Mystical Prayer

Symeon the New Theologian (949 - 1022) is one of the most endearing and greatest figures of the Eastern Church, and also one of the closest to us.

He was not a speculative theologian, but an ascetic, a man of prayer, a mystic. Yet he was fully a theologian, if it is true, as he never ceased to repeat, that only those who are enlightened by the Spirit and contemplate the divine Light can speak of God, he often repeated.

His teaching presents itself as a personal testimony: "I have experienced God's love for men," he tells us, and it is this experience that is expressed in his words and his prayer.

His message remains as powerful today as ever.

Centered on the illumination of the Spirit and the necessity of a personal union with God, it opens to all believers the path to an authentic spiritual life.