The Sight of God in the Theology of Saint Symeon the New Theologian [17]

Here, parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.

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The Hymn 19 discusses the energetics presence of Trinity in our being from the reality that should be quotidian to us, familiar for every christian in part and namely: from the feeling of grace in our being.

Symeon writes: „Who with the grace of the Ghost (th.n ca,rin tou/ Pneu,matoj) in heart, he did not receive the indwelling in him of the glorious Trinity, Which enlightens and makes him god?”[1].

The conscious/ aware presence of the grace in our being, as a direct result of the ecstatic sight, means the feeling of the inner dwelling of the Trinity.

Continuing with the assertion, that the grace of the Trinity (ca,riti th/j Tria,doj) is what makes us gods[2], we understand very clearly, that Symeon is conscious of the synergistic act of deification, stipulating thus an universal consciousness of the personal deification process of the orthodox christians.

For that, at Symeon the divine sight has a relational and paradoxical character, because it is, in fact, the simultaneous existence of the Trinity in us by His light and ours in communion with the Trinity, through the sight of His glory.

The reality of the feeling of grace is part from the foundation of the state of consciousness, of the very deep awareness of the personal deification.

Gods or Saints are born into the consciousness of cause, they live very mysterious and personal the deification, for that they live the largest interior communion with the trinitarian God.

In Hymns 19, 74, Symeon defines the process of deification right the fact „to liturgise (leitourgei/n) [of God] in  the purity of heart and into the purity of conscience”[3].

Heart (kardi,a) and consciousness (suneidh,sij) about that Symeon speaks vise the center of entire being of the believer, the abyss where it takes place our communion with God.

Cleaning of our innerness is produced by the descent of the grace in us, which is living, permanent irradiation of the Trinity but God’s grace sanctifying us and, in the same time,  exceeding all of our and, through it, the Trinity draws us to Himself.

Just therefore Symeon says: „If you have seen (evqea,sw) Christ, if you have taken (e;labej) the Ghost and if you were brought (proshne,cqhj) by Both at the Father”[4], we know the ones he tells us, and we realize that the stance of a celebrant of the Trinity is thing „great and terrible, above all [human] glory, splendor, domination and [transient] power”[5].

We observe that for Symeon the deification is the central occupation of the whole universe and that it is synonymous with the state of the interior liturgising, of the ministry and the inner mostglory of Trinity.

The relation of the faithful man with the Trinity is not only the most alive theological thrill and the most proper narration of God’s presence in creation, but, in the first line, is a theological life, a continuous banquet of the spiritual happiness, for which every moment means a new delight and a discovery of overwhelming greatness, shattering of the Trinity.

The spiritual knowledge is a celebration, a feast of wonderness of God.

The Hymn 21 speaks about the knowledge that about our learning by the Trinity, through the divine light: those who see God „have as didascal/ teacher (dida,skalon) the Ghost, and they do not need to learn from people, but being the enlightened (lampo,menoi) by His light, concerning the Son, seeing the Father and worship the Trinity in persons, of God united by nature (h`nwme,non th/| fu,sei) in unspeakable mode[6].

It is noted that Symeon emphasizes the communion and the interpersonal relations at the level of Trinity and, in the same time, stresses the fact that the Ghost leads us through the Son at the Father and thus introduces us into the communion with the Trinity.

If in the apologetic side of his triadology emphasizes the problem of the Trinity’s unity, in the side doxological but, Saint Symeon speaks about the real communion of the faithful with the Trinity through the sight of His glory and the real initiation of it, through ecstasy, in the divine life and love between persons of the Trinity.


[1] SC 174, Hymns, XIX, 53-55, p. 98 / Ică jr. 3, p. 118.

[2] Idem, Hymns, XIX, 56, p. 98 / Ibidem.

[3] Idem, Hymns, XIX, 72, p. 100 / Ibidem.

[4] Idem, Hymns, XIX, 68-69, p. 98-100 / Ibidem.

[5] Idem, Hymns, XIX, 71-72, p. 100 / Idem, p. 119.

[6] Idem, Hymns, XXI, 102-107, p. 138 / Idem, p. 130.

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