Status Updates From Divine Eros: Hymns of Saint...

I can only hope that if and when I ever have difficulty with my congregation, that Jesus will do for me as he did for Symeon: Grant me a vision in which he warns, point-blank, that anybody who won't obey my words (to the death, even!) is essentially forfeiting their salvation.

The longer I read these poems, the more convinced I am Symeon's visions were mere dreams or hallucinations at best.

"And if you reject my commands and you are vexed by them,
and you consider it a shame and a dishonor
to suffer and to lay down your soul for my commands,
then why do you ask to learn how you must be saved,
and by what practices you may befriend Me?
And why do you call Me your God?
And why do you stupidly think you believe in Me?
For I willingly suffered these things for your sake."

Gotta say Symeon's theological reasoning is nowhere near as strong as his eastern forefathers like Gregory of Nazianzus or Athanasius.

In hymn 34 he claims that our present union with God must be perceptible with the senses. That has to be the case because either we're united with the immortal (which we would obviously see/feel) or else God must become mortal through union with us.

At times, Symeon's prayers sounds to me like the bits and pieces I've encountered from other mystical traditions (primarily Islamic and Buddhist). I get that I'm very much a post-enlightenment Westerner, but I really don't see the appeal. Anyway, the similarities (especially with the excerpts of Islamic mysticism I've read) make me think the whole endeavor is more fleshly than its practitioners would like to admit.

Symeon's doctrine of union makes for interesting reading: I am actually member of Christ through union, but Christ (as God) is indivisible, therefore I am the whole Christ and the whole Christ is in all of me, dignifying even the shameful parts of my body.

But he's assuming that union doesn't allow for distinction and points of separation -- which is a massive assumption. And that leads him off in odd directions.

These poems are full of descriptions of Symeon's (frankly suspect) visionary experiences that work just as well (or better) as descriptions of every believer's status in Christ.

"I know that He Who is separated from every creature receives me within Himself and I am hidden in His arms..."

"... and I have the whole of life gushing forth within me, He is in my heart, and He is in heaven..."

"But, O my God, have pity on me as I am led astray, and implant fear of You in my heart, so that I may flee the world according to your commands... and may you not allow me, Christ, to be led astray in the midst of the world, because it is You alone I love, though I have not yet loved You, and I intend to keep only your commandments, though I am entirely in the passions, and I have not yet understood You."

"For the more I shall be purified and illumined, I the wretched one, the more also shall be seen the Spirit Who purifies me, it always seems to me a beginning of both cleansing and seeing."

So far (only seven hymns in), I'm finding this to be a mix of stirring devotional language (I've already jotted down a paraphrased excerpt from hymn #5 to use as a public prayer of confession) and uncomfortable theological speech. I already take issue with the eastern conceptualization of theosis, but his description of it as "becoming God" or being "God by adoption" just feels icky. lol

Looking to get some more medieval theology under my belt. I'm already enjoying this taste of (non-standard) Eastern piety, which is so alien to my experience.