SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN

SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN, abbot, theologian, mystic, St. (949–1022). Symeon was abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas from ca. 980–1005. A figure of remarkable gifts and no less remarkable controversy during his lifetime, he has been called the greatest of Byzantine mystics. Throughout his writings, The Catecheses, The Ethical Discourses, The Hymns, The Theological Orations, and The Theological Chapters, he laid primary emphasis on the conscious experience of the Holy Spirit (q.v.), and that experience particularly in the form of light. Though canonized thirty years after his death, Symeon’s continual struggles with church authorities led to the effective suppression of his works and thought-save for the underground admirers, unquestionably strong among the monks, who preserved them-until the hesychast movement of the 14th c. His influence is quite discernible in Gregory Palamas (q.v.), though the latter very seldom quotes him directly. Manuscript evidence is such as to prove that he was widely read in the monasteries in the 14th-15th c. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (q.v.) revived attention to his works at the end of the 18th c.