St. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022)

The third of the three the Church calls Theologian, and the one whose theology is almost entirely an account of what he saw. A young courtier in Constantinople, he was taught by the monk Symeon the Pious, saw the uncreated light as a layman, and became a monk at Stoudios and then abbot of St Mamas for twenty-five years. He taught that anyone who has not consciously received the Holy Spirit has not yet become a Christian in the full sense, and that the vision of God is not for the saints of old alone but for anyone now; the church authorities heard in that a challenge, and he was exiled across the Bosphorus in 1009. His Hymns of Divine Love are among the great mystical poetry of the Church. He died in 1022. Feast: March 12.