Galatia, Asia Minor (modern Turkey)·949 – 1022
Συμεών
St. Symeon the New Theologian
The Singer of Divine Light
He demanded experience, not explanation, of God.
“Do not say that it is impossible to receive the Spirit of God. Do not say that God is not manifest to man. Do not say that men cannot perceive the divine light. It is never impossible, my friends.”
Life
Born around 949 in Galatia, Asia Minor, into a provincial noble family, Symeon was sent to Constantinople for education and a career at the imperial court. At fourteen, he encountered the elder Symeon the Studite, whose spiritual guidance ignited a fire that would never go out.
After years of worldly life and inner struggle, he entered the Studios monastery and was eventually appointed abbot of St. Mamas monastery. His insistence that monks must have direct experience of God — not merely observe rules — brought him into fierce conflict with the ecclesiastical establishment. He was exiled in 1009.
In exile, he continued writing his Hymns of Divine Love — ecstatic poems describing his encounters with the uncreated light. He died in 1022. He is one of only three figures in Orthodox tradition given the title “Theologian” — meaning one who has directly known God.
One Heart
“He who possesses the Holy Spirit within, even in the smallest measure, possesses the whole of Christ.”
Teachings
The Necessity of Direct Experience
Faith without conscious experience of God is incomplete. Every believer is called to know God directly — to see the divine light with one’s own inner eyes, in this life, not only after death.
The Divine Light
God manifests as uncreated light — not metaphorical but real. This light was seen by the apostles on Tabor and is available to every purified soul. Symeon himself experienced it repeatedly and described it in vivid, ecstatic poetry.
Tears as Grace
Weeping in prayer — the gift of tears — is a sign of the Spirit’s work. The tears wash the soul and prepare it for the vision of light.
Works & Publications
Hymns of Divine Love
Ecstatic poems describing his direct encounters with divine light — among the most intense mystical poetry in any tradition.
The Discourses (Catecheses)
Talks to his monks on the necessity of conscious experience of God.
The Ethical Discourses
Extended teachings on the transformation of the soul through divine encounter.
An Inspiration
Symeon’s insistence that God must be directly experienced — not merely believed in — echoes the Advaitic teaching that Self-knowledge is not intellectual but a matter of direct recognition.