A Neglected Masterpiece of the Christian Mystical Tradition :The ‘Hymns of Divine Eros’
by Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022)
by Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022)
By what boundless mercy, my Savior,Have you allowed me to become a member of your body?Me, the unclean, the defiled, the prodigal.How is it that you have clothed me With the brilliant garment,Radiant with the splendor of immortality,That turns all my members into light ?Your body, immaculate and divine,Is all radiant with the fire of your divinity,With which it is ineffably joined and combined.This is the gift you have given me, my God:That this mortal and shabby frameHas become One with your immaculate bodyAnd that my blood has been mingled with your blood.I sense too that here I have been made one with your divinity,And have even become your own most pure body:A brilliant member lucidly transparent,Luminous and holy.I see the beauty of it all, I can gaze upon your radiance.I have become a reflection of the light of your grace. 69
Only in such an intense union, Symeon argues, as people have often dreamed of but usually set into future horizons or ascribed as something ‘for others’ or ‘for saints long ago’, will the meaning of each human life be revealed and given. Symeon constantly refutes the deadening notion that spiritual union with God is not for every Christian, and not for the here-and-now:
Do not say that without His presence it is possible to be saved.
Do not say that one can possess the Spirit
Even if one is not consciously aware of it.
Do not say that God cannot be seen by human beings.Do not say that humans may never see the light of God;Or at least that it is not possible for this generation.My friends this is never impossible.It is more than possible – for those who desire it. 70
Do not say that one can possess the Spirit
Even if one is not consciously aware of it.
Do not say that God cannot be seen by human beings.Do not say that humans may never see the light of God;Or at least that it is not possible for this generation.My friends this is never impossible.It is more than possible – for those who desire it. 70
***
Love came down, as is its way,In the appearance of a luminous cloud.I saw it fasten on me and settle on my head.And it made me cry out, for I was so afraid;Thus it flew away, and left me alone.Then how ardently I searched after it;And suddenly, completely,I was conscious of it present in my heart,Like a heavenly body.
I saw it like the disc of the sun …
It closed me off from the visible,
And joined me to invisible things.
It gave me the grace to see the Uncreated. 74
I saw it like the disc of the sun …
It closed me off from the visible,
And joined me to invisible things.
It gave me the grace to see the Uncreated. 74