Symeon The New Theologian (circa 970-1040).

Come, O thou whom my poor soul has desired and desires. (...) Come, thou who has made me isolated and solitary in this world. Come, thou who hast become my desire, who has made me to desire thee, whom none may reach by striving. Come, my breath and my life. Come, jubilation and glory and my constant delight. (...) Unexplainable sustenance, impossible to consume, that pours perpetually through the lips of my soul and fills to overflowing the fountain of my heart. Buber, Ecstatic Confessions, P.36.

In truth, just as thou didst remember, O Lord, that I was in the world, and didst without my knowledge elect and elevate me out of the world and place me before the countenance of thy glory, do thou make me firm within, unmoved forevermore, and protect me through thy dwelling in me, so that in gazing upon thee daily I the dead may live, in possessing thee I the poor may be rich. Ibid., P.37.

I am loved by him who is not in this world. (...) Yet I see him who is eternal and yet born, and speak with him and dare to say: I love, for he loves me. Ibid., P.38.

(...) I who am mortal and an insignificant person in the world, behold the entire Creator of the world in myself; and even why I live, I embrace all blossoming life in myself and know that I shall not die. In my heart he is, and dwells in heaven: here and there I see Him in the same radiance. Ibid., P.38.

I move my hand, and so does Christ, for he, in entirety, is my hand: You must understand that the Godhead is undivided. Ibid., P.38.

(...) and he (Christ) will make all that is ugly and ill-formed beautiful and well-formed, adorning it with the splendor and dignity of his divinity; and we shall all together become gods, intimately united with God (...). Ibid., P.38.

He himself is present and shines in my poor heart, clothes me in immortal splendor and shines through all my limbs, embraces me wholly, kisses me wholly, and gives himself entirely to me, unworthy as I am, and I take my fill of his love and beauty and am filled with the rapture and sweetness of the Godhead. Ibid., P.39.

When he had filled me with heavenly joy, he flew away and took my spirit, my mind and my desire for all earthly things with him. (...) And I lamented and sorrowed and burned in my cove and lived like one removed in spirit. But he cameat his own will (...). Ibid., P.39.

Leave me alone, locked in my cell. Let me go with God, who alone is kind. Step back, go away. Let me die alone in the sight of God, who formed me. Let none knock on the door. Let none raise his voice. Let none of my relatives and friends visit me. Let no one distract my mind from the contemplation of the good and beautiful Lord. (...) For I see my Lord, I see the King. I see the light that truly is and the creator of all light. I see the source of all beauty. I see the cause of all things. I see the beginning that has no beginning, by which everything was brought forth and by which everything lives and receives nourishment, and from whose will everything passes away and ceases to be. Ibid., P.40.

(...) my God, still I gain nothing by all this unless you grant that without shame I may pass through the gates of death; (...) Ibid., P.41.

And he who is above all the heavens, whom no human has ever seen, he comes again into my spirit, without leaving heaven, without clearing the night, without dividing the air, without breaking through the roof of the house, without penetrating any thing, and into the middle of my heart; O lofty mystery, where everything remains as it is, the light plunges and uplifts me over everything. Ibid., P.42.

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Last updated: 1999/03/28