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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On Symeon the New Theoogian
"The Source of Love in Him was the Presence of Jesus Christ"
H.H. Benedict XVI
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we pause to reflect on the figure of the Eastern monk Symeon the
New Theologian, whose writings exercised a noteworthy influence on the
theology and spirituality of the East, in particular, regarding the
experience of mystical union with God.
Symeon the New Theologian was born in 949 in Galatia, in Paphlagonia
(Asia Minor), of a noble provincial family. While still young, he went
to Constantinople to undertake studies and enter the emperor's service.
However, he felt little attracted to the civil career before him and,
under the influence of the interior illuminations he was experiencing,
he looked for a person who would direct him through his moment of doubts
and perplexities, and who would help him progress on the way to union
with God.
He found this spiritual guide in Symeon the Pious (Eulabes), a simple
monk of the Studion monastery in Constantinople, who gave him to read
the treatise "The Spiritual Law of Mark the Monk." In this text, Symeon
the New Theologian found a teaching that impressed him very much: "If
you seek spiritual healing," he read there, "be attentive to your
conscience. Do all that it tells you and you will find what is useful to
you." From that moment -- he himself says -- he never again lay down
without asking if his conscience had something for which to reproach
him.
Symeon entered the Studion monastery, where, however, his mystical
experiences and his extraordinary devotion toward the spiritual father
caused him difficulty. He transferred to the small convent of St.
Mammas, also in Constantinople, where, after three years, he became
director -- the higumeno. There he pursued an intense search of
spiritual union with Christ, which conferred on him great authority.
It is interesting to note that he was given there the name of "New
Theologian," notwithstanding the fact that tradition reserved the title
of "Theologian" to two personalities: John the Evangelist and Gregory of
Nazianzen. He suffered misunderstandings and exile, but was restored by
the Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius II.
Symeon the New Theologian spent the last phase of his life in the
monastery of St. Macrina, where he wrote the greater part of his works,
becoming ever more famous for his teachings and miracles. He died on
March 12, 1022.
His best known disciple, Nicetas Stathos, who compiled and re-copied
Symeon's writings, prepared a posthumous edition, followed by a
biography. Symeon's work includes nine volumes, which are divided in
theological, gnostic and practical chapters, three volumes of catechesis
addressed to monks, two volumes of theological and ethical treatises,
and a volume of hymns. Nor should we forget his numerous letters. All
these works have found an important place in the Eastern monastic
tradition down to our day.
Symeon focuses his reflection on the presence of the Holy Spirit in
those who are baptized and on the awareness they must have of this
spiritual reality. Christian life -- he stresses -- is intimate and
personal communion with God; divine grace illumines the believer's heart
and leads him to the mystical vision of the Lord. In this line, Symeon
the New Theologian insists on the fact that true knowledge of God stems
from a journey of interior purification, which begins with conversion of
heart, thanks to the strength of faith and love; passes through profound
repentance and sincere sorrow for one's sins; and arrives at union with
Christ, source of joy and peace, invaded by the light of his presence in
us. For Symeon, such an experience of divine grace is not an exceptional
gift for some mystics, but the fruit of baptism in the life of every
seriously committed faithful -- a point on which to reflect, dear
brothers and sisters!
This holy Eastern monk calls us all to attention to the spiritual life,
to the hidden presence of God in us, to honesty of conscience and
purification, to conversion of heart, so that the Holy Spirit will be
present in us and guide us. If in fact we are justly preoccupied about
taking care of our physical growth, it is even more important not to
neglect our interior growth, which consists in knowledge of God, in true
knowledge, not only taken from books, but interior, and in communion
with God, to experience his help at all times and in every circumstance.
Basically, this is what Symeon describes when he recounts his own
mystical experience. Already as a youth, before entering the monastery,
while prolonging his prayer at home one night, invoking God's help to
struggle against temptations, he saw the room filled with light. When he
later entered the monastery, he was given spiritual books to instruct
himself, but the readings did not give him the peace he was looking for.
He felt -- he recounts -- like a poor little bird without wings. He
accepted this situation with humility, did not rebel, and then the
visions of light began to multiply again. Wishing to be certain of their
authenticity, Symeon asked Christ directly: "Lord, are you yourself
really here?" He felt resonate in his heart an affirmative answer and
was greatly consoled. "That was, Lord," he wrote later, "the first time
you judged me, prodigal son, worthy to hear your voice." However, this
revelation did not leave him totally at peace either. He even wondered
if that experience should not be considered an illusion.
Finally, one day an essential event occurred for his mystical
experience. He began to feel like "a poor man who loves his brothers" (ptochos
philadelphos). He saw around him many enemies that wanted to set snares
for him and harm him but despite this he felt in himself an intense
movement of love for them. How to explain this? Obviously, such love
could not come from himself, but must spring from another source. Symeon
understood that it came from Christ present in him and all was clarified
for him: He had the sure proof that the source of love in him was the
presence of Christ and that to have in oneself a love that goes beyond
one's personal intentions indicates that the source of love is within.
Thus, on one hand, we can say that, without a certain openness to love,
Christ does not enter in us, but, on the other, Christ becomes the
source of love and transforms us.
Dear friends, this experience is very important for us, today, to find
the criteria that will indicate to us if we are really close to God, if
God exists and lives in us. God's love grows in us if we are really
united to him in prayer and in listening to his word, with openness of
heart. Only divine love makes us open our hearts to others and makes us
sensitive to their needs, making us regard everyone as brothers and
sisters and inviting us to respond with love to hatred, and with
forgiveness to offense.
Reflecting on the figure of Symeon the New Theologian, we can still find
a further element of his spirituality. In the path of ascetic life
proposed and followed by him, the intense attention and concentration of
the monk on the interior experience confers on the spiritual father of
the monastery an essential importance. The young Symeon himself, as has
been said, had found a spiritual director who greatly helped him and for
whom he had very great esteem, so much so that, after his death, he also
accorded him public veneration.
And I would like to say that this invitation continues to be valid for
all -- priests, consecrated persons and laypeople -- and especially for
young people -- to take recourse to the counsels of a good spiritual
father, capable of accompanying each one in profound knowledge of
oneself, and leading one to union with the Lord, so that one's life is
increasingly conformed to the Gospel. We always need a guide, dialogue,
to go to the Lord. We cannot do it with our reflections alone. And this
is also the meaning of the ecclesiality of our faith, of finding this
guide.
Thus, to conclude, we can summarize the teaching and mystical experience
of Symeon the New Theologian: In his incessant search for God, even in
the difficulties he met and the criticism made of him, he, in a word,
allowed himself to be guided by love. He was able to live personally and
to teach his monks that what is essential for every disciple of Jesus is
to grow in love and so we grow in knowledge of Christ himself, to be
able to say with St. Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then addressed the people in various languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s catechesis focuses on the life of Symeon, an Eastern monk known
as the "New Theologian". He was born in nine hundred and forty nine in
Asia Minor. As a young man, he moved to Constantinople to embark on a
career in the civil service but, during his studies, he was shown a work
called The Spiritual Law by Mark the Monk which completely changed his
life. It contained the phrase: "If you seek spiritual healing, be aware
of your conscience. Do everything it tells you and you will find what is
useful to you". From that day on, he made it his way of life always to
listen to his conscience. He became a monk and his life and writings,
collected afterwards by a disciple, reflect Symeon’s deep understanding
of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the life of all the
baptized. Symeon teaches us that Christian life is an intimate and
personal communion with God. True knowledge of God comes, not from
books, but from an interior purification through conversion of the
heart. For Symeon, union with Christ is not something extraordinary, but
the fruit of the baptism common to all Christians. Inspired by Symeon’s
life, let us pay greater attention to our spiritual life, seeking the
guidance we need to grow in the love of God.
I am pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims here this
morning, including the priests and brothers of the Society of Mary
gathered in Rome for their chapter, and the various schools and
university groups present. Upon you all, I willingly invoke God’s
abundant graces.
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