{"id":8715,"date":"2026-06-12T08:39:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8715"},"modified":"2026-06-12T08:39:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:39:54","slug":"symeon-the-new-theologian-we-awaken-in-christs-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/12\/symeon-the-new-theologian-we-awaken-in-christs-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Symeon the New Theologian – We awaken in Christ’s body"},"content":{"rendered":"

We awaken in Christ\u2019s body
\nby Symeon the New Theologian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Stephen Mitchell<\/font><\/p>\n

We awaken in Christ\u2019s body
\nas Christ awakens our bodies,
\nand my poor hand is Christ, He enters
\nmy foot, and is infinitely me.<\/p>\n

I move my hand, and wonderfully
\nmy hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him
\n(for God is indivisibly
\nwhole, seamless in His Godhood).<\/p>\n

I move my foot, and at once
\nHe appears like a flash of lightning.
\nDo my words seem blasphemous? \u2014 Then
\nopen your heart to Him<\/p>\n

and let yourself receive the one
\nwho is opening to you so deeply.
\nFor if we genuinely love Him,
\nwe wake up inside Christ\u2019s body<\/p>\n

where all our body, all over,
\nevery most hidden part of it,
\nis realized in joy as Him,
\nand He makes us, utterly, real,<\/p>\n

and everything that is hurt, everything
\nthat seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
\nmaimed, ugly, irreparably
\ndamaged, is in Him transformed<\/p>\n

and recognized as whole, as lovely,
\nand radiant in His light
\nhe awakens as the Beloved
\nin every last part of our body.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a>, by Stephen Mitchell<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I have been rereading John Anthony McGuckin\u2019s The Book of Mystical Chapters, which is a selection of short poems and insights, many of them from the desert fathers and other voices from the rich Eastern Orthodox tradition \u2014 beautiful little meditations. And one of the visionaries highlighted repeatedly is Symeon the New Theologian. Despite my Russian name, I was not raised in Orthodox Christianity myself, but I have really come to appreciate many of these profound mystics, perhaps most especially Symeon the New Theologian. This is one of my favorite poems by Symeon the New Theologian.<\/p>\n

Symeon doesn\u2019t urge us to merely honor or love the Beloved (Christ within the Christian tradition) from a distance. We melt into the Divine, become<\/i> one with the Divine, share the same body. <\/p>\n

I move my hand, and wonderfully
\nmy hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him<\/i><\/p>\n

Some of these lines remind me of a poem often inaccurately attributed to Teresa of Avila, You Are Christ\u2019s Hands<\/a> with it\u2019s lines\u2013 \u201cChrist has no body now on earth but yours, \/ no hands but yours\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

This poem by Symeon is one I just want to drink in \u2014 it feels so deeply healing and generous to the soul. <\/p>\n

and everything that is hurt, everything
\nthat seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
\nmaimed, ugly, irreparably
\ndamaged, is in Him transformed<\/p>\n

and recognized as whole, as lovely,
\nand radiant in His light
\nhe awakens as the Beloved
\nin every last part of our body.<\/i><\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day discovering the Beloved within.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Symeon the New Theologian<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThis Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nReal Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on the Soul\u2019s Ascent from the Desert Fathers and Other Early Christian Contemplatives<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Symeon<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nSymeon the New Theologian<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Turkey (949 \u2013 1032) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Eastern Orthodox<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Symeon was born into an aristocratic family in Asia Minor (Turkey) and was given the name George. This was when the region was still part of the Christian Byzantine Empire. From boyhood George was groomed for a life in politics. At age eleven, he was sent to the capital Constantinople (Istanbul) to live with his uncle who guided him in his early education. <\/p>\n

When he was 14, George met a monk at the monastery of Studios named Symeon the Pious. George accepted Symeon the Pious as his spiritual director while continuing to prepare for a life in politics.<\/p>\n

Somewhere around age 20, George was overcome by an ecstatic state in which he experienced God as a living presence of radiant light.<\/p>\n

Despite this radically transformative experience, he spent several more years attempting to fulfill his family\u2019s expectations, eventually becoming an imperial senator. However, his continuing mystical experiences were not compatible with such a public life and, at age 27, he renounced his previous life and became a monk, entering the monastery at Studios to continue under the direct guidance his spiritual director, even taking on the same monastic name \u2014 Symeon.<\/p>\n

The closeness teacher and disciple shared worried the monastic authorities and the two were separated. The young Symeon was given the choice of remaining at Studios and no longer receiving spiritual guidance from the elder Symeon, or he could go to another monastery and keep his spiritual director.<\/p>\n

So as not to lose the guidance of Symeon the Pious, the young Symeon chose to move to the monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople. There, Symeon was ordained a priest and eventually became the abbot of the monastery, reviving the monastery\u2019s life of prayer and meditation. While abbot of St. Mamas, Symeon wrote extensive treatises (called the Catecheses) as guidelines for the ideal monastic and God-focused life, emphasizing the power of contemplative prayer and meditation.<\/p>\n

The mystical spiritual practices that he advocated led to further conflicts with authorities and Symeon was exiled in 1009 to a small hermitage on the far side of the Bosphorus.<\/p>\n

Disciples began to gather around Symeon and soon the small hermitage grew into a full monastery. It was there that Symeon wrote his most personal work, Hymns of Divine Love, a collection of poems describing his mystical experiences.<\/p>\n

Symeon\u2019s doctrines and poetry emphasize not only the possibility, but the necessity of personally experiencing the Divine. He also stated that one need not be a monk or renunciate, saying that one \u201cwho has wife and children, crowds of servants, much property, and a prominent position in the world\u201d can still directly experience communion with the divine.<\/p>\n

Giving him the title of \u201cTheologian\u201d does not mean that he was a formal, rationalist Christian philosopher, as we might use the term today, especially in Western Christian and philosophical traditions. Within Orthodox Christian tradition, the epithet of \u201cTheologian\u201d has been only given to a few figures, specifically indicating that this is a figure with direct experience of God. In other words, he is considered to be a mystic of full Realization.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Symeon the New Theologian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We awaken in Christ\u2019s body by Symeon the New Theologian English version by Stephen Mitchell We awaken in Christ\u2019s body as Christ awakens our bodies, and my poor hand is Christ, He enters my foot, and is infinitely me. I move my hand, and wonderfully my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him (for God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[79,1347,2630,248,824,271],"class_list":["post-8715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-christian-poetry","tag-divine-light","tag-god-within","tag-healing-poetry","tag-orthodox-christian-poetry","tag-symeon-the-new-theologian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8716,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715\/revisions\/8716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}