Symeon the New Theologian Quotes

• When men search for God with their bodily eyes they find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  God, Eye, Men

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian), Paul McGuckin (1982). “The practical and theological chapters ; and, Three theological discourses”

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• A person who suffers bitterly when slighted or insulted should recognize from this that he still harbors the ancient serpent in his breast. If he quietly endures the insult or responds with great humility, he weakens the serpent and lessens its hold. But if he replies acrimoniously or brazenly, he gives it strength to pour its venom into his heart and to feed mercilessly on his guts. In this way the serpent becomes increasingly powerful; it destroys his soul's strength and his attempts to set himself right, compelling him to live for sin and to be completely dead to righteousness.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Powerful, Freedom, Heart

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• Luchad por la paz con todos los hombres y por la santidad, sin la cual nadie verá al Señor" (Heb. 12:14), ¿Por qué dijo "luchad"? Porque no podemos ser santos en una hora. Por tanto, debemos progresar desde unos comienzos modestos hacia la santidad y la pureza. Aunque pasáramos mil años en esta vida, nunca la alcanzaríamos perfectamente. Más bien debemos luchar siempre por ella cada día, como si fuéramos simples principiantes.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Struggle, Men

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian) (1980). “Symeon New Theologian”, p.91, Paulist Press

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• Cheerfulness consists in not regarding things as our own, but as entrusted to us by God for the benefit of our fellow-servants. It consists in scattering them abroad generously with joy and magnanimity, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Joy, Benefits

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian) (1980). “Symeon New Theologian”, p.156, Paulist Press

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• When a man walks in the fear of God he knows no fear, even if he were to be surrounded by wicked men. He has the fear of God within him and wears the invincible armor of faith. This makes him strong and able to take on anything, even things which seem difficult or impossible to most people. Such a man is like a giant surrounded by monkeys, or a roaring lion among dogs and foxes. He goes forward trusting in the Lord and the constancy of his will to strike and paralyze his foes. He wields the blazing club of the Word in wisdom.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Dog, Strong, Men

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian), Paul McGuckin (1982). “The practical and theological chapters ; and, Three theological discourses”

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• To have faith in Christ means more than simply despising the delights of this life. It means we should bear all our daily trials that may bring us sorrow, distress, or unhappiness, and bear them patiently for as long as God wishes.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Mean, Long, Sorrow

  "The practical and theological chapters ; and, Three theological discourses".

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• Keep in mind God's precept that states, 'Judge not, and you will not be judged' (Lk. 6:37), and in no way meddle in the lives of others.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Judging, Mind

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian) (1980). “Symeon New Theologian”, p.60, Paulist Press

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• Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Humility, Soul

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• Illumination by the Spirit is the endless end of every virtue.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Illumination, Spirit

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• ... if we are ashamed to imitate our Lord's sufferings, which He endured for us, and to suffer as He suffered, it is obvious that we shall not become partakers with Him in His glory. If that is true of us we shall be believers in word only, not in deed. When deeds are absent, our faith is dead.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Suffering, Deeds

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• Let us flee from the deceit of life and its supposed happiness and run to Christ alone, who is the Savior of souls. Him let us endeavor to find Who is present everywhere, and when we have found Him let us hold Him fast and fall at His feet (cf. Mt. 28:9) and embrace them in the fervor of our souls.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Running, Fall

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian) (1980). “Symeon New Theologian”, p.58, Paulist Press

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• If through fear of God you cutoff your own will - inexplicably, for you do not know how this happens - God will give you His will. You will keep it indelibly in your heart, opening the eyes of your mind so that you recognize it; and you will be given the strength to fulfill it. The grace of the Holy Spirit operates these things: without it, nothing is accomplished.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Heart, Eye

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• The aim of all those who live in God is to please our Lord Jesus Christ and become reconciled with God the Father through receiving the Holy Spirit, thus securing their salvation, for in this consists the salvation of every soul. If this aim and this activity is lacking, all other labour is useless and all other striving is in vain. Every path of life which does not lead to this is without profit.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Jesus, Father, Soul

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• Just as gold tarnished in depth (cf. Jms. 5:3) cannot be properly purified and restored to its proper brightness unless it is cast in the fire and thoroughly hammered with mallets, so when the soul has been tarnished with the rust of sin and become thoroughly useless it cannot be cleansed and recover its original beauty unless it meets many trials and enter into the furnace of tribulations.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Fire, Cfs

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• When your soul is pricked by compunction and gradually changed, it becomes a fountain flowing with rivers of tears and compunction. ... If any one of you ever happens to communicate with tears, whether you weep before the Liturgy or in the course of the divine Liturgy, or at the very time that you receive the divine Gifts, and does not desire to do this for the rest of his days and nights, it will avail him nothing to have wept merely once. It is not this alone that at once purifies us and makes us worthy; it is daily compunction that does not cease until death.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Night, Rivers

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• Temblad de miedo, hombres. Los insultos que Dios sufrió en aras de nuestra salvación, ¡también vosotros debéis soportarlos! Dios es abofeteado por el más vil de los esclavos (Jn 18,22). Él os da un ejemplo de victoria, pero ¿os negáis a sufrirlo a manos de un hombre de pasiones semejantes a las vuestras? Te avergüenzas de ser imitador de Dios (Ef. 5:1), ¿cómo, pues, reinarás con Él y participarás de su gloria en el reino de los cielos si no soportas a ese hombre?

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Passion, Men

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• There are times when I, without willing it, mount to the height of contemplation; with my will I am drawn down from it because of the limitations of human nature and [find] safety in abasement. I know many things that are unknown to most men, yet I am more ignorant than all others. I rejoice because Christ, 'whom I have believed' (II Tim. 1:12), has bestowed on me an eternal and unshakable kingdom, yet I constantly weep as one who is unworthy of that which is above, and I cease not.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Men, Safety

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• Since ... 'the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force' (Mt. 11:12), and it is impossible for the faithful to enter it by any other way, unless they come through the narrow gate of trials and tribulations, the divine oracle rightly commands us, saying: 'Strive to enter by the narrow door' (Lk. 13:24). Again He says, 'By your endurance you will gain your souls' (Lk. 21:19), and, 'Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven' (Acts 14:22).

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Doors, Heaven

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• O man, do you believe that Christ is God? If you believe, fear, and keep His commandments? there is no other God but He (cf. Dt. 4:35). To Him no one is equal, nor can become equal (cf. Is. 40:18). He is Ruler of all things, the Judge of all, the King of all, the Maker of light and the Lord of life. He is the Light that is ineffable, inaccessible (cf. I Tim. 6:16), and He is the Only One. By His appearing He causes all His enemies to vanish before His face (cf. Ps. 68:2 f.), as well as those who do not perform His commandments, just as the sun when it rises drives away the darkness of night.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Kings, Believe

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• What is the cause that one is hardened, and another readily moved to compunction? Listen! It springs from the will, in the latter case a good will, in the former an evil one. It springs also from the thoughts, in the former case evil thoughts, in the latter from the opposite; and similarly from actions, in the former case actions contrary to God, in the latter godly ones... it is by free choice of the will that every person either attains compunction and humility, or else becomes hard-hearted and proud.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Spring, Humility

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• ... I pray... that you may discern your affairs in a manner pleasing to God and may so act and endeavor that you may find Christ, as He even now cooperates with you, and in time to come will bestow on you abundantly the enjoyment of the illumination that comes from Him. Do not follow the wolf instead of the shepherd (cf. Mt. 7:15), nor enter into a flock that is diseased (cf. Ezek. 34:4). Do not be alone by yourself?

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Illumination, Cfs

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• Unbelievers, those who believe with difficulty, or believe in part, are those who do not show their faith through works. Apart from works the demons also believe (cf. Jms. 2:19) and confess Christ to be God and Master. 'We know Who You are' (Mk. 1:24), they say, 'You are the Son of God' (Mt. 8:29), and elsewhere, 'These men are the servants of the Most High God' (Acts 16:17). Yet such faith will not benefit the demons, nor even humans. This faith is of no use, for it is dead.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Cristiano, Creer, Hijo

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• ... those who sit in the darkness of passions and whose minds are blinded by ignorance, or, rather, those who have not acquired the 'mind of Christ' (I Cor. 2:16), think that he who has the mind of Christ is foolish, and that he who has it not is sensible. Of these the prophet David rightly states, 'The ignorant and foolish perish together' (Ps. 49:11). Therefore such men twist the whole of Scripture according to their own desires (cf. II Pet. 3:3, 16) and corrupt themselves in their own passions. But it is not divine Scripture that suffers from this, but those who disfigure it!

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Passion, Ignorance

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• Spiritual knowledge is like a house built in the midst of secular and pagan knowledge, in which there is laid up, like a solid and well-secured chest, the knowledge of the inspired Scriptures and the inestimable riches they contain. Those who enter into the house will never at all be able to see those treasures unless this chest is opened for them. But it does not belong to human wisdom (cf. I Cor. 2:13) ever to be able to open it, so that the riches of the Spirit deposited in it remain unknown to all who are worldly.

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Spiritual, Cfs

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• ... hombres... que dicen que no hay nadie en nuestro tiempo y entre nosotros que sea capaz de guardar los mandamientos evangélicos y llegar a ser como los santos Padres? A ellos, con razón, el Maestro les dice en voz alta: "¡Ay de vosotros, escribas y fariseos (Mt 23,13)! Ay de vosotros, ciegos guías de ciegos (Mt. 23, 16), porque no entráis en el Reino y estorbáis a los que quieren entrar' (Mt. 23, 13).

  Simeón el Nuevo Teólogo

  Christian, Father, Men

  Saint Symeon (the New Theologian) (1980). “Symeon New Theologian”, p.312, Paulist Press

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