...continue from part two.
23. The FOURTH degree of those who are being saved is to become a son of God by grace, as we have said. Venerable Symeon certainly attained this degree for two reasons.
25. Furthermore, it is characteristic of sons to call upon the name of their heavenly Father in their hearts, with the greatest sweetness and love, through noetic and heartfelt prayer, as Paul says: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery, leading again to fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry out: Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). Since Symeon not only continually called upon the name of his heavenly Father in his heart, but also, through noetic prayer, embraced his most loving Father as a true child and conversed with Him without ceasing, saying, “My beloved Jesus, my sweetest Jesus,” he also prepared his other brethren to say these words, teaching them and being the first to set down the manner and practical method of noetic prayer in his 68th Discourse.¹⁹ Who, then, can doubt that the divine Symeon became a son of God by grace through all these things?
26. The FIFTH degree belongs to those who are deemed worthy of becoming brothers of Christ. Some are called brothers of Christ in four ways.
23. The FOURTH degree of those who are being saved is to become a son of God by grace, as we have said. Venerable Symeon certainly attained this degree for two reasons.
a) He had the grace of the Holy Spirit perceptibly at work within his heart, and he was guided and governed not by the spirit of the flesh and the world, but by the Holy Spirit. This is clearer than the sun itself. Indeed, scarcely a single word, or rather, scarcely a page or passage in his writings, can be found that does not confirm this truth. Since, as Paul says, those who are guided by the Holy Spirit are sons of God—“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14)—Saint Symeon, too, was therefore a son of God by grace.
b) It is characteristic of sons to remain always in their father's house, whereas slaves, by contrast, do not remain there forever, as the Lord said: “The slave does not remain in the house, but the son remains forever” (John 8:35). Even during his temporal life, the divine Symeon remained in the house of God the Father, observing every commandment of his heavenly Father and fulfilling all His paternal wishes and commandments. By doing so, he became worthy of remaining forever in the Father's dwelling. After his death, he became the true heir of that same paternal house and of the Kingdom of Heaven, as a most genuine son, according to Paul's words: “And if children, then heirs” (Romans 8:17).
24. From this, then, it is also demonstrated that Saint Symeon truly attained the rank of the sons of God. I shall leave aside the fact that the Venerable Symeon, having been actively freed from the passions through the grace of the Son of God, thereby showed himself to be a son of God, since perfect freedom from the passions is characteristic not of slaves, but of the sons of God, as the Lord said: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin ... If, therefore, the Son sets you free, you will truly be free” (John 8:34–36).25. Furthermore, it is characteristic of sons to call upon the name of their heavenly Father in their hearts, with the greatest sweetness and love, through noetic and heartfelt prayer, as Paul says: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery, leading again to fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry out: Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). Since Symeon not only continually called upon the name of his heavenly Father in his heart, but also, through noetic prayer, embraced his most loving Father as a true child and conversed with Him without ceasing, saying, “My beloved Jesus, my sweetest Jesus,” he also prepared his other brethren to say these words, teaching them and being the first to set down the manner and practical method of noetic prayer in his 68th Discourse.¹⁹ Who, then, can doubt that the divine Symeon became a son of God by grace through all these things?
26. The FIFTH degree belongs to those who are deemed worthy of becoming brothers of Christ. Some are called brothers of Christ in four ways.
a) All human beings without distinction are called brothers of Christ according to their common human nature, because the Son of God, having assumed the whole of human nature into His divine hypostasis—a nature shared by all human beings—thereby made all human beings His brothers, even if they do not believe in Him. Paul, declaring this, said: “For surely He does not take hold of angels, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham. Hence He was obliged to become like His brothers in all things ...” (Hebrews 2:16–17).
b) Those related to Christ according to His human nature are also called His brothers, such as James, Joses, Judas, and Symeon, concerning whom it is written, “For His brothers did not believe in Him either” (John 7:5).
c) All those who have believed in Christ are called brothers of Christ, being sons by grace of the Most High Father.
d) Finally, all the Saints are called brothers of Christ, having become conformed to the image of the Son of God, as Paul says: “Those whom ... He foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). Now, if the divine Symeon became conformed to the image and manner of life of the Son of God, and clothed himself in Christ as in a radiant garment, as his entire life bears witness and his divinely wise writings proclaim more brilliantly than any trumpet, then he most certainly became a brother of Christ as well.
27. Accordingly, although Christ the Master is Lord of all by the very nature of His divinity, He would most certainly not have been ashamed, in His condescension, to call the Venerable Symeon His beloved brother, since Symeon had done the will of His Father. For Christ was not ashamed to call His brothers those who listened to His teaching and did the will of His heavenly Father, as we stated at the beginning, following the Evangelist Matthew. Nor was He ashamed to call His Holy Apostles His brothers, when He said to the Magdalene, “Go to My brothers” (John 20:17). Since, then, the Venerable Symeon became a brother of Christ, it followed that he should also become a partaker and co-heir with Christ of the one and same inheritance belonging to the two brothers of the heavenly Father: Christ by nature, and Symeon by grace, as we stated earlier, following Paul: “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
28. For this was the entire purpose and conclusion of the incarnate Dispensation of the Son of God: namely, to make His own heavenly Father, who is His Father by nature, the Father of human beings by grace. Since He alone was begotten from the Father without beginning and before the ages as the Only-begotten Son, He willed, as a kind of thanksgiving for this incomprehensible sonship that He had received from His consubstantial and beloved Father, to become incarnate in these last days and to make human beings, too, adopted sons by grace of that same heavenly Father. In this way, He also enlarged the dignity of adoption and fatherhood, so that the heavenly Father, having many sons and being called the Father of many children, might be more greatly pleased, magnified, and glorified. This is the meaning of that tradition concerning the Kingdom mentioned by Paul: that the Son of God presents to God and Father the people who are ruled by Him, having deemed them worthy of that adoption: “Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:24). Particularly fitting here is another saying of Paul concerning Jesus, the Son of God: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, having brought many sons to glory, to perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).
29. That the divine Symeon also attained the SIXTH and highest degree of those who are being saved, and was deemed worthy of becoming a mother of Christ, is not something we assert on our own authority. Rather, let Symeon himself come forward once again and demonstrate this to us through what he writes in his 57th Discourse, which reads as follows:
19. See the volume of the Collected Works, edition of Vasilios Rigopoulos, Thessaloniki, 1969, pp. 364–369. This discourse, Method of Sacred Prayer and Attention, was first published by Irénée Hausherr S.J. in Orientalia Christiana IX, 2 (1927), issue 36, pp. 150–172. Modern researchers, however, regard it not as a work of Saint Symeon, but as the work of another, unknown author of the thirteenth century.
20. See the volume of the Collected Works, p. 300. We present the passage in its original form, from the edition of J. Darrouzès, A.A., Sources Chrétiennes 129, pp. 320–324, Paris, 1967, where it is classified as the Tenth Ethical Discourse.
PART FOUR
27. Accordingly, although Christ the Master is Lord of all by the very nature of His divinity, He would most certainly not have been ashamed, in His condescension, to call the Venerable Symeon His beloved brother, since Symeon had done the will of His Father. For Christ was not ashamed to call His brothers those who listened to His teaching and did the will of His heavenly Father, as we stated at the beginning, following the Evangelist Matthew. Nor was He ashamed to call His Holy Apostles His brothers, when He said to the Magdalene, “Go to My brothers” (John 20:17). Since, then, the Venerable Symeon became a brother of Christ, it followed that he should also become a partaker and co-heir with Christ of the one and same inheritance belonging to the two brothers of the heavenly Father: Christ by nature, and Symeon by grace, as we stated earlier, following Paul: “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
28. For this was the entire purpose and conclusion of the incarnate Dispensation of the Son of God: namely, to make His own heavenly Father, who is His Father by nature, the Father of human beings by grace. Since He alone was begotten from the Father without beginning and before the ages as the Only-begotten Son, He willed, as a kind of thanksgiving for this incomprehensible sonship that He had received from His consubstantial and beloved Father, to become incarnate in these last days and to make human beings, too, adopted sons by grace of that same heavenly Father. In this way, He also enlarged the dignity of adoption and fatherhood, so that the heavenly Father, having many sons and being called the Father of many children, might be more greatly pleased, magnified, and glorified. This is the meaning of that tradition concerning the Kingdom mentioned by Paul: that the Son of God presents to God and Father the people who are ruled by Him, having deemed them worthy of that adoption: “Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:24). Particularly fitting here is another saying of Paul concerning Jesus, the Son of God: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, having brought many sons to glory, to perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).
29. That the divine Symeon also attained the SIXTH and highest degree of those who are being saved, and was deemed worthy of becoming a mother of Christ, is not something we assert on our own authority. Rather, let Symeon himself come forward once again and demonstrate this to us through what he writes in his 57th Discourse, which reads as follows:
“Blessed is the one who has beheld the Light of the world formed within himself, for he himself, having Christ as an embryo, will be reckoned His mother, just as that truthful One Himself promised, saying, ‘These are My mother and brothers and friends.’ Who are they? ‘Those who hear the word of God and do it.’ Thus, those who do not keep the commandments willingly deprive themselves of such grace, since this is possible: it was, is, and will be; it has happened, is happening, and will happen to all those who fulfill His commandments.Notes:But, so that we may not be suspected of leaving this matter without testimony, of saying something on our own authority, or of declaring impossible things to be possible, let us once again bring forward blessed Paul himself, the mouth of Christ, who clearly demonstrates this by saying, ‘Little children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.’ Where, then, does he say that Christ will be formed, or in what place and part of our body? Do you suppose it is in the forehead, or in the face, or in the chest? Certainly not, but within, in our heart. Did you perhaps suppose that He is formed bodily? Far from it! He is indeed formed, but incorporeally and in a manner befitting God. Nevertheless, just as a woman clearly knows when she is pregnant that the infant leaps in her womb, and could never be unaware that she has it within herself, so too the one who has Christ formed within himself knows His movements, that is, His illuminations, and is by no means unaware of His stirrings, that is, His flashes of light, and beholds His formation within himself. It is like the light of a lamp appearing within a mirror: not as an unsubstantial phantom, such as the reflection itself is, but as a light manifesting itself in its own hypostasis and substantial reality, seen invisibly in a formless form and understood incomprehensibly in an imageless image."²⁰
19. See the volume of the Collected Works, edition of Vasilios Rigopoulos, Thessaloniki, 1969, pp. 364–369. This discourse, Method of Sacred Prayer and Attention, was first published by Irénée Hausherr S.J. in Orientalia Christiana IX, 2 (1927), issue 36, pp. 150–172. Modern researchers, however, regard it not as a work of Saint Symeon, but as the work of another, unknown author of the thirteenth century.
20. See the volume of the Collected Works, p. 300. We present the passage in its original form, from the edition of J. Darrouzès, A.A., Sources Chrétiennes 129, pp. 320–324, Paris, 1967, where it is classified as the Tenth Ethical Discourse.
PART FOUR
