ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
On divine radiance and the illumination of the Holy Spirit; and that God is the one place in which, after death, all the saints have their rest; and that whoever falls away from God will not have rest in the life to come, in any other place.
What was the transformation that came upon this father, and how, having been purified to the utmost, he was united to God, and what he became from what he had been — his love-filled words toward God show this here; wherein, also theologizing, he speaks toward the end concerning the angels.
Alphabet of the same father, twofold according to each letter, exhorting and guiding the one newly withdrawn from the world to run forward to the perfection of life.
That the one who has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and who is seized by its light and power, is borne above all the passions, without being harmed by their nearness.
論凡成為聖靈之分享者、且被其光與能力所攫取者，皆被舉起於一切情之上，不因其逼近而受害。
1:11
Ὅτιὁθάνατοςτῇλύπῃκαίτῶνστερροτέρωνκαθάπτεται
That death, through grief, lays hold even of those who are more steadfast.
Theology concerning the oneness in all respects of the Godhead in three hypostases; and words through which, using humility, he speaks concerning himself, rebuking the presumption of those who think themselves to be something.
Thanksgiving to God for the gifts of which he was deemed worthy by Him; and that the dignity of priesthood and of the office of abbot is fearful even to angels.
How, beholding the glory of God, he was made to work by the All-holy Spirit; and that the Divine is both within and outside the whole, yet also graspable and ungraspable to those who are worthy; and that we are the house of David; and that Christ our God, becoming many in his members, is one and the same, and remains undivided.
Precise theology concerning the incomprehensible and uncircumscribed Godhead; and that the divine nature, being uncircumscribed, is neither within nor outside the whole, but both within and outside as the cause of all things; and that the Divine is graspable to man only according to the mind, and ungraspably so, as the sun's rays are to the eyes.
Through what he writes in the present discourse, confessing, he shows the depth of his own humility; and, proceeding further, he teaches it to one who had attained the measure of perfection and had been deemed worthy of such revelations in contemplation — imitating in this too the divine Paul, who called himself a sinner and unworthy to be called an apostle.
Concerning the contemplation of the divine light that came upon him, and how the divine light is not overtaken by darkness; wherein also, being astonished on account of the abundance of the revelations, he recalls human weakness and condemns himself.
That the one still living in ignorance of God is dead in the midst of those living in the knowledge of God; and that for those who partake of the mysteries unworthily, the divine body and blood of Christ becomes ungraspable.
That the things of divine matters are manifest only to those to whom, through participation in the Holy Spirit, God has been united wholly to their whole being.
To one of his disciples: that when the divine fire of the Spirit touches souls purified through tears and repentance, it seizes them and purifies them yet more, illuminating the parts of them darkened by sin, and, healing their wounds, brings them to complete scarring-over, so that they blaze forth with divine beauty beyond all measure.
That the glorious of the earth, and those puffed up by wealth, wander about the shadow of visible things, but those who have despised the things present come to be in unwandering participation of the Divine Spirit.
Concerning theology; and that those who have preserved the image trample upon the evil powers of the ruler of darkness, while the others, whose life is subject to passion, are held fast and ruled by him.
That the union of the All-holy Spirit with purified souls occurs in distinct perception, that is, in full knowledge; and in whomever it occurs, it renders them light-formed, like itself, and makes them light.
That longing and love toward God surpass all human love and all human longing; and the mind of those being purified, dyed in the light of God, is wholly deified, and thenceforth is called the mind of Christ.
40. ... Confession of the grace of God's gifts; and how the father who writes these things was made to work by the Holy Spirit; and teaching spoken by God, of what one must do in order to attain the salvation of those who are being saved.
Thanksgiving to God for the benefits that have come from Him, and a request to learn why those who have become perfect are permitted to be tempted by demons; and teaching and instruction, spoken by God, concerning those who renounce the world.
That those who from this present time have already been united to God through participation in the Holy Spirit will, upon departing this life, be with Him forever thereafter; but if not, the reverse will then happen to those who here are otherwise disposed.
That it is better to be well shepherded than to shepherd those who are unwilling; for there will be no profit for the one who is zealous to save others but destroys himself through the care of them.
What the 'according to the image' is, and how man is fittingly understood as the image of the archetype; and that the one who loves his enemies as benefactors is an imitator of God, and, having thereby become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, becomes god by adoption and by grace, being known only to those who are worked upon by the Holy Spirit.
That glory and honor for every man who is insulted and suffers evil for the sake of God's commandment is the very dishonor he suffers for the sake of that commandment of God itself; and a dialogue with his own soul, teaching the unfailing wealth of the Spirit.
That there are times when, through care for and correction of one's neighbor, the teacher is also dragged down into the weakness of the passion bound up with that person.
That when the Holy Spirit shines in us, all the things of the passions are put to flight, as darkness by light; but when it withdraws its rays, we are struck by these and by evil thoughts.
Concerning theology; and that it is not permitted for one who has not been transformed by participation in the Holy Spirit, and has not become god by adoption in knowledge, to teach divine things to men.
The discourse follows the manner of speech of God and of the father of these words; and how, illumined by the Holy Spirit, this divine father conversed with God and was initiated by Him into things both divine and human.
That God has given to each man, suitably and for his benefit, the charism through the Holy Spirit for him to exercise — not as he himself wishes, but as it has been foreordained by Him — so that the midst of His church may not be left empty.
The very exalting and lofty character of the things written here — that which is beyond perception — as well as the height of the theology and the depth of the direct knowledge of these matters, is not, I think, comprehensible or readily accessible to all; for, being illumined on every side by the divine manifestations of the unapproachable light, and being above all human understanding, it therefore requires, for the comprehension of what is contained within it, those whose soul's perceptive faculties have been strengthened by the vigor of reason, and whose mind has been winged aloft by the breeze of the Spirit, and who clearly possess an understanding that plunges wholly, entirely, into the heavens and the depths of God.
...to forewarn beforehand those wishing to peer into the discourse here, lest, through inexperienced application to the depths of the Spirit, and through an untrained condition and understanding concerning divine things, some of them should draw upon themselves harm rather than benefit, apprehending divine things and things beyond perception badly and inexpertly.
One must know, then, that the man who chooses to peer into the writings of theological men, and who is driven by love to this reading, must first, being a man of faith, flee the world and the things in the world altogether, in body and in spirit, and hate the sin that clings to matter, away from the soul, and shake off the fleeting enjoyment of pleasures; and accordingly lay a good foundation upon the firm-set rock of faith through the practice and work of Christ's commandments, and skillfully build upon it the house of the virtues, and strip off the old man, corrupted according to his desires, and put on the man being renewed unto Christ — having plainly arrived at maturity and, by such perfection as is rightly attainable, having ascended to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; and further, to be purified beforehand and illumined beforehand and made radiant in spirit, and to behold all creation beforehand with the pure eye of the mind, and to learn and discern beforehand, clearly, its principles and movements, and to be outside the visible things of this lowly state, indeed above all flesh and perception; and from this, having clearly opened his mouth, to draw by power the grace of the Spirit, and from there to be filled with good light, and, according to the measure of the sacred manifestations that have come to be in him through purification, to theologize clearly from above — and thus, being clear-sighted in understanding, to peer into the things written here, I mean the labors of the most exalted and most theological understanding of the most blessed and thrice-blessed father Symeon.
As for the one who is still dragged down by breast and belly — I mean, by earthly thoughts and his material desires — bound moreover by the bonds of the world's deceiving perception, being impure and having the perceptive faculties of his understanding grievously crippled, we affirm in advance that he must not dare to read the things written here, lest he suffer the same blindness as one who, with rheum upon his eyes, gazes fixedly into the sun's rays, and lose besides even the dim sight that remains to his eyes; for one must first be purified of all weakness and rheum of the thoughts, and only thus converse with and draw near to the sun that shines purely and beyond all measure into infinity — whether this sun that appears to the senses and to us, or the sun of righteousness, and the rays of words and thoughts sent forth from it. For it belongs only to those to survey the depths of the Spirit who, through utmost purification, have been illumined by the infinite light of God and possess an understanding and a soul alike wholly radiant; but for the rest, it is beneficial and fitting to beat their breasts and call down mercy from above.
...as Lord of lords, as Holy of holies, as eternal, as He who is, and as cause of the ages; as provider of life, as wisdom, as mind, as word, as knower, as surpassing all the treasuries of all knowledge, as power, as sovereign, as King of kings, as Ancient of Days, as unaging and unchangeable; as salvation, as righteousness, as sanctification, as redemption, as surpassing all things in greatness, and as in a gentle breeze; and that He is, in souls and in bodies and in minds, in heaven and on earth, at once and the same, worldly, around the world, above the world, above the heavens, above being itself, sun, star, fire, water, spirit, dew, cloud, the very stone and rock, all things that are, and none of the things that are.
Whence also that same Dionysius, so versed in things divine, in his treatise On the Divine Names, bearing witness through what he writes to the manner and the ecstasy toward God of this God-inspired father, speaks in this way: 'Thus, then, to the Cause of all things, which is also above all things, both the nameless name and all the names of the things that are will be fittingly applied, so that it may precisely be the kingdom of all things, and that all things may be around it, and dependent upon it as cause, as origin, as end, and that it, according to the oracle, may be all things in all, and may truly be hymned as the substantive foundation of all.'
And a little further on: 'But it has, simply and without limit, comprehended within itself beforehand all things that are, by the all-perfect goodnesses of its one and all-causing providence, and is harmoniously hymned and named from all the things that are.'
And indeed, the theologians uphold not only these divine appellations, those from the all-perfect or the partial providences, or from those provided for, but also, from certain divine apparitions that have at times shone upon the initiates or the prophets in the holy sanctuaries or elsewhere, according to various causes and powers, they name the super-luminous and super-nominal Goodness, and they attribute to it human, or fiery, or amber-like forms and figures, and hymn its eyes and ears and locks of hair and faces and hands and shoulders and wings and arms and hindparts and feet; and they fashion for it crowns and thrones and cups and mixing-bowls, and certain other mystical things.
For this divine man, having been purified to the utmost in soul — as the things written by him already cry out, louder than a sounding trumpet — has been deemed worthy both of great revelations and ineffable contemplations, and of mystical converse, and of divine words strangely sounded to him from above, and, to speak comprehensively, of apostolic grace, being wholly set ablaze by the divine fire.
Therefore, being altogether untasted and unlearned in the outward science of letters, he was magnified, beyond every orator and wise man, to a height of wisdom through the fluency of his words and the abundance and richness of his thoughts, so as to be, in divine things, truly wise, and a most doctrinal theologian.
And it is no wonder; for the wisdom of God, as the one who spoke it says, pervades and passes through all things because of its purity; for it is a vapor of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; and being one, it says, it can do all things, and, remaining in itself, renews all things, and, passing down through generations into holy souls, it fashions friends of God and prophets; for God loves nothing except him who dwells with wisdom.
For this reason, having desired the words of wisdom, he longed for her beauty; and having longed for her, according to Solomon, he sought her through the toils of philosophy and asceticism, and found her; and having found her, he prayed with tears and with labor, and prudence was given to him; and he called upon her with steadfast faith, and the spirit of wisdom came upon him; whence he had, unsleeping throughout his whole life, the light that came from her without artifice — through which, indeed, there also came upon him all the good things of eternal life together, and the innumerable wealth of wisdom and knowledge.
For he does not, like an ungrateful slave, hide away the talent given him by God; but like a faithful steward, he does not, in accordance with what is written, gratefully bury the wealth of unemptied wisdom that he received from Him. "Without guile," he says, "I learned, and without grudging I impart it; I will not hide away her wealth."
Hence indeed his tongue was as silver refined by fire, and his soul was full of righteousness; his lips, as befits one who was truly righteous, knew lofty things, and his mouth dripped forth graces and the ineffable wisdom of God.
This came about truly from great humility and purity; for, it is said, "the mouth of the humble will meditate on wisdom," and "wisdom is in the good heart of a man, but in the heart of fools it is not recognized."
For he had, (), being full of humility, continually in the meditation of his heart the wisdom of God, in accordance with what is said — that wisdom which is recognized by the humble of heart, and not at all by those who are wise according to the folly of the world — and the light of God was truly always his breath. Possessing this like a lamp in his mind, the things which his eyes saw noetically he spoke, as the oracle says, and wrote most clearly with knowledge: "What your eyes have seen," it says, "declare." And in declaring it he most plainly hymned the divine out of the things that are, as being common to all that are.
For the Good is by no means altogether uncommunicated to any being, as Dionysius, so learned in things divine, says; but having fixed its supersubstantial ray steadfastly upon itself, it manifests itself, in a manner befitting the Good, through illuminations proportioned to each of the beings, and it raises up the intellectual minds toward the contemplation, communion, and likeness of itself so far as attainable, insofar as it is lawful for them and as they apply themselves to it in a manner befitting the sacred.
Therefore, following in all things the theologians before him, he hymned the hidden reality of the Godhead, which is beyond intellect and nature, with unsearchable and sacred reverences of the mind — as Dionysius says concerning theologian-men — while honoring the ineffable things wholly with prudent silence throughout; he was raised up toward the rays that shone upon him in his sacred conceptions, and being thence richly illumined and enlightened, he was shaped by them, in a manner beyond the world, toward the thearchic and God-befitting hymns and toward the sacred hymnodies, so as both to see the thearchic lights bestowed upon him through them in due measure, and to hymn with loving desire the good-giving Lord as the cause of every sacred principle and of the shining-forth of light.
From this indeed there were shown, marvelously, in that age, makers of songs and hymns and divine melodies; and they were not rendered skilled and practiced in this by the elevation of formal learning and perfect training in rhetoric, but by the philosophy of the soul's dispositions and by the utmost discipline and guarding of the cardinal virtues.
But if it is pleasing to anyone that what has been said be confirmed from a written source, let him consult Philo the Jew, in his treatise thus entitled, On the Contemplative Life, or On Suppliants, and he will know the trustworthiness of the account from it.
But that we too may take up a brief saying from there to confirm our account, he says the following: "so that," he says, "they not only contemplate lofty things by the exertions of a pure mind, but also compose songs and hymns to God in every kind of meter and melody, necessarily marking them out in more solemn rhythms..."
...necessarily inscribing in more solemn numbers the names of God, in a manner that both declares and hymns nature. Then, confirming our statement yet more plainly, the same author again adds clearly concerning what has been said, and speaks thus: () "By these" — that is, plainly, by the divine powers of the angels — "the god-formed minds, being united, so far as attainable, in an angel-imitating manner — since, upon the cessation of all intellectual activity, such a union of the deified minds with the super-divine light takes place — hymn it in the most proper way through the negation of all beings, having truly and supernaturally been illumined with this from the most blessed union with it: that it is the cause of all beings, yet is itself nothing, as supersubstantially removed from all things."
Knowing this, then, the divine father Symeon — being indeed a wise theologian — both hymned the divine and above-nature nature as nameless, and spoke of it theologically as the cause of every name that is named, and as established, beyond naming, above all things. At one time, gathering together, from the theological writings, whatever belonged to the present undertaking, and using the sayings quoted as a kind of rule with a view to them, he proceeded to the unfolding of the intelligible names of God; at another time, contemplating with a God-seeing mind the God-manifesting appearances and contemplations, and setting the holy things before the holy in accordance with the divine tradition of the Apostle, he arranged in order and, as one owing a debt, imparted — as a first to those second and subordinate to him — the divine sights which had been sacredly beheld by him, ungrudgingly and in a measure proportioned to them, to those who came after him; and he transmitted the sacred things, according to worth, to those who had partaken scientifically and wholly of sacerdotal perfection, removing them from the derision and mockery of the uninitiated — or rather, freeing those very persons, if indeed such men exist, from the war against God that this would involve — not making these things public to the many so long as he was among the living and still visible; () obeying in this too the great Dionysius, who writes thus to Timothy: "See to it," he says, "that you do not divulge the holy of holies, but that you honor the things of the hidden God with intellectual and invisible knowledges, keeping them unshared and undefiled for the imperfect, while communing, in a manner befitting the sacred, with sacred illumination, only with the holy among the holy."
For thus, just as theology has handed down to us who are initiates, so too do we, as having been made disciples by him and knowing the height and depth and breadth of his wisdom, by means of the things already said and of the present discourse, separate these things from those who are altogether coarse and uninitiated, and wish them to remain undivulged to such; unfolding them clearly only to those who have their ears sacredly opened through diligence of manners and divine understanding, and who are truly holy both from their life and from knowledge from above; for this too the divine Paul intends, writing thus to Timothy: "These things commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also."
So then, let those who have run up to contemplation from philosophical practice, and have ascended into the depth of theological conceptions, give to these things the search of the soul with faith, and they will, I know well, reap from thence much benefit; but let the rest — whose mind is scattered into many diverse distractions and darkened by the gloom of ignorance, who do not even know what practice and contemplation and the revelation of divine mysteries are — be estranged from the reading of what is written here; for having a mind incapable of containing lofty revelations and words, () they are accustomed to trample upon and profane divine things, being unable to look up toward anything above us.
...granting to it, by a certain circling movement, unwandering steadfastness — the divine Good that is the source of all goodness — and turning it back from the many things outside it, gathering it first into itself, and then, once it has become unified, uniting it to the powers of the angels who are joined together in unity; for it is through them, as good guides (after the sacred and holy minds come the souls, and whatever good things belong to souls), that it is led up to that very Good, source of all good things, and comes to share in the illuminations that well forth from thence, according to the purification proportioned within it, and richly partakes of the good-formed gift to whatever degree it is able. I do not think it right that the lofty contemplations and loving theological utterances of this man should be risked to disbelief by falling on ears stopped up with envy and unbelief — or rather, I should say, on souls heavily veiled in the darkness of ignorance and trodden down by mules and asses, or by dragons and serpents (I mean the unclean and destructive passions); for holy things are not to be shared with all who live the life of dogs and swine, to whom, as the oracle says, these things are not given, nor indeed are the pearls of the word cast before them; but to those who have been led up, through the utmost purification, to an equal measure of holiness, these things are shareable, with unspeakable and () divine delight, and impart to them the wisdom and exaltation that pertain to them, as shining lights and offspring of the divine fire.
Well then, since the truly divine and most pure soul of our leader was raised up to such a height, and was deemed worthy of such manifestations and such grace as that of the fishermen and apostles, and reached, by the brightness of its fiery mind, unto that very source of all goodness, where all the souls of the righteous are led up, and became rich in the participation of its illuminations — just as indeed his poems and the love-hymns of the divine songs cry aloud — how is it not holy, having been mingled with the holy by nature and with the holy of old, as light with light and fire with fire and ray with sun — the second things with the first, and the things in images and types with the archetypes and truths?
Let envy fall, which is ever indignant toward good men, and let Symeon, who is worthy of every kind of hymn and encomium, be hymned and praised — even as we have set forth more fully, with sacred citations, in the treatise Against the Accusers of the Saints.