St. Symeon, the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition (review)

Abstract

St Symeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition. By Hilarion Alfeyev. [Oxford Early Christian Studies.] (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. Pp.338.L57.) Alfeyev's monograph on the eleventh-century monk Symeon the New Theologian completes half century of critical editions and studies devoted to this controversial by scholars of different Christian denominations. Alfeyev aims to show that Symeon's life and thought are in perfect harmony with modern Orthodox beliefs, defined as the natural continuation of the Greek patristic tradition. Whilst ostensibly integrating the visionary aspect of Symeon to his ascetic experience in the twofold division of the book, it is Symeon's mystical experience which is emphasized, since it is precisely his mysticism that Alfeyev considers Orthodox, describing his book as a of the mystical nature of tradition and of the traditional nature of mysticism, and of Symeon as both highly personal and at the same time very traditional ecclesiastical figure (p. 4). This is book in which the priori conclusion informs the handling of the material; its thesis is never posited as hypothesis, but merely shown forth as self-evident truth. Thus, despite the impressive apparatus, the scholarly value of the work is seriously questionable: the handling of the evidence is biased, with quotations having both significant and substantial silent omissions; the work of previous scholars is inadequately acknowledged or discussed, though often sharply criticized; and whatever is jarring in the argument is either left out, or, at best, relegated to footnotes. To give an example. The question of Symeon's Messalianism is never addressed directly but mentioned only in scattered footnotes after brief attack on scholars who regard Symeon's thought as close to that heresy (Mango and Garsoian at p. 3, nn. 10-13). Turner's detailed article on this topic is not in the bibliography, and this scholar's nuanced views on Symeon's intellectual development and complex relation to his spiritual father are lightly brushed aside (p. 123). In mentioning the recently published works of the eighth-century Nestorian monk, John of Dalyatha, Alfeyev limits himself to a few parallels, without providing list of corresponding points, declaring that, despite the striking similarity between the visions of light of this Syriac monk to Symeon's, close of this author falls beyond the scope of the present study (p. …