Life of Saint Symeon the Fool

LEONTIUS BISHOP OF NEAPOLIS IN CYPRUS

VITA S. SYMEONIS SALI CONFESSORIS

(Ex codice Vaticano, signato num. 819, collata cum ea, quæ est apud Surium, t. III, p. 1. Edidere BOLLAND., Act. Sanct., Julii t. I, p. 136.)

PROLOGUS AUCTORIS

^A α΄. Those who strive to impart to others the teaching office must demonstrate from their own lives the teaching of others, according to the divine voice which says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Lest, in their haste to admonish, build up, and guide others before they have taught themselves and purified themselves through the practice of the divine commandments, they neglect to weep for their own dead while they are busy with another's, and the truthful and fitting word be fulfilled in them which says, “Whoever does not do and teach, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” And again: “Hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly,” and so forth. ^B Therefore, the wise writer of the Acts of the Apostles speaks thus of our great and true God and Teacher: “What Jesus began both to do and to teach.” For this also Paul, that great vessel of the Church, reproving the Romans, wrote thus: “You, then, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?” and so forth. Since, therefore, we are unable to set forth an image and pattern of teaching and of practice according to virtue from our own life, bearing as we do the passions of sin everywhere within us, let us, then, reveal to you—even from the practice of others and the labors endured by others—food that does not perish this day, but that guides our souls to eternal life.

Β΄. For bread sustains the body, but the word of God earnestly rouses the soul toward virtue, and especially those who are somewhat slothful regarding the practice of the divine commandments and who are carelessly disposed. ^C For to those who are diligent and who are fixed in thought upon God, conscience itself is sufficient for the purpose of instruction, counseling all good things and turning one away from all evil things. But to those who are even more lowly than these, there is need for the declaration and counsel of the written law. And if anyone rejects the first and the second way that leads to virtue, it is necessary that these

^A should, at least from the zeal and care of others, and from what comes to him through his eyes and through hearing and through narration, be stirred by divine longing, to shake off the sleep of the soul from himself, to walk the narrow and constricted way, and hereafter to make a start toward eternal life. For indeed it is in our power, and lies within our own will, through longing for the things that are to come, to despise the present things as if they were passing away; or on the contrary, by longing and desire for present things, to miss out on the infinite goods—and that what is said is true is proven to us by all the men from the ages who have pleased God, being of the same nature as we are, and especially those who have shown themselves as luminaries in our own generation, ^B among whom this most wise Symeon has also taken his place, and is much more venerable than the many, because he ascended to such a height of purity and impassibility, that through those things which seem to those who are more impassioned and more fleshly to cause defilement and harm and hindrance to the life of virtue, through these things this most pure one passed through without defilement, like a pearl through mire. I mean through his dwelling in the city, and his association with women, and the remaining guile of life; for he hastened to show truly to the more slothful, and to those who excuse their lack of power to live a life of virtue, that power is granted by God to those who sincerely serve Him with all their soul, against the spirits of wickedness.

^C 3. I ask, however, all those who hear or read the narration now before us concerning his angelic way of life, to attend to what is said with the fear of the Lord, and with the true faith that is proper to Christians and unwavering. For we know that to those who are more foolish and to scoffers, we shall seem to speak of things that are incredible and worthy of laughter. But if they had heard Him who said: "Whoever wishes to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise," and again: "We are fools for Christ's sake," ^D and again: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men," they would not have attended to the things accomplished by this true athlete as if they were ridiculous; but rather they would have wondered at them, more even than at those who have engaged in the rest of the course of a virtuous life. For he did not come into the world still untrained and needing a commander; but just as we see happening in military ranks, when the whole army stands together, those who, trusting in the power of God, and in the weapons of war that lie ready for them, and in their diverse tactical knowledge and long experience, are the only ones to leap out from the multitude into single combat against the adversaries; so also did he, when he had fought the good fight well and lawfully; when he saw himself clothed with the virtue of the Spirit as with a breastplate; when he received from Him the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions;

when he extinguished the burning of the flesh with the dew of the Holy Spirit; when he spurned all the luxury and glory of this life as a spider's web.

^D 4. And what need is there to say more? When he had drawn impassibility ^A to himself as a garment, both within and without, through humility, and was deemed worthy of adoption, according to the voice spoken in the Song of Songs concerning the pure and impassible soul: “That she is all beautiful, says Christ to the soul, all beautiful is my neighbor, and there is no blemish in her.” Then he, too, sprang forth from the desert into the world against the devil, as if for single combat; for he did not deem it just that one so honored and exalted by God should despise the salvation of those of the same race, but keeping in mind Him who said: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Who also did not disdain to put on the form of a servant for the salvation of the servant, he also imitates his own Master, truly laying down his own soul and body that he might save some. It is necessary, before all else, to relate to you the manner of his coming from the desert into the world; and then, in this way, his paradoxical and admirable deeds.

CHAPTER I

^C 5. At the time of the reign of glorious Saint Justinian the Emperor, as those who love Christ were arriving, desiring in accordance with custom to venerate the holy places of Christ in the holy city, at the Exaltation of the precious and life-giving Cross (for all those who are accustomed to arrive there know that on this holy and all-praised feast, nearly all the cross-loving and Christ-bearing multitudes from the whole inhabited world assemble together), it happened that on that same memorable feast, two young men from Syria met one another by the providence of God. The name of one was John, and the name of the other was Symeon. When, therefore, they had spent a few days there, and the holy feast of God had been completed, each was departing for his own city; since, by the good pleasure of the ^D philanthropic God, these two young men had encountered one another and shared a love, they were no longer separated from

each other. Therefore, even when they prepared to depart for their own homes, they traveled together with their parents. Now John had an aged father, but not a mother, and he was joined to a wife at that time, and he was about twenty-two years old. Symeon, however, had no father, but only one mother, who was about eighty years old; he had absolutely no one else. They were, therefore, a single group, and as they descended into the valley of Jericho, and passed through the city, John contemplated the monasteries which lie around the Jordan, and he says in Syrian to Symeon: "Do you know who dwells in these hospices opposite us?" The other says to him: "Who?" John says: "Angels of God." Symeon says to him, as if marvelling: "Is it permitted to see them?" He says to him: "If we become like them, it is permitted." They were two, and very wealthy, were their parents. When they had descended from their horses, they gave them to their servants, saying: "Go ahead of us." But they happened to find themselves on a road that deviates, and which leads to the holy Jordan. ^B Therefore both stopped, and John says, pointing with his finger to Symeon: "Behold the road that leads to the holy Jordan; and behold the road that leads to death," pointing out to him the public way, by which their parents had preceded them. "Come then, let us pray, and let each one of us stand on one of these, and let us cast lots, and whichever road the lot falls upon, let us enter." Having therefore inclined the knee, and breathed sighs, they said: "O God, O God, O God, who willest to save the whole world; do thou manifest thy will to thy servants." And while they were casting lots, Symeon’s lot won out over John’s. It stood, however, on the path which leads to the holy Jordan. Then having become joyful, they forgot all their belongings and parents, as if it were a dream, and embraced one another. They were, moreover, excellently educated in Greek letters, and adorned with much prudence. This Symeon, however, who excelled in virtue, related to someone in the city of Emesa ^C (where he feigned madness) a deacon of the holy Catholic Church of the same city of Emesa, a man who was admirable and conspicuous in virtue, who also, by divine grace, understood the action of Symeon, in whom this same blessed Symeon performed a wondrous miracle, the mention of the fact of which miracle ^D [NOTE: this page reflects a fragmented, misaligned OCR insertion of Latin text from a prior page and notes; the translation above completes the narrative flow of the Vita S. Symeonis Sali provided in the parallel Greek/Latin columns.]

^A to his own place. This aforementioned God-loving John, that virtuous deacon, himself related to us almost the entire life of the all-wise Symeon, calling upon the Lord as witness to the things he said, and asserting that he had not written anything into the narrative by way of addition, but rather had forgotten most of it due to the passage of time.

7. As they were traveling—as I was saying—the road that truly led them to life, one could see them rejoicing and running, just as Peter and John did to the life-giving tomb of the Lord, and urging one another on with zeal, and encouraging one another. For on the one hand, John was afraid lest the affection of his mother should hold back Symeon. On the other hand, he again hesitated, lest the attachment of his newly wedded wife, like a magnetic stone, might draw John to herself. And from henceforth, out of this, they began to use admonitory and encouraging words one to another; and the one would say: "Do not be sluggish, brother Symeon! For we hope in God that we have been reborn this very day. For what could those vain things of life and wealth avail us on the day of judgment, but rather, could they not even harm us? Nor, again, does youth or beauty, which is attached to our body, remain unfading to the end; but it perishes at the proper time either by old age or by untimely death." And as John said these things and many more to Symeon, the latter would in turn answer him and express similar fears, and say: "For my part, brother John, I have neither father, nor brothers, nor sisters, save for that humble old woman who gave birth to me. But I do not struggle so much about my own self, as I fear for your heart, lest the lure of your newly wedded wife might snatch you ^B from this good way." As they were thus talking back and forth to each other about these things and more, they arrived at a monastery called that of Abba Gerasimus. For this also they had prayed: "Lord God, in whatever monastery Thou biddest us to renounce [the world], may we find the door open"; which also came to pass. ^C Now there was in this monastery a wonderful man named Nicon, a man whose name was truly appropriate to his manner of life. For he was indeed overcoming every demonic host, shining with miracles and signs, and had been honored by God with the dignity of prophecy; he even foreknew the arrival of these blessed men. For he said that he had seen in a dream on that very day on which they arrived, someone saying to him: "Arise and open the door of the fold, so that my sheep may enter"; which he indeed did. ^D

8. When, therefore, they arrived, they found the door open, and the Abba sitting and expecting them. And John said to Symeon: "A good sign, brother; behold, the door is open, and the porter is sitting [waiting]." And when they drew near, the hegumen said to them: "Welcome, sheep of Christ."

^A

You have arrived well, Sale; ten are truly waiting for you from Abba John. For ten are awaiting you. He spoke thus on account of their perfection in a life of virtue. Having received them, therefore, as sent from God, he gave them rest. And on the following day, he began to say to them—even before he spoke to him—as if before the Lord: "Good, good, and worthy is your love toward God, provided only that you do not allow it to be weakened and extinguished by the adversary of your salvation. Your course is good, but do not give up running until you are crowned. Your intention is good, but do not grow drowsy, lest the fire that burns in your hearts today grows cold. You have done well to prefer the things that remain over those that perish. Your parents according to the flesh are good, and it is good to serve them; but it is incomparably better to please the heavenly Father. Your brothers of the flesh are good, but the spiritual ones are more advantageous. Your friends whom you have in the world are good, but it is better to have holy friends who are favorable toward the Master. Your protectors whom you have in need toward the powerful are good, but they are not as helpful as having the holy angels interceding for us. The distribution of wealth by the person who is well-off is good and praiseworthy, as is piety and doing good toward the poor, but God does not seek any offering from us as much as He seeks that we offer Him our very souls. The enjoyment of things of this life is sweet, but it is not equal to the delight of paradise. Wealth is pleasant and desirable to most ^B people, but it is not equal to the things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not ascended into the heart of man."

9. The beauty of youth is desirable, but there is nothing like that of the heavenly bridegroom Christ; for David says: "Beautiful in form above the sons of men" (Ps. xliv, 3). It is a great thing to serve as a soldier for an earthly king, but such service is transitory and dangerous.

While the holy man was admonishing them with these and such words, he did not wish to cease from the admonition, seeing fountains of tears flowing from their eyes; for as if they had not yet heard a divine word, they were truly attending to what was being said. Turning again, therefore, to Symeon, he says: "Do not grieve, nor weep for the passing of your lady mother; for God is able to comfort her far more than your face, being moved by your struggles. For even if you were to persevere with her until her end, it is uncertain whether you would depart this life before her, being empty of virtues, and depart without having Him who can rescue you from the evils to come. For neither the love of a mother, nor of a father, nor a multitude of brothers, nor wealth, nor glory, nor the bond of a wife, nor the affection of children can appease the Judge, but only a virtuous way of life, and the labors and toils underwent for God." Again, therefore, he said to John: "Neither..." ^{C D}

my child, let the enemy of our souls ^A seduce you. For who will care for my parents in their old age? Who will comfort my wife? Who will cease their tears? If you had left them to serve another god, you would rightly be anxious whether one might care for them and console them, or not. But now, having run to Him to whom you have left them, and having consecrated yourselves, it is necessary to be confident, and to consider this: if, while we were in this world, and serving the life of the flesh, the goodness of God took thought for all things, how much more will He not provide for our homes now, when we have entered in to serve Him and to please Him with our whole soul?

"Therefore, my children, remembering the Lord who said to the man who said: 'Allow me to go back first, and to bury my father,' 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead' (Matt. VIII, 21, 22), with an unturning mind and unshakable heart run after Him. For what then? If this earthly and corruptible king were to exhort you, wishing to clothe you with the belt, ^B and to rank you among the patricians or the chamberlains of his own imperial palace—which passes away, and which vanishes like a shadow and a dream—would you not despise all that you possess, and run to him eagerly and without hindrance, desiring to enjoy his honors, and his sight, and his boldness of speech, and would you not choose to undergo every labor, and toil, and death, only to be deemed worthy to see that day on which the king is to receive you among all his senate, and for you to serve, and to be honored by him? When they replied that this was so, the great Nicon said: 'How much more, then, children, ought we, with greater diligence and compunction, to run to and follow the incorruptible and eternal King of kings, if we wish to be grateful servants, remembering the love which God has shown toward us, so that He did not spare His own only-begotten Son for our sake, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. VIII, 32)! So that even if we poured out our own blood for His sake, ^C having been redeemed from corruption and death by His blood, and having been admitted into the order of true sons, we would not even thus have offered Him anything worthy; for it is not the same thing to pour out royal blood and servile blood, brothers.'"

CHAPTER II. Monastic life, apparitions.

11. All these things, and more than these, he suggested to them; for the God-bearer, having foreseen and been fully assured by God of the struggle and race set before him—I mean the solitary and utterly homeless life—did not consider this to be of no consequence, for he did not think it was something easily achieved by the many, nor did he believe it could be performed blamelessly, especially regarding ^D the sorrow and petitions for the forgiveness of sins, and not at all from those who complain regarding adversity and the loss of money, or regarding overturned offices and stolen power and glory. For the house of such as these is not good, however much it may be full of lamentation and mourning; indeed, that sorrow and those laments are not of those who think of and desire the better goods which await those who have hope in the kingdom of heaven, but rather of those who seek human, and temporal, and fading things, whence sin often takes its origin. For he confirms this to those to whom he immediately subjected it; for he says: "For this is the lot of every man (Eccl. VII, 2)." This, he says; but what is it? Surely death and departure: in which we certainly ought to place care of the soul, and to consider this the sum of our life, so that, repenting, we may do penance for things admitted, and weep for our sins. For by perpetual and abundant tears, just as we wash away the defilement of the body in a bath, so we wipe away the stains and filth of the soul. Furthermore, for one approaching, the house of mourning gives at the very entrance a motive for repentance, and an occasion for penance presents itself regarding those things in which he has transgressed: thus he turns himself away from what is harmful, and is led to perform those things which are good and better. For this reason he added: "And he who lives will give good to his heart (Eccl. VII, 3)." For this is the meaning of these words: when a man, still living, has arrived at the house of mourning, and there has heard the weeping and groaning of kinsmen and friends, he is altogether moved, so that he adopts their feelings, and, moved to sorrow and tears, leads his mind to meditate upon serious and righteous things: and so that he may plainly abhor the sins he has committed through penance, and strive to obtain their forgiveness through confession and generous subsidies to the poor, using the words of the prophet David: "For I will announce my iniquity, and I will think about my sin (Ps. XXXVII, 19)." The same, even if he be arrogant and lifted up in spirit, and bears a mind accustomed to proud thoughts, and insolently boasts in his pride, he is led to shame and...

^A soft bodies, and those clothed in soft garments, and a youth reared in a life of luxury, and accustomed to all ease and deception. Whence the wise physician and teacher, by the divine knowledge and experience he possessed, having fortified them with such examples and admonitions, says again to both: "Do you wish to have the hair of your head shorn, or to tarry for a while in the lay habit in which you are clothed today?" As if by one counsel, or rather moved by one Holy Spirit, they both fell at the feet of the hegumen, requesting that he tonsure them at once and without delay. And Symeon said, that unless he did this with great haste, they would immediately depart to another monastery; for he was simple and innocent, while John excelled in greater wisdom and knowledge of affairs. There was no delay: Saint Nicon took each of them ^B aside, wishing to test how fervently they approached God through a secession from worldly, material things. And he said something to one, trying to delay him so that he might not be tonsured on that very day, but with no success, nor did either of them consent to it. He went, therefore, to the other, and said to him: "Behold, I have persuaded your brother to remain a layman for one year." Immediately, therefore, he to whom he had said this answered him: "If he wishes to remain, let him remain; but in truth, Father, I cannot endure it." And Symeon said this to him, when he spoke with him privately: "Make haste, Father, for the Lord's sake; for my heart greatly trembles for my brother ^C John, because a year ago he was married to a very wealthy and beautiful wife, lest the desire for her again seize him, and he fail in the love of God." 12. John again, in private, said this to the same virtuous man with many tears and supplications (for he possessed these things more vividly before his eyes than his brother Symeon): "Father, do not let me lose my brother on your account. For he has only his mother, but they loved each other so intensely that he could not pass two hours without her; but even until today they slept together, both his mother and he, having been unable to be separated even at night; which is what most burns and consumes me, until I see him shorn, and can be completely free of anxiety regarding ^D him." The great man heard the care the one had for the other, and being convinced that God does not confound, nor does He despise those who flee to Him with their whole heart and with unwavering faith, having brought the shears, and with the requisite order, having placed them upon the holy altar, he tonsured them, and taking off their garments, he clothed them in others suited indeed to compassion, but at the same time to holiness.

^A And the wise and most compassionate man, having pity on them because of the tenderness of their bodies and their unaccustomed hardship, showed himself as a father to them. Now, while they were being tonsured, John wept bitterly, but Symeon motioned to him to stop, not understanding at all why he was weeping; for he thought that he was weeping out of sorrow for his parents and for the love of his wife. So, ^B after they had been tonsured and the holy synaxis had been performed, the hegumen sat down again, admonishing them for almost the entire day, for he knew that they would not stay with him for a long time, God also having ordained this. On the following day, then, which was the holy Lord’s day, he wished to give them the holy habit. As some of the brethren were saying to them, “Blessed are you, for tomorrow you shall be reborn and become pure as you were born from all sin,” so that they might be baptized that very day, they were terrified, and both ran to the divine Nikōn, late on the Sabbath, and fell at his feet, saying, “We beseech you, Father, do not baptize us; for we are Christians and born of Christian parents.” ^C He, not knowing what they had heard from the Fathers of the cenobium, said to them, “For who, children, wishes to baptize you?” And they said, “Our lords and masters, the Fathers of the monastery, say to us that tomorrow you will be rebaptized.” Then the hegumen understood that they had spoken of the holy habit, and he said to them, “They spoke well, children; for with the Lord’s good pleasure, tomorrow we wish to clothe you in the holy and angelic habit.” When the guileless children of Christ understood that nothing was lacking for them for the clothing of the monastic life, they said to the abba, “What else, Father, do we require in order to be clothed in that angelic habit of which you speak?”

^D γ΄. Now, in the preceding week, 15. in which also the Exaltation of the precious Cross took place, this great man had given the holy habit to a certain younger brother; and he had not yet completed the seven days, but was still wearing everything, as is the custom, which the great man immediately ordered to be brought into the midst. When he came, both looked at him and fell immediately at the feet of the abba, and said to him, “We beseech you, if you intend to clothe us thus and deem us worthy of such honor and glory, do it from this evening, lest, being human, the human element should overtake us during the night, and we should depart, having missed such glory and joy, and such a station and crown.” As soon as the hegumen heard their words—that they were afraid of missing such a station and crown—he understood that they had seen a vision of him who was wearing the holy habit, and he had returned to his own place from whence he had been clothed in the holy habit. When he had departed, the children of Christ were very grieved, and they say to the hegumen, “For the Lord’s sake, Father, arise, make us as...

^A he is, for there is no man in your monastery who is held in such honor as he.” The abbas says to them, “With what honor?” Then they said, “By the One who deems us worthy, Father, of his habit and honor, we also are blessed if we are escorted by such a multitude of monks with candles, and if we bear such a shining, radiant crown upon our heads.” For they thought that the hegumen also saw the things they themselves had seen. Having learned this, he did not tell them that he himself had seen nothing, but remained silent, and he was amazed at their great simplicity and purity, especially that of Symeon.

14. This the great man said to them most graciously: “Tomorrow we shall clothe you also, through the grace of the Holy Spirit.” After they had received the holy habit, as the most holy deacon testified, the truthful Symeon asserted ^B that they saw each other’s faces by night as in the day, and, just as the one had appeared before, so did each one see a crown upon the head of the other. “And our soul,” he said, “was filled with such joy that we did not even wish to partake of food or drink.” After two days had passed since they had received the holy habit, they observe the one who had taken it seven days before, in whom they had seen the crown and those escorting him, wearing a sackcloth and performing service; and from then on, he no longer had the crown upon his head, nor did he have the monks escorting him with candles again, and they were amazed. And Symeon says to John, “Believe me, brother, even if we also complete these same seven days, we will not yet possess that elegance and grace.” And John says, “And what do you want to happen, brother?” He says to him again, “If you will listen to me, that just as we have left behind and renounced worldly things, we might renounce entirely ^C every breath. For I contemplate a different life and strange things in this habit. From the time the servant of God clothed us in it, my heart burns, I know not from where, and my soul seeks not to see anyone, nor to speak, nor to hear anything.” John says to him, “And what shall we eat, brother?” Symeon says to him, “Do they eat, those who are called the ‘Grazers,’ of whom Lord Nicon also spoke to us yesterday? For perhaps he himself, wishing that we adopt such a life, explained to us how they live, how they sleep, and everything concerning them.” Then John says, “And how? For we know neither their chant nor their rule.”

15. Then God opened the heart of the abbas ^D Symeon.

and he began to speak: “He who saved those who lived before David and were well-pleasing to Him, He will save us too. And if we should prove worthy, He will instruct us as He instructed David when he was shepherding his sheep in the desert. Do not, brother, delay my desire.” But finally, because we have given ourselves to this task, let us not bring it to naught. Then the lord John said, “As you wish, we shall do; but how are we to go out? For the door is locked at night.” Symeon said to him, “He who opened it for us during the day, He Himself will open it at night.” ^A

When they had established their plan, immediately as night fell, the hegumen sees in his sleep someone opening the door of the monastery and saying, “Go forth, sheep marked by Christ, to your pasture.” Awoken from sleep, he immediately goes down to the gate and, finding it open and thinking that they had gone out through it, he sat down, sorrowful, groaning and saying, “I, the sinner, was not worthy to receive the prayers of my Fathers. Truly they were indeed my Fathers and lords and teachers, and for this reason I have missed out on their company. Alas! How precious stones, as the Scripture says 15, lie scattered upon the earth, seen by many but understood by few.” While he was thus distressfully reasoning with himself, behold, the pure bridegrooms of Christ arrive at the exit, before whom the most pure hegumen Nicon saw some eunuchs bearing lamps, while others held scepters in their hands. ^B

CAPUT V. The retreat into the wilderness, and Satan’s machination.

16. Having beheld them, he became exceedingly joyful, because he had not failed in his desire; the blessed ones, having seen him, wanted to turn back, not realizing that it was the hegumen. St. Nicon therefore ran and called them to himself. As soon as they knew that it was the hegumen, they too became exceedingly joyful, especially when they saw the gate open; for they understood that God had again revealed this to him. They wished therefore ^C to perform a prostration, but he prevented them, saying that it was not fitting for them to do anything of the sort, on account of the honor of the angelic habit with which they were invested.

They say therefore to him immediately, “We give thanks to you, Father, but we do not know what we might offer to God and to your venerable head. Who could have hoped that we would be deemed worthy of such gifts? What king could have honored us with such dignity? What earthly treasures could have made us rich so suddenly? What kind of water could have washed away our sins and purified our soul so thoroughly? What parents could have been able to love and save us in this way? What strange gifts could have brought us the forgiveness of our sins so quickly and powerfully, as you, our venerable Father, and ^D

^A above all our ancestors and parents, are our father and mother after Christ. You are the Master, you are the supporter, you are the guide, you are the leader, and all that a tongue cannot name. Through you we have acquired the pearl of great price; we have truly learned the power of baptism, which the holy Fathers foretold to us. We have truly known the burning up of our sins by the fire that burns our hearts, which, being unable to bear, [it is] thus burning our interiors.

17. We ask you, ^B O Father, to pray fervently with your holiness, and to release your servants to serve sincerely and whole-heartedly the God to whom we have consecrated ourselves; be moved to never forget your useless children in the time of the stretching out of your venerable hands. Yes, yes, being moved by the strangers, O holy one, be mindful of their orphanhood. And taking hold of the knees of the holy man, they said again: "Be mindful, Father, of your humble sheep, whom you have sacrificed as a whole burnt offering to Christ. Be mindful of foreign plants, which you hastened to plant in the beautiful garden of paradise. Do not forget the slothful laborers, whom you hired for Christ in the vineyard at the eleventh hour." The shepherd ^C was also amazed and astonished, seeing those who two days before were ignorant and unlearned, so suddenly become wise through the putting on of the divine habit. When both had wept for a sufficient hour, the holy Nicon bent his knee, and having placed Symeon on his right and John on his left, he stood up, and stretching his hands to heaven, he said: "O God, just and praiseworthy, O God, great and mighty, O God, before the ages, hear a sinful man in this hour. Hear me, O God, hear me in strength. Do not remember, in this my prayer, the disobediences of all time and for all time of my scornfulness. Hear me, O Lord, hear me in the fire of prayer, as once your prophet, and through his intercessions burn up my iniquities and cleanse my sins. Yes, O God of the holy powers; ^D yes, maker of the incorporeal ones; yes, who said: 'Ask and you shall receive.' Do not loathe me, who am clothed with unclean lips and held fast in sins. Hear me, O who promised to hear those who call upon you in truth, and make straight the steps of your servants, and their feet into the way of peace. Have compassion on innocent children who are on strange soil, who said: 'Be guileless as doves.' I cried to you with my whole heart, O God, O God, hear me, the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of those who are far away in a strange land."

18. Rebuke all the unclean spirits from the face of your children; take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up for their help. Pour out the sword and close up against those who persecute them. Say, O Lord, to their soul: "I am your salvation." Let there withdraw from their mind the spirit of fear, despondency, pride, and every malice.

^A And let every burning and movement in them arising from diabolical operation be extinguished. Let their body and soul and spirit be illuminated by the light of your knowledge, so that, having attained to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the holy and adorable Trinity, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of stature, they may glorify you for ever and ever, and be pleasing to you, O Lord, for your name is a universal protection—of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Grant them, O Lord, along with all blessings, the words of this my wretched and unworthy prayer, to have them always in their heart for the glorification and hymn of your goodness. And again, with many tears, he said to them: ^B "The God whom you have chosen, good children, and unto whom you have run, he himself will send his angel before your face, and he will prepare his way before your feet. The angel, as the great Jacob says, who delivers me from all opposing powers, he shall go before your paths. He who delivered his own prophet from the mouth of the lions, he will also deliver you from the hands of the lion. The God who chose you, he will preserve my sacrifice unashamed." And as he prayed these things and more for them, and the bearer of God embraced their necks and said: "Save, O God, save..."

^C Then again to them: "See, children, you have given yourselves over to a fearful and invisible war. But do not be afraid; 'For God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear.' 17 Strive, children, not to be defeated by him, but stand brave, having the armor of the holy habit against him. Remember him who says: 'No one having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.' 18 And again concerning the building of the tower: do not, having begun the perfect way, grow slack in the life according to God, lest it be fulfilled in you that, 'They began to build, and had not the power and zeal for the completion of the foundation.' Be steadfast, children; small is the war, but great the crown; temporal is the labor, but eternal the rest." ^D As the hour then advanced, and already the wood was being struck, as they were about to exit the gate, Symeon took the hegumen aside and said to him: "For God's sake, Father, pray that God may efface from the heart of my brother John the memory of his wife, lest by the machination of the evil spirit he desert me, and I die of grief because of his ruin and departure. Pray, I beseech you, for the sake of the Lord, that God..."

may also comfort his parents, so that they may not worry about him. ^B

20. But the elder, marveling at the brotherly affection which he had for his brother, answered him nothing. Again, abbot John took hold of him in the same way, and calling him aside, spoke thus: "I beseech you for God's sake, Father, do not neglect my brother; pray that he may not flee from me because of his mother, sympathizing with her, and that I may be found in the harbor, awaiting the shipwreck." When this had been said, Nicon, struck with wonder at their love for one another, and perfectly satisfied, says to them: "Go, children, for I bring you good news that He who opened [the way] for you here, has already opened for you those things that are there." And after signing their foreheads and breasts and whole body, he dismissed them. And when they had been dismissed and departed, they said this: "O God of your great servant, be our guide and help, since we are strangers and destitute, and we know neither the places nor the country. But coming to you, we have surrendered ourselves to death, into the sea of this desert." Then John says to Symeon: "What is it now? Whither are we going?" He replied to him: "Let us go to the right, for all things on the right are good." And as they were going, they arrived at the Dead Sea, as if at the one called Arnon.

21. But God, providing for them and never abandoning those who trust in Him with all their heart, found a place where a certain elder had previously dwelt, but who had died a few days before, in which there were small utensils and tender herbs for them to eat, which the elder who had lain there used to eat. Seeing the place, therefore, the well-regarded men rejoiced as if they had found a treasure. For they knew that it had been prepared by God and sent to them, and they began to give thanks to God and to the great elder. For they said: "Believe that by his prayers we have been guided." So when they had stayed a few days, the enemy of our souls, the devil, not bearing the virtue of the servants of Christ, began to attack them, John indeed with regard to his wife, but Symeon with regard to the great affection for his own mother. When, therefore, one of them saw himself being afflicted, he immediately said to the other: "Arise, brother, let us pray." And they used the prayer of the great elder; for he had prayed: "Grant them, Lord, that the words of this prayer may be engraved in their heart." And immediately both were found, knowing it through ^{C D} [NOTE: The material following comprises the critical footnotes labeled (24) and (25) in the original text, which are here translated as part of the scholarly assembly.]

NOTE. (24) A vast lake of Palestine to the south, and toward the East of the Holy Land; in Hebrew phrase called a "sea," as all more copious collections of water are called; it is named "Dead," because it produces no fish, nor does it produce any other animal, but is a lake altogether bituminious, pestilent, and horrible, whence it is called Asphaltites by Greek and Latin writers. More will be provided by Cotovicus in his *Hierosolymitan Itinerary*, Book 1, Chap. 17. (25) Designated as the torrent Arnon, if I am not mistaken, of which Josephus writes in Book IV of *Antiquities of the Jews*. It originates from the mountains of Arabia, and traveling through the middle of the desert, flows into the Asphaltite lake, defining the Moabite and Amorite [lands]. This land is fruitful, and produces as much fruit as is enough to feed the inhabitants. Thus Josephus. Furthermore, there is a small addition written in our manuscript. This word was either not found in his apograph, or the interpreter omitted it. [See: Surius at the day of July.]

^A And the event immediately taught both to have kept this in ready memory. And they would make use of it as often as a temptation assailed them, or they were petitioning God for something. For there were times when the devil would inflame them, as the God-bearing fool-for-Christ related, as if they were eating meat and drinking wine; and again he would suggest at the beginning fear and sloth in the ascetic life, so that in various ways he tried to recall them from the desert to the monastery. ^B Now again he would present certain things in sleep, now some of their friends; the serpent of many forms would frame bodily images of some weeping, others indulging their appetites, and many other things which no one is able to recount, unless one has had experience of such temptations. But when they would remember the crowns which they had beheld on one another, and the instruction and tears of the old man, their heart was refreshed as if anointed with holy oil and was comforted.

CHAPTER VI. Apparitions, orations, exits of Symeon from the desert into public for the sake of souls, and his hidden actions.

23. Therefore, they recounted to one another what they had seen, and they rejoiced, and their heart was gladdened. And thereafter God immediately relieved them of the concern for their parents. And from then on they continued in relief, not even grieving at all concerning them. But without trouble and without sloth they continued the course of their asceticism and silence.

^A For after a short time had passed, and both were remaining in silence, being separated from each other as if by a stone’s throw, they had also prescribed this for themselves: that is, to withdraw separately whenever one wished to pray privately, so that if thoughts or negligence should seize them, they might approach the other, and both together call upon God, that they might be delivered from temptation. One day, while Simeon was sitting in his accustomed place, he saw himself in an ecstasy, as if he were present with his mother who was sick in Edessa (for she was there), and he said to her in the Syriac tongue: "How are you, mother?" And when she said to him: "It is well, my son," he said again: "Go to the King, and do not fear; for I have asked Him, and He has prepared a good place for you, and where He wishes, I shall follow you there."

21. Having returned to himself, he understood at that very hour that his mother had departed from the living, ^B and running with all speed to his brother John, he said: "Rise, sir; let us pray." And when the latter was troubled (for he thought some temptation had befallen Simeon), Simeon said to him: "Do not be troubled, brother; for I have nothing wrong, by God." To whom John replied: "And what is the cause of such a race, Father Simeon?" (For he revered him deeply, and cherished him, just as Simeon cherished John). Then, with eyes bathed in weeping, and with tears like gems beginning to run down onto his chest, he said to John: "The Lord is calling my good and blessed mother to Himself." And he recounted the vision to him, ^C and on bended knees they prayed. And Simeon was heard calling upon God with truly pitiful and suppliant words (for his bowels were moved and troubled, stirred by natural affection), and he cried out: "O God, who accepted the sacrifice of Abraham; who looked upon the offering of Jephthah; who did not turn away from the gifts of Abel; who through your servant Samuel showed Anna to be a prophetess; you the Same, O Lord, my Lord, for the sake of me your servant, receive the spirit of my good mother. Remember, O Lord, her labors and her hardships which she endured on my account. Remember, O Lord, her tears and the groans which she emitted when, having left her, I fled to you. Remember, O Lord, the breasts with which she suckled me, a wretch, that she might rejoice in my youth; and she did not rejoice. Do not forget that, although she could not be separated from me for even an hour, she has been separated from me for all this time. Remember, O Lord, who knowest all things, that when she wished to delight in me, I then withdrew myself from her ^D for the sake of your name. Do not forget, O just God, the rending of her bowels, which she sustained on that day when I fled to you."

every night, recalling my youth from the time I abandoned her. You know, O Lord, how many sleepless nights she spent, seeking the sheep that once slept with her. Do not forget, O benign God, what great pain pierced her heart when she gazed upon my garments, fixed in contemplation, because her pearl was nowhere to be found, accustomed to being clothed in these. Remember, O Lord, that I deprived her of the consolation, joy, and exultation she hoped for from me, so that I might serve You—my God, and the God of her, and the Lord of all. Grant her angels who will keep her soul from the spirits and malignant beasts of this aerial region, who try without mercy to devour those who pass by. ^B Lord, Lord, send forth strong guards who may rebuke every impure power, so that she may encounter them without pain or torment. O my God! Order her soul to be separated from the body, and if she has sinned in any way as a woman in deed or speech in this life, pardon her soul, for the sake of the sacrifice which she bore and offered to You, O Lord—me, Your unworthy servant; truly, O Lord my God, who are a just judge and benign. Do not lead her from tribulation to tribulation, from pain to pain, from groaning to groaning; but from the pain wherewith she grieved for her only-begotten son, into joy, and from tears into exultation, prepared for Your saints, O God, O my God, for ever. Amen.

26. ^C When the prayer was finished, brother John began to console him and to say: "Behold, brother Symeon, God has granted your prayers, and has taken your mother. But now, come with me into the share of labor, and let us both pray, for the Lord's sake, that God might also show His mercy to her whom, by God’s indulgence, my wife is called, that He may also lead her to the institution of the monastic habit, or show His mercy and take her [to Himself]." A short time having been given to prayers, one night the abbot John saw the mother of Symeon coming, holding his wife’s hand, and saying: "Arise, sister, come closer to me; ^D for the King, who has enrolled my son into his own militia and service, has given me a beautiful house. But change your garments, and put on clean ones." And she arose, he said, immediately, and followed her. And [John] knew that she too had died, and that both were in a good place; and he rejoiced with a very great joy. And thus they persevered in the desert, exercising themselves in every exertion, tolerance, cold, and heat, for twenty-nine years, and they sustained many and inexplicable temptations from the devil. And they overcame him, but especially Symeon, through that which he possessed, of life

^A and innocence and integrity; for he felt that, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within him, he feared neither pain, nor cold, nor hunger, nor heat, but had almost transcended the measures of human nature.

27. He says to John: "What do we profit, brother, by remaining in this desert? But if you listen to me, let us arise, let us depart, let us save others as well. For if we do not profit anyone else but ourselves alone, we have no reward from anyone." And he began to say to him some things of this kind from the Holy Scriptures: "Let no one seek his own, but the things of his neighbor." And again: "I have become all things to all men, that I might save all." And from the Gospel: "Thus let your light shine before men, that they may see your good ^B works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven," and other similar things. And the Lord John, answering, says to him: "I think, brother, that Satan has envied our tranquility and has cast this thought into you. On the contrary, rather, let us fulfill our course in this desert, where we were called by God." Symeon says to him: "Believe me, I am not staying, but I am departing in the power of Christ, to play the fool before the world." His brother says to him again: "Do not, good brother, I beseech you for the Lord's sake, do not abandon me, the humble one. For I have ^C not yet reached this measure, that I might be able to play the fool before the world. But do not desire to be separated from your brother by Him who joined us together. You know that, after God, I have no one but you, my brother; but I have renounced all things to cleave to you; and now you wish to leave me in this desert as if in the open sea? Remember that day on which we cast lots and heard the abbot Nikon; how we agreed not to be separated from each other. Remember the terrible hour when we put on the holy habit, and we were two as one soul, so that all marvelled at our affection. ^D Do not forget the words of the great elder, with which he admonished us on the night we went forth. Do not, I beseech you, do not let me perish, lest God require my soul at your hands."

28. Symeon says to him again: "Consider: if I were to die, would you not have the means to care for yourself alone? Believe me, if you come, it is well and good, since I am not staying." When, therefore, brother John saw him persisting, he understood that he had been persuaded by God to do this. For nothing could have separated them except death alone, and perhaps not even that. For they had often besought God, that He would call them both from this life at the same time, and they believed they would be heard by the Lord in this matter, as in all things. Therefore he says to him [John]: "See, Symeon, lest the devil perchance wish to lay snares for you." He answered him: "You only do not forget me in your prayers, just as I also will not forget you, and the"

^A Lord and your prayers are preserving me." Again, therefore, his brother began to admonish him and say: "See that you be cautious, brother Symeon, lest the world scatter what the desert has gathered; and lest tumult destroy whatever silence has promoted; and lest sleep destroy whatever vigils have brought together. Be cautious, brother, lest the deceit of worldly distractions corrupt the moderation of your monastic life. See that the association with women to come does not destroy the fruit of your abstinence from them, from whom God has kept you safe until this day. See that abundance does not scatter the destitution which the solitary life has brought to you, lest perchance food make fat the body which fasting has afflicted."

29. "See, brother, lest you lose your compunction through laughter, and your prayer through your negligence. See, I beseech you, lest while your face is laughing, your mind be dissipated; lest while your hands are handling things, your soul handle them along with them; lest while your mouth is eating, your heart be affected with sweetness at the same time; lest while your feet are walking, your internal quiet and internal peace leap about in a disorderly fashion; and, to speak briefly, lest whatever the body does externally, the soul also do internally. But if you have altogether received virtue from God, brother, so that in whatever way the body conducts itself, or in speech, or in actions, your mind and heart remain unmoved and undisturbed, and are in no way polluted or harmed by these things, I truly rejoice for your salvation, provided only that you pray to God that He may not here ^B separate us one from another." Then abbot Symeon says to him: "Do not fear, brother John; for I do not wish to do this by my own strength, but by God commanding me. And in this you shall know that my work has pleased God, He himself cooperating: because before I die, I will come to you, and I will call you, and I will embrace you, and in a few days you will follow me. But stand up, and let us perform a prayer." And after they had prayed for a long time, and embraced each other's chests, and watered them with their tears, abbot John dismissed him, having become his companion for a fairly long distance; for his soul did not allow itself to be separated from him. But when brother Symeon would say to him, "Return, brother," he did not hear this word otherwise than as if a sword had separated him from his own body. And he would pray him again that he ^C would permit him to accompany him for another little distance. And so, with abbot Symeon compelling him, he returned to his own place, watering the earth with tears.

30. Symeon set out straight for the holy city of Christ our God. For he was very thirsty, as he used to say, and was burning with the desire, long held, of enjoying the holy places of Christ. And after he had arrived at the holy and life-giving monument of Christ, and ^D the holy and salutary and victorious Calvary, he fulfilled his desire. For he remained for three days in the holy city, going and worshipping the most venerable places of the Lord, and praying. But all his prayer was that his actions might be covered, until he should migrate from this life, that he might flee the glory of men, by which it happens to a person...

that pride and conceit arise, and even angels were lost from heaven. He heard him, therefore, he who said: "The righteous cried out, and the Lord heard them." ^A For although he performed such miracles, and achieved such incredible things, as may be learned from what follows, the work of the holy man did not become manifest to men. For his petition became as it were a veil upon the hearts of those who beheld what was accomplished by him, until his dormition. For how, unless this were so—I mean, that God should cover the virtue of the blessed man from men, because of the glory he was to receive from them—would he not have become manifest to all? For at one time he was healing those possessed by demons, at another time he was carrying fire in his hand; sometimes he was foretelling things to come to some, and indicating to others things spoken of him from afar; at another time he was bringing into the desert food of every kind and delicacies, by an occult power and in a ridiculous manner; and at times he was converting even Hebrews or those deviating from the faith to piety, healing the sick, and delivering others from dangers. Often, also, ^B he would draw impudent women and harlots, in part toward lawful marriage by a jocular manner, and in part toward fruitfulness, enticing them with money; nay, even through the piety innate in him he would touch their heart, that they might embrace the solitary life. Nor do I marvel, O Christ-lovers, that he who performed these things through God remained unknown. For as He who makes the virtues of His own servants, which lie hidden and concealed, often manifest to all, so by His economy He made the virtues of this saint, which were unknown to all, manifest. Therefore, having spent three days, as was said above, in the holy places, he arrived at the city of the Emesenes.

CAPUT V.

51. Now, his manner of entry into the city was as follows. The renowned man, having found on the dung-heap which was outside the city a dead dog, having loosened the girdle made of rope that he was wearing, and having tied it to the dog’s foot, was dragging it as he ran, and entering ^C through the gate near which was the school of the children. As soon as the boys saw him, they began to cry out: "Fie! This abbot is a fool," and they set out running after him and striking him with cuffs. On the following day of this same period, which was the Lord's day, he took nuts and entered the church, and at the beginning of the divine office he threw the nuts and extinguished the candles. But when they ran to eject him, he ascended the ambo, ^D and from there he began to pelt the women with the nuts. And so, with much labor, when they had dragged him out...

^A in the process of leaving, he overturned the tables of the cakes, and they inflicted blows upon him to the point of death. When he saw himself thus bruised, he said to himself: "Humble Symeon, verily, verily, you will not live in the hands of these people for a single hour." By the providence of God, therefore, a lupin-seller caught sight of him, not knowing that he was feigning foolishness, and said to him: "Do you wish, Abba, instead of roaming about, to stand here and sell lupins for me?" And he said to him: "Yes indeed."

^B 32. So when he had stationed him [there] for one day, he began to distribute everything to the people, and he himself also ate insatiably; for he had not eaten during the whole week. The wife of the lupin-seller therefore said to her husband: "From where have you brought this abba to us? In truth, if he eats like this, there is no need for us to sell anything at all. For even one pot, from which I have been measuring them out for him, he has eaten of the lupins." But they did not know that whatever else he had in the other pots, he had [also] distributed these to his associates and to the others—that is, the beans, the lentils, and all the legumes—but they supposed that he had sold them. Therefore, when they opened the pantry and found neither wares nor their price, they beat him and drove him away, even plucking out his beard. ^C When evening fell, he wished to offer incense—for he did not depart from them that evening, but slept there outside the door—and not finding a potsherd, he put his hand into the hearth, and filling it with coals, he offered incense. But God, wishing to save the lupin-seller (for he was of the heresy of the Acephalous Severians), his wife saw Symeon offering incense in his hand, and being struck with amazement, she said: "One God! Abba Symeon, are you offering incense in your hand?"

33. When the elder heard this, he feigned that he was being burned, and shaking the coals from his hand, he transferred them into his old cloak that he was wearing, saying to her: "And if you do not want it in my hand, look, I am offering incense ^D into my cloak." And just as the Lord preserved the bush unburned, and the children, so too the holy man did not feel the heat, nor did his cloak. How, however, the lupin-seller and his wife were saved will be told in another chapter.

Concerning Compunction

^A that he would immediately change his neighborhood, until the matter of what he had done was buried in oblivion. He strove, furthermore, to carry about with him some foolishness, by which he might conceal what he had rightly done. It happened one day that he who distributed lupines in the tavern received his food, yet the tavern keeper was so harsh that he often would not give him food, even though he sold much on account of Symeon. For the citizens, as if suspended by the novelty of the thing, were saying among themselves: "Let us go, let us drink, where Salus is." One day, therefore, a serpent entered and drank wine from an amphora, and vomited its venom into it, and went away. Abbot Symeon was not inside, but was leading dances outside with the common folk. After the saint had come, he saw the inscription on the amphora: "Death"; yet in such a way that it could not be seen. He immediately understood, therefore, what had been done in it; and with a stick ^B he broke it, just as it was full. The master having snatched the stick from his hands, beat him until he grew faint, and pursued him. But the next day Abbot Symeon came, and hid himself behind the door; and behold, the serpent returned to drink, and the tavern keeper, having caught sight of it, snatched the same stick, wanting to kill it; and when he had struck and missed, he broke all the amphorae and cups. Then Salus ran up and said: "What is it, fool? See, I am not the only one who is inept and less than capable." Then the tavern keeper understood that for the same reason Abbot Symeon had broken the amphora, and he was edified, and held him to be a holy man.

34. Since, therefore, the saint wanted to abolish his own estimation, lest the master should preach gloriously about him, one day, when his wife was sleeping alone, and he himself was selling wine, Abbot Symeon approached her, and made as though to take off his clothes. While she cried out, her husband entered. To whom ^C she said: "Cast out this most wicked man, for he wanted to offer me violence"; and beating him with her fists, she expelled him from the shop into the ice (for it was a very cold and frosty storm). And from that time on, the tavern keeper not only held him for a man out of his mind; but if he heard anyone else saying: "Truly, perhaps this abbot pretends to be like this"; he would immediately answer him: "He is truly a pure, utter demoniac; the man does not deceive me: for he wanted to offer injury to my wife, if he could have, and he eats meat like a heathen." For the righteous man also ate meat more often, when he had not tasted bread for a whole week, and no one understood his fast. And he ate meat before them indeed, that he might deceive them. But he was wholly as if devoid of body, and he cared not for the shame of men, or of nature. For he often, wishing to unburden ^D himself, blushing at no cause, would immediately sit down in some place in the forum before everyone; and he did this, that even from this he might persuade them, truly

^A that he was out of his mind. For, as it has been said many times, fortified by the virtue of the Holy Spirit inhabiting him, he overcame the fire of the devil, being in no way harmed by it.

33. One day, after he had seen him macerated by his exercise (for Pascha had passed, and he had spent all the holy fasts without food), the aforementioned John, a man of proven virtue, a lover of God, the very same who described his life to us, having compassion and admiring his ineffable austerity, even though he was in the city, and he was mingling with women just as much as with men, wishing, as if by way of a game, to refresh his body, said: "Come, Salus, let us go bathe." He replied: "Indeed, let us go, let us go." No sooner said than done; he took off his garment, placed it on his head, and tied it around it like a headband. Master John said to him: "Put it on, brother; for truly, if you walk naked, I will not come with you." To which Abbot Symeon replied: "Apage, fool: I have already anticipated the work to be done. If you refuse to come, behold, I go on a little ahead of you"; and having left him, he went on a little. There were two baths, close to one another, one for men, the other for women. Salus left the one that was for men and betook himself to that which was for women, of his own accord. Master John called out: "Where are you heading, Salus? Wait; that one is for women." The marvelous man turned and said: "Apage, fool; there is hot ^B water, and here is hot water. What more is there, either there or here?" And running, he passed through the middle of the women, as if glorying in the Lord. But they all rushed at him, and beating him, cast him out. The deacon, the lover of God, therefore asked him when he explained his whole life to him: "Tell me, for the sake of the Lord, Father, how were you affected after you had entered the women's bath?" To which he replied: "Believe me, son, just as a log is among logs, so was I then. For I did not perceive that I carried a body, nor that I had entered a place where there were bodies; but my whole mind was on the work of the Lord, and from it I did not cease." For those things which the saint did, he performed partly out of a desire for salvation, and out of commiseration for men, and partly so that his own righteous deeds might be concealed ^C.

36. Some were exercising outside the city, at a place called Lysoporta. Among them was the son of John the deacon, a friend of Symeon, who a few days before had had an affair with a married woman; and when he was leaving her house, with no one seeing him, he was possessed by a demon. The saint wished to bring him back to his senses and at the same time to heal him, and he said to those who were running: "Indeed, if I do not play with you, ^D

^A I shall not permit you to run." And he began to cast stones at them. The youth whom he was about to heal wished to slip past him to the side where he was running. Seeing this, the abbot Symeon instead went off to the opposite side. For he knew what he was going to do. And when they began to run, the saint followed the youth whom the demon had invaded, and overtaking him, without anyone realizing it, he struck him on the jaw and said: "Commit adultery no more, ^B O wretched one, and the demon shall not draw near to you." Immediately, therefore, the demon tore at him, and all gathered around him. As he lay on the ground foaming, the sufferer saw the Fool chasing a black dog away from him, and striking it with a wooden cross. When after many hours he came to himself, he was asked: "What has happened to you?" And he could say nothing, except this one thing: "Someone said to me: 'Commit fornication no more.'" But after the abbot Symeon was translated to the heights, he came to his senses and explained the matter in detail to everyone.

37. Mimes were once performing in the theater. One of them was called Psephas. ^C The righteous man, wishing to restrain such evil (for the aforementioned Psephas did possess some good works), did not disdain to go there; but he went and stood down in the arena where the mimes were performing. And when he saw Psephas start to perform nefarious acts, he picked up a very small stone, having first marked it with a cross, and threw it at the right hand of Psephas, and withered it. No one at the time observed who had thrown the stone. Consequently, the saint appeared to him in a dream at night and said to him: "Truly, I have reached the mark; ^D and if you do not swear that you will no longer practice doing such a thing, you will not recover." He swore to him, therefore, by the Theotokos, that he would never again engage in such a performance. And having arisen, he found his hand healthy, and explained all that he had seen. However, he could not affirm that it was the Fool who had spoken to him in his sleep. He only said: "A monk, I know not who, wearing a crown of palms, said these things to me."

CHAPTER VI.

38. When a great earthquake once fell upon the city, at the time of the holy Emperor Maurice ^D (for the saint was emerging from solitude into public at that time), he snatched a strap from some cords and began to strike the columns, saying to each one: "Your Lord says, 'Stand.'" And when the earthquake arose, not one of all the columns which he had struck fell. But he came to one column and said: "As for you, neither fall nor stand." And it was split from the top down to the bottom, and it was slightly inclined, and thus it remained. No one understood what the saint had done.

^A But everyone said that he had struck the columns out of madness. God is to be praised and admired because, through those guises in which they thought Symeon was behaving stupidly, he often demonstrated things that surpassed human opinion. As a plague was about to come upon the city, he went around to all the schools and began to greet the children, saying to each one, as if in jest: "Go well, my good boy." He did not greet everyone, but only those whom the grace of God pointed out to him. And he said to the master of each school: "By God, fool, do not torment the children; I love them, for they have a long road to travel." The master, however, playing games with him, sometimes would strike him with a whip, sometimes would nod to the boys, and they would mock him. When the plague had arrived, not even one of those whom Abba Symeon had greeted remained, but all died. ^B

39. It was also the custom of the holy man to go up to the houses of the rich and to play, and often to pretend that he was kissing their female servants. A certain commoner had made the female servant of one of the notables pregnant, and because the servant did not want to reveal the one who had committed fornication with her, she was asked by her mistress who had corrupted her. She replied: "Symeon the Fool used force on me." When he came to the house according to his custom, the mistress of the girl said: "Well done, Abba Symeon, that you have corrupted and impregnated my servant." Then he, laughing, and bowing his head toward his right hand, and clenching his five fingers together, said to her: "Let it be, let it be, poor woman! She will be delivered for you now, and you will have a little Symeon." ^C So, until her day came, Abba Symeon remained, bringing her fine bread, and meat, and delicacies, and he would say: "Eat, my wife." When the season and the hour for her to give birth arrived, she suffered three days of intense labor pains unto death. Her mistress then said to the Fool: "Pray, Abba Symeon, because your wife cannot give birth." He replied to her, dancing: "By Jesus, by Jesus! Poor woman, the infant will not come out from there until she herself says who its father is." Having heard this, the one who was in danger said: "I falsely accused him; [it is not his, but] it is the offspring of someone from the common people." Then, therefore, she immediately gave birth; and while everyone marveled, some of the household held him to be a holy man, while others said again: ^D "He divines by the power of Satan, since he is clearly mad."

40. Two of the Fathers, then, in some monastery near Emesa, making inquiry among themselves and investigating what the reason had been for Origen the heretic falling into heresy, [held] such an opinion and wisdom from God...

And when one said that the knowledge he possessed was not from God, but a natural superiority of talent; furthermore, that being of a keen mind, he had especially sharpened his intellect by constant reading of the Holy Scriptures and by leisure spent with the holy Fathers, and that from this originated the writing of his books. But when another replied that it is impossible for anyone to speak by natural superiority such discourses as he had published, especially those which are called the *Hexapla*—which is why the Catholic Church receives them as necessary even to this day—and the other answered again, saying: "Believe me, there are Greeks who possessed greater wisdom than he, and who wrote more books than he did; what need is there, therefore, to praise them for their wordy nonsense?" ^B Since they remained of differing opinions, finally one says to the other: "We hear from those who come from the holy places that the desert of the Jordan has great monks; let us go, and let us learn from them." Having therefore reached the holy places, and having prayed, they come also to the desert of the Dead Sea, into which those of blessed and ever-memorable memory, John and Symeon, had also withdrawn. Since God did not allow their labor to be in vain, they found the abbot John, who had by then already attained to the measures of perfection; for when he saw them, he said: "Well have they come, they who have left the sea and come to the dry marsh to draw water." 41. A long and devout conversation therefore taking place between them, they asked him why they had undertaken this journey. He answered: "Not yet, Fathers, have I received the charisma of discerning the judgments of God; but go to Symeon the Fool, who is in your region, and he is able ^C to resolve for you this and everything else you wish." They said to him: "Pray for John, that he may also receive the ten [denarii]." Having come to Emesa and inquired where the Fool, called Symeon, was, everyone was laughing at them and saying: "What do you want with him, my Fathers?" ^D

^A A man who is insane and mocks everyone, particularly the monks. When those who sought him out found him in a shop ^B eating hot lupines like a bear, the one was immediately scandalized and said to himself: "Truly we have come to see a great Gnostic; this man has much to tell us." As they approached, they said to him, "Bless us." He said to them, "You have come badly, and he who sent you is a fool." ^C Then, seizing the ear of the one who had been scandalized, he gave him such a box on the ear that it showed for three days, and said, "Why do you find fault with the lupines? They have been soaking for forty days; and Origen does not eat of them, for he went down into the sea and could not get out, and he was drowned in the depths." ^D They were astonished that he had foretold everything to them, and this also, that the Fool wants the ten, but he is a fool like you. "You take," he said, "an antinychia, yes, yes, go away." And taking up the pot of the hot pottage immediately, he burned the lips of both of them, so that they could not say what he had said to them. 42. He was once in the shop in a market-place, and he began to play the pandura in a narrow alley, where there was an unclean spirit. He was playing and reciting the prayer of the great Nicon, so that he might drive the spirit out of the spot; for it had bruised many people. When the demon fled, it passed through the shop like an Ethiopian and smashed everything. Turning back, the wonder-worker said to his mistress, "Who broke these things?" She said, "A cursed Negro came and broke everything." He said to her, laughing, "Short, short?" She said, "Indeed, Sale." He said to her, "Truly I sent him to break everything." As he heard this, he wanted to strike him. But he [Symeon] stooped [down].

and lifted some dust, threw it, and blinded her eyes. The Saint said, "Truly you are not tricking me; but either you shall communicate in my Church, or Maurus will break everything daily." For they were infected with the heresy of the Acephali. When he had departed from her, behold, on the following day at the same hour he came, and again Maurus openly broke everything. Being pressed, therefore, they became Orthodox, having Symeon as a servant of God, and daring to say nothing about him, even though the Salos passed by and mocked them daily.

45. A certain workman of the city wished to make him public, having known his virtue. ^B For he had seen him once washing, and two angels conversing with him. The workman, however, was a Jew, and he blasphemed much against Christ. The Saint appeared to him in his sleep, telling him to tell no one what he had seen. In the morning he wished to triumph over him, and immediately the Saint, standing by him, touched his lips and compressed them, and he was not able to speak to anyone. He came therefore to the Salos, and gestured with his hand, so that he might make him speak. But abbas Symeon made as if he were a fool, and gestured back to him as though he were confused. ^C He gestured to him that he should sign himself. And it was a fearsome spectacle to see both of them gesturing to one another. The elder appeared to him again in a dream, saying, "Either be baptized, or you shall have death." At that time, therefore, he could not be persuaded to have faith. But finally, when abbas Symeon met his death, and the Jew saw himself pressed by straits, especially when his body was being moved, then he himself and his whole house were baptized. And when he emerged from the holy font, he spoke immediately. He also kept the memorial of the Salos every year, and invited the poor. The Saint had reached such a measure of purity and dispassion, ^D that he would often dance and lead a choir, holding one theater-woman on one side and another on the other, and he would be in the middle of all the public and play. So it was that at times the lewd women would cast their hands into his bosom, and they would giggle and hop and tickle him. But the elder, like pure gold, was in no way defiled by these things.

44. It happened, as he related, when he was in the wilderness and had the burning and the war of lust, that he prayed to God and to the great Nikon to relieve him from the great war of fornication; and he beheld this most famous man coming to him once and saying to him, "How are you, brother?" And I said to him, he says, "Unless you arrive and help me, I am undone, because the flesh is goading me, I know not why." Smiling next page begins: ἀπ΄. Εἴ ποτε δὲ παρέδη αὐτῷ μία ἐκ τῶν νομιζο- μένων αὐτῷ φίλων, εὐθέως τῷ πνεύμ…

^A however, the miraculous Nicon, as Symeon related, took water from the holy Jordan and cast it beneath his navel, having made the sign of the venerable cross, and said to him: "Behold, you have become healthy." From that time, therefore, as he swore, neither in dreams nor while awake did he feel the burning of the flesh. Trusting most of all in this, the noble man returned to the world, wishing to sympathize with and to save those who were being assailed. For there are times when he would even say to one of the courtesans, "Do you wish me to have you as a friend? And I will give you a hundred gold pieces." Many, therefore, being stirred up, agreed to him. For he would show them also the money; for he had as much as he wanted, with God invisibly providing it for him because of his divine purpose. And finally he would demand an oath from the one receiving it, that she would not return the money she had accepted to be in vain. All things, however, he did through foolish and indecorous figures.

45. But the word cannot present the image of the things. For he would make himself, at one time dragged to the seats, at another time thrusting his foot at one running and tripping him. Again, at the moon’s birth, he would roll on the ground and strike it with his feet. There were times, too, when he would feign someone talking. For he said that this sort of posture is more suitable and contributory than all other postures for those who feign folly for the sake of Christ. For through this he often rebuked and checked sins, and would vent bile against someone so that he might be corrected, and he would predict certain things, and do whatever he wished, changing only his own voice and the position of his limbs; and whatever he did ^B, they held him just like the many who talk and prophesy by the influence of a demon.

CAP. VII.

46. If ever one of those who were considered his friends fell into sin, he would immediately know by the Spirit that she had committed fornication, and he would speak and open his mouth and cry out, "You have committed a fault. Holy, holy, give to her, and her infirmity," until she came to reach the point of death, or often, if she persisted in not being chaste, even sent a demon to her. ^C From this, therefore, he caused all those assigned to him to be chaste and not to sin. There was a certain leader of the choir dwelling near Emesa, and when he heard of his life, he says, "Believe me, if I see whether he is a pretender, and if he is in truth what is reported." Having arrived, therefore, in the city, by chance he found that one [woman] who was in charge of him was carrying him, and another was leading him with a leash. Immediately the leader of the choir was scandalized, and he reasoned to himself and said in Syriac, "Does Satan not believe that he is having intercourse with them?"

^A Having therefore left them, the Fool immediately came to the first leader, who was standing as it were at a stone's throw from him, and struck him on the cheek; he stripped off his garments, and said to him, jumping about, "Come here, you clown, you lowly one, there is no deceit here!" He then realized that he had understood the things in his heart, and marveling, as he went to tell someone of what had happened, his tongue was bound and he could not speak.

47. He also possessed the gift of temperance more than many of the saints. For when the holy Quadragesima of the holy fasts arrived, he would taste nothing until the holy Thursday. But immediately from the first light on that same Thursday he would sit in the market ^B eating, so that the spectators were scandalized, saying that he did not even fast on the holy Thursday. But the lord John the deacon knew his work to be divine. When, therefore, on holy Thursday he saw him sitting in the market and eating at the first light, he said to him, "How much is this, Salos?" He said to him, and the other, taking hold of his hand, had forty [coins] ^C, he produced the [coin], signifying by this that he eats after forty days. A demon was again frequently haunting another crossroads of the city. One day the holy man saw him as he was passing by, desiring to strike one of those who were passing through, and having snatched up stones in his bosom, he began to throw them here and there into the forum, and he kept all those who wished to pass from doing so. In the midst of this, a dog ran by, and the demon struck it, and it began to foam at the mouth. Then the holy man said to all, "Now pass through, fools." For the all-wise one knew that if a man had passed, the demon would have struck him instead of the dog; for this reason he kept them from passing for a little while. The entire purpose, as has already been said, of this all-wise Symeon was thus: first, to save souls, whether through the taunts which he sent them mockingly or craftily, or, again, through the miracles which he performed without others noticing, or through the exhortations which he spoke to them while playing the fool; then, that his virtue might not be known, and he might escape praise and glory from men.

48. For when some maidens were dancing in a [street] ^D and singing, it seemed good to him to pass through that street. As soon as they saw him, they began to jeer at [the abbot]. The righteous man, therefore, having prayed, desiring to bring them to their senses, immediately made them all cross-eyed, and as they began to say to each other the thing that had befallen them

they recognized that it was he who had made them cross-eyed, and they ran ^A after him weeping and crying out: “Undo it, Sale, undo it.” For they thought he had made them squint by some incantation. When, therefore, they reached him, they forcibly detained him. And they adjured him to undo what he had bound. He says to them, therefore, playfully: “Whichever of you wishes to be healed, let her kiss the eye that has been made to squint, and it shall be healed.” As many, therefore, as God willed to be healed, the saint said, accepted the condition; but the rest, who did not accept that he should kiss them, remained thereafter weeping. When, therefore, he had departed from them a little, the rest also began to run after him and cry out: “Stay, Sale, stay; for God’s sake, stay and kiss us too.” It was, therefore, something to see the elder running and the young maidens behind him. And some indeed said that they were playing with him; others, however, were thinking that they and the young maidens had lost their minds. Thus they remained unhealed forever. For the saint used to say: “If God had not made them cross-eyed, all the women of Syria would have surpassed them in licentiousness. But through the infirmity of their eyes, they refrained from their many evils.”

Once, the lord John, his friend, invited him to a feast, and bits of fat were hanging there. Abbot Symeon, therefore, began to cut and eat the fat raw. But the most wise John, not wishing to say anything to him with a loud voice, approaching his ear, says to him: “Indeed, you do not scandalize me, even if you eat raw fat from the chimney; henceforth, do whatever you wish.” For he knew the virtue of the Salos, because he too was a spiritual man.

^B 49. Once, some Emesenes came during Holy Easter to the holy city to celebrate the feast, one of whom went to the holy Jordan to pray. And going around to the Fathers, he asked for a blessing. It happened, therefore, that Abbot John, the brother of Abbot Symeon, also met, by the dispensation of God, with this merchant in the desert. As the merchant saw him, he threw himself to the ground, asking for a prayer from him. Abbot John says to him: “Whence are you?” He says to him: “From Emesa, Father.” Then he answered him: “And having Abbot Symeon there who is called the Salos, what do you seek from me, the lowly one? For I ^C myself, and the whole world, am in need of his prayers.” Abbot John, therefore, took the merchant into his cave and set a rich table before him. For by the grace of God there was found in that dry desert clean wheat-bread and warm fried fish, and excellent wine, and glass vessels. When, therefore, they had eaten and were satisfied, he gives him three warm eulogies, and them likewise being from God, and says: “Give them to the Salos, and say to him from me: ‘For the sake of the Lord, pray for your brother John.’” ^D Therefore, the truth of the Lord bearing witness, as soon as the merchant reached Emesa, Abbot Symeon met him.

near the city gate, saying: “What is it, fool? Who is worthy, if a fool like you, John, is your equivalent? Have you not eaten the blessings which he gave you? Truly, truly, if you had eaten those three, you would have consumed them.” The merchant was therefore astounded, as he heard everything he wanted to say to him. He accepted it, therefore, and immediately went into his hut, the Fool; ^A and thus he confirmed to me that he had kept everything without any change, just as Abbot John had done, even to the size of the cup which he had seen in his cave, and how, when we ate, he said to me, “Three blessings,” and I departed into my house, blushing because of what anyone might say about him, for everyone was convinced that he was a fool.

50. We said above (73) that he performed a miracle in connection with the man who loved God, who explained his life to us. Now the manner of this miracle is this: Certain evildoers committed a murder, and having taken the body (74), they threw it through the window into the house of the aforesaid man who loved God. ^B Since no small disturbance arose, he was brought before the magistrate and was accused, so that he might be hanged, namely, John. Since he was about to die, he said nothing else to himself but this: “O God, be present with me in this hour.” Since the Lord wished to save him from such a calumny, someone came and said to Abbot Symeon: “Unhappy man! Your friend, this Lord John, is going to be hanged; and truly, if he dies, you die, and no one cares for him, and he has no one.” But he said to him how the crime of murder had been contrived. Then Abbot Symeon, feigning madness, dismissed him, as he reported to him, and he departed into a hidden place ^C where he always prayed, so that no one might know, except his friend, John, who loved God; and bending his knees, he prayed to God that He might deliver the servant from such a danger. And as they were leading him, when they reached the place where they were to set up the gallows, behold, horsemen (75) ran up and said that they were the true authors of the murder.

51. Therefore, when he was released, he immediately ran straight to the place where he knew Abbot Symeon always prayed, and seeing him from afar extending his hands to heaven, he was afraid. For he swore that he had seen globes of fire ^D which were erupting from him into the sky, and around him was like a burning furnace, and he was in the midst of it, so that I could not approach until he had finished his prayer. And having turned, [he] saw me; and when he had seen [me], he said: “What is it, Deacon John? Truly, truly, you are drinking too much; but go, pray. This temptation has befallen you because two beggars came to you yesterday, and you, being able to give to

you did not lift them up, but rejected them. For they are not yours, brother, what you give. Do you not believe him who said: “That everyone who has given, shall receive more in the present age, and in the world to come shall inherit eternal life”? If you believe, give. But if you do not give, it is clear that you do not believe the Lord. Behold the words of a fool, or rather, of a holy wise man. For towards this Lord John, because the two were together alone, he did nothing of the fool. But he associated with him in such an orderly and deeply compunctious manner that often a good odor would come forth from his mouth, as this Lord John used to testify, so that I was almost ready to disbelieve that he was the same one who had been a fool an hour before. But towards all others, he acted differently. ^A

CAP. VIII. The remaining miracles are recounted.

52. For there were times when, as the holy day of the Lord's Day approached, he would take a string of sausages and wear them like an orarion, and hold mustard in his left hand, and thus from the first light would dip and eat. And some of those coming to play with him he would smear on their mouths with the mustard. Whence also a certain rustic came to play with him, whose two eyes were suffering from white albugo; he smeared both his eyes with the mustard. Being tormented unto death, he said to him: “Go, wash with garlic and vinegar, and you will be healed immediately.” That one, however, as if thinking he was doing something, immediately ran to the doctors and became more blind. Finally, therefore, moved by a rage, he swears in Syriac: “By the God of heaven, even if my two eyes were to jump out immediately, whatever the Fool tells me, I shall do.” And having washed, as he told him, his eyes were immediately healed, as clear as from the day of his birth, so that he praised God. Then the Fool having met him, says to him: “Behold, you are healed; go, and no longer steal the neighbor’s goats.” A certain man had five hundred coins stolen in Emesa, and as he was seeking them, Abbot Symeon met him, and wishing to turn him around, he says to him: “Can you do, fool, so that my coins may be found?” He says to him: “If you wish, yes.” The other says to him: “Do it, and if they are found, I will give you ten.” The Fool says to him: “If I say something to you, do it, and you will find them in your cupboard this very night.” He agreed with him with oaths that if he said anything to him, he would obey him, provided that he did not tell him anything unusual. He says to him again: “Go, your servant who acts as your cupbearer has taken your coins. But behold, give me your word that you will not strike him, nor anyone else of your household.” (He was striking them very severely). ^{B C D}

He thought that it was for the sake of the coins that he told him not to strike anyone. But Abbot Symeon, because he had never struck him, said to him—he gave him his word with terrible oaths that he would not strike anyone. And having departed, he seized his servant kindly, and received from him what he had lost.

53. It happened that from that time on, when he came to strike someone, he was unable to, but his hand immediately withered. Knowing the reason, he said, “This has truly befallen me from the Salos.” And he approached him and said, “Release me, Salos, from the oath.” And immediately the other pretended to be foolish, as if he did not know what he was saying to him. When he persisted in annoying him, he appeared to him in a dream and said to him, “I will truly release the oath, and I release your account, and I will scatter it all. Why do you behave shamelessly? Why do you want to strike your fellow servants, who will go before you in the coming age?” When he saw these things, he desisted from him. He sympathized with the demon-possessed with more than natural compassion, so that, departing in various ways, he made himself like one of them, and living with them, he healed many of them through his own prayer, so that some of the demon-possessed would speak out and say, “O violent Salos, you mock the whole world, and have you come even near us to torture us? Depart from here, you are not of our flock. Why do you torment us all night and burn us?” Since the holy man was there, he also rebuked many, as one who spoke by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; some for having stolen, others for having committed fornication; and others he reproved with a cry for not communicating [partaking of the Eucharist] regularly, and others he rebuked as perjurers, with the result that through this very method he restrained almost the entire city from sinning. ^C There was at that time a woman who was a diviner, and who practiced incantations and made amulets. The holy man strove to make her his friend, giving her what he collected from those who gave to him, whether small coins, or loaves, or clothing. One day he says to her, “Do you want me to make an amulet for you, so that you may never suffer from the evil eye?” She answers him, “Yes, Salos,” thinking that even though he is a fool, perhaps he succeeds. Having departed, he wrote on a small tablet in Syriac: “May God cause you to desist and cease, so that you no longer turn people away from Him toward yourself.” ^D He gave it to her, and she wore it, and she was no longer able to divine for anyone, nor to make an amulet.

54. Once again, when he was sitting with the poor and warming himself near the furnace of the glassmaker—the glassmaker was a Hebrew—he says to the poor in jest, “Do you want me to make you laugh? Behold, upon the cup which the craftsman is making, I shall make a cross, and it will break.” When he had broken seven in succession, the poor began to laugh, and they told the matter to the craftsman. And he chased him, having heated an iron. As he was going away, he shouted at him, saying, “Truly, oh diviner, until you make a cross on your forehead, you will be crushed.”

^A And when he had broken another thirteen in order, he was pricked to the heart, and he made a cross upon his forehead, and he did not break anything anymore. From this manner, therefore, he departed, and he became a Christian.

Ten commoners were once washing their own garments outside the city, and the blessed man coming forth, says to them: “Come, fools, and I shall prepare for you a splendid banquet.” Five of them, therefore, said: “God knows, let us go.” But the rest restrained them, saying: “Indeed, he is going to make a banquet for you out of darkness. He begs from door to door, and where would he have it? But he only wishes for us to cease.”

^B 55. Five, therefore, believed and went away. And he says to them: “Stay here.” And leaving them, as if a bowshot away he departed from them, and prayed in secret. Those men say among themselves: “Truly we have been mocked; for I think Abbot Symeon wishes to bring us hay, so that we may graze.” And lo, while they were saying these things, they perceive him gesturing to them to come to him; for, as has been said before, he had prayed, and by the power of God had prepared everything for them. Having reached him, they found, as if placed by the Lord before him, fine white bread, and cakes, and spheres, and fish, and various wines, and small pastries, and sweets, and simply everything that life has of abundance. And when they had eaten, he says: “Receive, O wretched ones, for your wives also. And if you no longer become foolish commoners, in truth these fine white loaves will not fail in your houses until I die.” They say among themselves when they had gone away: “Let us make a test for one week, and if they do not run out, let us no longer go down with our companions to the public square.” ^C When, therefore, they saw that the white loaves did not run out, although they consumed them daily, they no longer went out for any wicked business. But three of them even lived a solitary life, pricked to the heart by the behavior of the Holy Fool. Yet, to tell anyone anything while the Holy Fool lived in the flesh, they were unable.

56. What kind of deed he performed for a certain wretched man, or rather a muleteer, it is worthy to commit to writing for those who concern themselves with what relates to him. For the muleteer was merciful, ^D and called him [by the name], which is blasphemous. Mansour... [index: entries preserved]

used to mix it with what happened along the way. Therefore, on one occasion, as he was going out to fetch something by his house's account and to buy some wine, the blessed one met him and said to him, "Where are you going, friend?" For he always had this expression on his lips. So the man said to him, "For wine, Salos." Abba Symeon answered him: "Bring a pennyroyal ^A with you as you come." The muleteer, having taken it as an omen, said to himself as he went away: "What sort of Satan has sent this abba to me this morning, saying: 'Bring me a pennyroyal'? Truly this wine is turning into bad luck, and either it will turn sour, or I don't know what." So when he returned, having brought very good wine, he forgot in his joy to bring the pennyroyal. The latter said to him again: "Truly, humble one, you forgot." The abba smiled then and said to him: "Go just the same; your business has been taken care of." When he arrived and moved the wineskins, he found them to be vinegar, because a man was dead and had smelled them. Then he understood the matter and began to say: "Truly, this is why we just now went for [the] pennyroyal." He ran then and came to the Salos, and entreated him (for he said that just as a juggler performs an eye-trick, so he too had done): "Undo what you have done, Salos." He says to him: "What have I done?" The other says: "I bought good wine, and it was found to be vinegar in two hours." He says to him again: "Go, go, it is not your concern; open the wineskin as it is, and it will be profitable ^B for you." 57. For the purpose and the prayer of the elder was that his labor might be blessed, because he was merciful, but he did not wish to perform anything openly, but all things through games. The muleteer was therefore pricked at heart ^C and says: "Blessed be God, I shall open the wineskin." And when he opened it, God blessed it, and as for the things for which he ought to have been thankful to the Salos, he was rather angry with him, not understanding what he had brought about for him. But the whole of the matter was God, protecting the purpose of Abba Symeon. One of the grandees of the city fell ill once. It was the custom of the holy man to go up and play in his house, and as he was being thrashed, he saw himself in his sleep playing dice with some Ethiopian. This was death. He had arrived then and came, he says, to cast down the sick man, and if he did not throw a three, he was defeated. Abba Symeon arrives then to him in his sleep, and says: "What is it, friend?" ^D "Truly now this Black one is defeating you. But give me your word that you will no longer defile the bed of your wife, and I shall cast in your place, and he will not defeat you." Having sworn then, says the one who saw these things, and having taken the dice from me, he cast, and they fell as threes. When the sick man had woken up, the Salos went up immediately, and says to him: "You cast good threes, fool. Believe

me, if you break your oath, that Moor will choke you," and having insulted him and all his household, he ran away.

CHAPTER XI.

Virtues of Symeon, prediction of his death, holy passing, angelic song, burial, body divinely snatched away.

^B This truly wise man possessed nothing in his hut—for he did have a hut, not so much to sleep in, but rather where he might keep vigil through the nights, save for a bundle of twigs. Frequently, therefore, passing the night in prayer until dawn and wetting the floor with his tears, he would go out early in the morning and cut either olive branches or herbs, and make himself a crown, which he would wear, and he would hold a branch in his hand and stand about crying, "Victory to the King and to the city!" By the city he meant the soul, and by the king, the reason that rules over the passions of the mind. And the saint prayed this of God: that the hair of his head and his beard should not grow, lest by shearing them, it become apparent that he was pretending to be a fool. And so, for all the time that he lived in this way of life, no one ever saw the hair of his head grow, nor did he ever cut it. He often engaged in a frequent and beneficial intercourse with the lord John, the deacon, alone, and threatened that if he revealed his virtuous purpose to anyone, he would fall into great torment in the age to come.

^C 59. He was speaking to him, when he had recounted his whole life to him, that is, two days before he departed from this life, saying: "Today I went to brother John, and I found him, through God, to have progressed greatly, and I rejoiced. For I saw him wearing his crown, and inscribed upon it: 'Crown of patience in the wilderness.' And again, that blessed man says: 'I saw,' he says, 'as you came, someone saying to me: "Come, come, Salos, that you may receive not one crown, but the crowns of the souls which you brought me." But I hold, lord archdeacon, that he did not see anything like that in me, but wished to favor me. For what reward do I have, a foolish and out-of-his-mind man, to receive?'" ^D He continued: "I entreat you, never to despise any soul, especially a monk or a pauper, as sometimes happens. For love knows that there are among the poor, and especially among the blind, people who are like the sun, purified by patience and their own hardships. How many local peasants have I often seen entering the city to partake of the mysteries, who were purer than gold because of their harmlessness and simplicity, and because they ate their own bread in the sweat of their brow."

60. But do not blame me, master, for what has been said to you, because of the total neglect of my miserable life about which I have spoken to you. But know that the Lord is also soon going to take you.

take care of your own soul, so that you may be able to pass through the rulers of the darkness of this air without being storm-tossed. For the Lord knows that I am filled with great care and fear, until I am at rest from them. For this is the evil day, concerning which the Apostle and David spoke. Therefore I entreat you, child and brother John, with all your might—if it is acceptable—to show mercy, and that above all virtues, for it will help us then. For He says: "Blessed is he who considers the poor and needy; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him." And never stand at the holy altar while holding something against someone, lest your iniquity make others also unworthy of the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

61. He declared these and many other things, and he forbade him to ever tell any of them to anyone, because not everyone receives what is said with faith. "But be consoled," he added, "since after these three days the Lord is about to take up this least of all, Salos, and the master John, his brother." And indeed, I myself, as I was departing, said to him: "Brother, come, let us go. There is still time remaining; but after two days, come to my hut and see if you find anything. For I want you to have a memento of the humble and sinful Salos." Having said these and more things to him, he departed and hid himself in his hut. But now the time calls, O friends, to recount to you his death, or rather his sleep, which is most worthy of admiration. For this also will provide you with no small benefit. ^B Indeed, it is even more excellent than all that has been said before, as it has served as the seal and confirmation of his undefiled life. For when the great man perceived that the common hour was at hand, and did not wish to receive human honor even after his death, what does he do? Having entered under the bundle of vine-twigs that was in his sacred hut, sleeping there, he rendered his spirit to the Lord in peace. His acquaintances, who had not seen him for two days, said: "Let us go and see if perhaps Salos is sick." And they found him lying dead under the bundle of vine-twigs. Then they said: "Will everyone now believe that this man was of sound mind? Behold, even his death is *katsalmos.*" And two men took him up, and without washing him, and without psalmody, and without candles and incense, they went away and buried him in the strangers' graveyard.

62. As they were passing by the house of a certain Hebrew glassmaker, whom he himself had made a Christian, as we mentioned above, those who were carrying him and going out to bury him, the aforementioned Hebrew heard a psalmody of such harmony that no human lips could sing such a melody, and a multitude that no—

the human race could gather. But he, struck by the orderly and consonant harmony of the angels, leaned forward and saw the holy man being carried by only two people, who were bearing his venerable body. Then he who had heard this wondrous melody said: "Blessed are you, Salos, for since you have no men to sing psalms to you, you have heavenly powers honoring you with hymns." And descending at once, he buried him with his own hands. And then he recounted to everyone the canticles of the angels he had heard. The deacon Lord John also heard this, and ran with speed together with many others to the place where he had been buried, wishing to take up his precious body so that he might honorably pay him his dues. But having opened the sepulcher, he did not find it; for the Lord, who was glorifying him, had translated it. Then all were as if awakened from sleep, and they recounted to one another what miracles he had performed for each one, and that he had feigned foolishness for the sake of God.

EPILOGUE

63. This is the life and conduct, O lovers of Christ, of this wondrous Symeon. These are but a few virtues gathered from many. This is his truly hidden and heavenly course, which was seen by no one, yet suddenly became manifest to all. This is the new Lot, who, just as he was in Sodom, so did he enter the world in secret. We have endeavored to commit to writing his wonders and his most celebrated struggles, as far as our insignificance allowed, even if we had previously composed another account as a summary, because the details of this wondrous narrative had not yet come to our knowledge. But to honor him with panegyrics is not within our skill, but belongs to those who have the capacity to attain his virtue by their speech. For what discourse could praise him who has been honored above discourse? Or how could fleshly lips praise him who appeared in the flesh as though without flesh? Or how could the wisdom of the tongue praise him who surpassed all wisdom and prudence with a foolishness assumed for God’s sake? Truly, man looks at the face, but God looks at the heart. "Truly man does not see as the Lord sees." Truly no one knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man. Truly let us not judge anyone before the time, O lovers of Christ, until the Lord comes, who will also bring to light all things. Who would have said that Judas was dwelling in body with the disciples, but in heart was with the Jews? Who would have supposed that Rahab, who was in the brothel in Jericho in body, was in the Lord in spirit? Who would have hoped that that mendicant Lazarus, living in such misery of ulcers, would be in the bosom of Abraham in such happiness?

64. Having seen these things, beloved, let us also be persuaded by him who counsels well: "Pay attention to yourself only, and not to your own, nor to those around you, but to yourself only." Because each one will bear his own burden, and