deification, the guide to perfection, the summit of theology, the depth of the divine economy, the breadth of creation, the length of providence, the treasure of neptic philosophy, the school of noetic prayer, and the treasury of mystical doctrines.
For in this book, as in a pure mirror, we see the ugliness of our souls, the passions of our hearts, our evil inclinations, and our shortcomings. We, who previously imagined through our ignorance and conceit that we were something, have learned from this book that we are nothing. We, who boasted only of our external and bodily virtues—or, rather, of the instruments and means of virtue—learn from this book that outwardly we are dispassionate but inwardly subject to the passions; outwardly monks but inwardly worldly; outwardly Christians but inwardly opposed to Christ; outwardly spiritual but inwardly carnal. For we do not possess the true virtues, which are those of the soul and the spirit.
In short, through the book of Saint Symeon, we who previously imagined that we had attained perfection learn that we have not yet even approached the beginning of perfection. Consequently, we reproach ourselves and humble ourselves, and through this humility perhaps God will show us mercy.
45. But O God-bearing, Christ-bearing, and Spirit-bearing Father Symeon, New Theologian, boast of the venerable ones, glorious praise of the priests, delight of the Theologians, first teacher of the practical method of noetic prayer, you who glorified God and were glorified by God during your life—and who glorified Him far more and were glorified by Him after death—you who are an earthly angel and a heavenly man, the spiritual joy and gladness of soul of us, your humble slaves and unworthy sons, who celebrate your sacred and light-bearing memory with reverence and longing: accept this present hymn of praise, which we offer to you as a paltry and very small gift in return for the great gifts that we have all enjoyed from you and from your sacred book of theology. Do not judge it unworthy of your magnificence, for we are altogether unable to praise you worthily, you who are such a great and eminent Theologian.
In this present life, protect us through your intercessions from every spiritual and bodily harm caused by visible and invisible enemies, ceaselessly entreating the Triune God to deem us, the humble, worthy of inwardly experiencing in our hearts the noetic operations, movements, and blessed passions of the divine grace of the Holy Spirit, which—alas!—we have lost through our negligence and passions.
In the life to come, deliver us through your powerful intercessions from the fearful condemnation and eternal punishment, and deem us worthy of everlasting blessedness in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are due all glory, honor, and worship, together with His Father, who is without beginning, and His all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Notes:
34. Homily 18, On Gordios the Martyr, 2, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 31, 492C–493A.
35. Ascetic Constitutions, 24, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 31, 1413A–B.
36. On the Holy Spirit, 22, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 32, 168C.
37. To Sthelechios, and Discourse II on Compunction, 2, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 47, 414.
Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
41. Did Symeon become a son of God by grace? Let us strive to become such as well.
a) Because the only-begotten Son of God became the Son of Man for this very purpose: that the sons of men might become sons of God. He gave those who believed in Him spiritual power to acquire divine adoption, as it is written: “But to all who received Him, He gave authority to become children of God” (John 1:12).
b) Because every birth, according to the natural order, always makes the one who gives birth resemble the one who is born. Since we Christians were born of the Holy Spirit, who is God by nature, through Holy Baptism, we are therefore obliged to resemble the Holy Spirit who gave us birth; that is to say, to resemble God who begot us, and consequently to be spiritual beings, gods, and sons of God by grace, as the Lord said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
42. Did the sacred Symeon become the brother and mother of Christ, as we have demonstrated? Let us also take care to become such, for this is by no means impossible. It has happened, is happening, and will happen to us as well, if we keep the commandments of Christ, as He teaches us and as the great Symeon himself experienced.
To speak briefly: just as the great Symeon trampled upon all earthly things and rose above them through his angelic and superhuman way of life, and was thus deemed worthy to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit actively in his heart, so we too, if we trample upon earthly things and rise above them, can then receive the Holy Spirit. This is affirmed by Basil, the heaven-revealing one. For, interpreting that passage of Isaiah which says, “He who established the earth and the things upon it, and gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it” (Isaiah 42:5), he says: “For those who trample upon earthly things and rise above them have been attested as worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit.”³⁶
For the entire reason why we Christians and monks today are not deemed worthy of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we are attached to and love the corruptible and temporary things of this present world, and admire them rather than despising them, as is fitting.
43. Therefore, just as a prudent father, when he sees his children admiring the smallest and most worthless things, such as little cakes, pebbles, toys, and similar objects, does not entrust his wealth to them, because, not knowing its value, they despise it and lose it, but gives it to them when he sees that they have acquired mature understanding and despise childish things, so God likewise does not entrust us with the wealth of His gifts. He sees how, like ignorant little children, we admire these temporary and vain things and do not love those spiritual and heavenly things as mature men should. For if He were to give us His wealth, we would despise it and easily lose it, and thereby suffer even greater punishment.
Thus the eloquent and melodious tongue of Chrysostom affirms:
“He who admires present things would never be deemed worthy of the vision of the things to come; but he who looks down upon these things and considers them to be no better than a shadow and a dream will quickly attain those great and spiritual things. For we too show the wealth befitting men to our children when we see that they have become men and look down upon all childish things; but as long as they admire those things, we consider them unworthy of them.”³⁷
44. Above all, let us continually read the most soul-profiting and milk-and-honey-flowing book of Symeon the Theologian: the treasury of the virtues, the hospital of the passions, the invocation of divine grace, the trumpet of deification, the guide to perfection, the summit of theology, the depth of the divine economy, the breadth of creation, the length of providence, the treasure of neptic philosophy, the school of noetic prayer, and the treasury of mystical doctrines.
For in this book, as in a pure mirror, we see the ugliness of our souls, the passions of our hearts, our evil inclinations, and our shortcomings. We, who previously imagined through our ignorance and conceit that we were something, have learned from this book that we are nothing. We, who boasted only of our external and bodily virtues—or, rather, of the instruments and means of virtue—learn from this book that outwardly we are dispassionate but inwardly subject to the passions; outwardly monks but inwardly worldly; outwardly Christians but inwardly opposed to Christ; outwardly spiritual but inwardly carnal. For we do not possess the true virtues, which are those of the soul and the spirit.
In short, through the book of Saint Symeon, we who previously imagined that we had attained perfection learn that we have not yet even approached the beginning of perfection. Consequently, we reproach ourselves and humble ourselves, and through this humility perhaps God will show us mercy.
45. But O God-bearing, Christ-bearing, and Spirit-bearing Father Symeon, New Theologian, boast of the venerable ones, glorious praise of the priests, delight of the Theologians, first teacher of the practical method of noetic prayer, you who glorified God and were glorified by God during your life—and who glorified Him far more and were glorified by Him after death—you who are an earthly angel and a heavenly man, the spiritual joy and gladness of soul of us, your humble slaves and unworthy sons, who celebrate your sacred and light-bearing memory with reverence and longing: accept this present hymn of praise, which we offer to you as a paltry and very small gift in return for the great gifts that we have all enjoyed from you and from your sacred book of theology. Do not judge it unworthy of your magnificence, for we are altogether unable to praise you worthily, you who are such a great and eminent Theologian.
In this present life, protect us through your intercessions from every spiritual and bodily harm caused by visible and invisible enemies, ceaselessly entreating the Triune God to deem us, the humble, worthy of inwardly experiencing in our hearts the noetic operations, movements, and blessed passions of the divine grace of the Holy Spirit, which—alas!—we have lost through our negligence and passions.
In the life to come, deliver us through your powerful intercessions from the fearful condemnation and eternal punishment, and deem us worthy of everlasting blessedness in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are due all glory, honor, and worship, together with His Father, who is without beginning, and His all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Notes:
34. Homily 18, On Gordios the Martyr, 2, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 31, 492C–493A.
35. Ascetic Constitutions, 24, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 31, 1413A–B.
36. On the Holy Spirit, 22, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 32, 168C.
37. To Sthelechios, and Discourse II on Compunction, 2, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 47, 414.
Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
