At the General Audience in Aula Paolo VI this morning, the Holy Father spoke about Symeon the New Theologian, as summarized in his English synthesis:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we shall reflect on the figure of an Oriental monk, Symeon the New Theologian, whose writings have had a remarkable influence on the theology and spirituality of the East, particularly about the experience of mystical union with God.
Symeon the New Theologian was born 949 in Galatai, to a noble povincial family of Paflagonia (Asia Minor). As a youth, he went to Constantinople to undertake his studies and to enter into the service of the Emperor.
But he felt little attraction to the prospect of a civil career, and under the influence of interior illuminations he had been experiencing, he set out to look for a person who could orient him, at a time when he was filled with doubts and perplexity, one who could help him to progress in the journey towards union with God.
He found this spiritual guide in Simeon (Eulabes) the Pious, a simple monk from the monastery of Studios in Constantinople, who had him read the tract Spiritual law by Mark the Monk.
In this text, Symeon found a teaching that impressed him very much: "If you seek spiritual healing," he read, "then look to your conscience. You will find what is useful in everything that it tells you is wrong".
From that moment, Symeon wrote, he never went to bed without asking if his conscience had anything to reproach him with.
Symeon entered the monastery of the Studites, where, however, his mystical experiences and his extraordinary devotion to his spiritual father caused difficulties.
He transferred to the small convent of St. Mamas, also in Constantinople, of which he became the egumen (father superior) after three years.
There, he carried on intense work on the question of spiritual union with Christ, work which gave him great authority. It is interesting to note that it was then he was given the appellation, 'the New Theologian', even if tradition had earlier reserved the title of theologian to only two figures: John the Evangelist and Gregory Nazianzene.
Subsequently, Symeon underwent misunderstandings and exile, but he was rehabilitated by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius II.
Symeon the New Theologian spent the last phase of his existence in the monastery of San Marina, where he wrote a large part of his works, becoming ever more famous for his teachings and his miracles. He died on March 12, 1022.
His best-known disciple, Niceta Stetatos, who collected and recopied the writings of Symeon, published a posthumous edition, and then wrote his biography.
Symeon's work comprises nine volumes divided into chapters on theology, gnosticism and practice; three volumes of Catecheses addressed to monks; two volumes of theological and ethical treatises; and a volume of hymns. Not to forget his numerous letters.
All these works have found an outstanding place in Oriental monastic tradition even to our day.
Symeon focused his reflection on the presence of the Holy Spirit in baptized persons and on the awareness that they should have of such a spiritual reality.
Christian life, he underscored, is intimate and personal communion with God: divine grace illuminates the heart of the believer, and leads him to a mystical vision of the Lord.
Along these lines, Symeon the New Theologian insists on the fact that true knowledge does not come from books, but from spiritual experience, from a spiritual life.
Knowledge of God arises from interior purification, which starts with the conversion of the heart, thanks to the power of faith and love - it passes through profound repentance and sincere sorrow for one's sins in order to reach union with Christ, source of joy and peace, who pervades us with the light of his presence in us.
For Symeon, such an experience of divine grace was not an exceptional gift for a few mystics, but the fruit of Baptism in the life of every faithful person who is seriously committed.
That is a point on which we should reflect, dear brothers and sisters. This holy Oriental monk calls our attention to the spiritual life, to the hidden presence of God in us, to sincerity of conscience and to purification, to conversion of the heart, in order that the Holy Spirit truly becomes present in us and guides us.
While we are rightly concerned with taking care of our physical, human and intellectual growth, it is even more important not to neglect our interior growth, which consists in knowing God, truly knowing him, not just from books, but interiorly and in communion with him, to experience his help at every moment and in every circumstance.
Basically, it is what Symeon describes when he recounts his own mystical experience. As a young man, before entering the monastery, one night when he was in extended prayer at home, asking God's help to fight temptations, he saw the room filled with light.
When he entered the monastery, he was given spiritual books to instruct him, but reading them did not bring him the peace he sought. He felt, he recalls, like a poor birdling without wings. He accepted the situation humbly, without rebelling, and then the visions of light started to multiply.
Wishing to assure himself of their authenticity, he asked Christ directly, "Lord, are you really here?" He felt the Yes resounding in his heart and was supremely comforted.
"That was the first time, Lord," he wrote, "that you judged me, your prodigal son, worthy of hearing your voice".
Nonetheless, not even this revelation could leave him totally at peace. He asked himself whether that experience was not just illusion. One day, finally, something happened that was fundamental for his mystical experience.
He had started feeling lkie 'a poor man who loves his brothers' (ptochós philádelphos). He saw around him many enemies who wanted to lay traps for him or do him evil, despite which he felt an intense transport of love for them. How to explain it?
Obviously, such love could not come from himself but must spout from another source. He understood then that it came from Christ present in him, and everything became clear to him: he had the sure proof that the source of love in him was the presence of Christ, and that to have such love in him that went beyond his own personal itnentions meant that the source was within him.
Thus, we can say on the one hand that without a certain openness to love, Christ does not enter us, but on the other hand, once he does, Christ becomes a source of love and transforms us.
Dear friends, this experience is even more important for us today in order to find the criteria that tell us if we are really close to God, if Gos is present and lives in us.
Love of God grows in us if we remain united to him in prayer and listening to his Word, if our heart opens up. Only divine love can make us open our heart to others and makes us sensitive to their needs - it makes us consider everyone as brothers and sisters, inviting us to respond to hate with love and to offenses with forgiveness.
Reflecting on this figure of Symeon the New Theologian, we can also identify another element of his spirituality. In the ascetic way of life that he proposed and followed, his strong attention and concentration on interior experience conferred an essential importance on the spiritual father of the monastery.
Symeon himself, when he was younger, as we mentioned, had found a spiritual director who helped him very much, and for whom he maintained the greatest esteem to the point that he venerated him publicly after the latter died.
I would like to say that for everyone - priests, consecrated persons and laymen, especially young people - the invitation to take counsel from a good spiritual father is valid for all, as a guide who can accompany each one as he gets to know his own self profoundly, and thus to lead him to union with the Lord so that his existence may conform ever more to the Gospel.
To go towards the Lord, we always need a guide, we always need dialog. We cannot do it with our own reflections alone. To find such a guide is also the meaning of ecclesiality in our faith.
In conclusion, we can synthesize the teaching and mystical experience of Symeon the New Theologian: in his incessant search for God, despite the difficulties he encountered and the criticisms he received, he let himself be guided by love.
He knew to live it himself and to teach his monks that the essential for every disciple of Christ is to grow in love, thus growing in the knowledge of Christ himself, so we can say with St. Paul: "I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2,20).