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Saint

Symeon the Metaphrast
Saint; Symeon the Metaphrast
Venerable, Hagiographer, Logothete
Born	886-912 (900); Constantinople; (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey)
Residence	Constantinople
Died	November 28, 987; Constantinople
Honored in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	11th century, Constantinople by Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	November 9/November 22
Attributes	Pen, Scroll, Religious habit
Major works	Menologium

Symeon or Simeon (died c. 1000), distinguished as Symeon Metaphrastes (Latin) or Symeon the Metaphrast (Ancient Greek: Συμεών ὁ Μεταφραστής, Symeṓn ho Metaphrastḗs), was a Byzantine writer and official regarded as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His feast day is celebrated on 9 or 28 November.^[1]^[2] He is best known for his 10-volume Greek menologion, a collection of saints' lives.^[3]

Life

About Symeon's life few details are known.^[3] He lived in the second half of the 10th century. Ephrem Mtsire puts him at the peak of his career in the sixth year of Basil II (982). Yahya of Antioch also makes him a contemporary of Basil II and Patriarch Nicholas II of Constantinople (984–991).^[4] In the 15th century, Mark Eugenikos wrongly called Symeon a megas logothetes. The hagiographer actually lived a generation later than the historian Symeon Logothete.^[1]

Works

Symeon wrote mainly hymnody and hagiography. He composed kanones, stichera and a hymn to the Trinity. He also compiled excerpts of the church fathers, particularly Basil the Great. His most important work by far, however, is the menologion, which Albert Ehrhard labelled "a revolution in the field of hagiography".^[1] According to tradition, it was commissioned by Basil II.^[2]

Symeon's menologion is a product of the encyclopedism characteristic of the Macedonian Renaissance. He did not merely collect and arrange pre-existing saint's lives, but also reworked them, standardizing their language and embellishing their rhetorical style to bring them in line with the Atticism of the day.^[1] His nickname comes from this act of metaphrasis. The content of the lives was not altered, however, and historical errors were left intact.^[2] Symeon arranged them according to their feast days in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.^[1] There are about 150 distinct lives.^[5]

For his menologion, Symeon received praise from Nikephoros Ouranos and Michael Psellos addressed to him an encomium. It was widely read in monasteries. The standard edition came in ten volumes. Numerous illuminated copies were produced in the 11th century.^[1] Working independently, Father Delehaye and Albert Ehrhard compiled works attributed to Symeon. They were at a loss for the provenance of some of his materials and their relation to other standard hagiographies. In particular, Delehaye found that Symeon or his immediate sources sparsely added materials of their own drawn from other places.^[6]

Some orthodox prayers of preparation before Holy Communion^[7] and prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion were composed by him.^[8]

Veneration

Venerable Symeon the Metaphrast is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[9] Michael Psellos compiled Symeon's biography (c. 1050) and he composed a liturgical office for him.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kazhdan, Alexander; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Symeon Metaphrastes". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (2009) [2005]. "Simeon Metaphrastes, St (fl. c. 960)". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd rev. ed.). Oxford University Press.
^ ^a ^b James Carleton Paget (2010). Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 212ff. ISBN 978-3-16-150312-2. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
^ Per Kazhdan and Ševčenko, his dates have generated some controversy. Mark Eugenikos places his birth in the reign of Leo VI the Wise, which would give him an improbably long life. Some modern scholars have moved his life forward to the 11th century, but this contradicts both Ephrem and Yahya.
^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Symeon Metaphrastes" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^ Delehaye, Preface to the "Synaxarium Eccles. Cp.", Propylæum to the Acta Sanctorum for November, lix-lxvi.
^ "Каноны и молитвы для подготовки к Таинствам Исповеди и Святого Причащения - Молитвослов". azbyka.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-04-15.
^ "Благодарственные молитвы по Святом Причащении - Молитвослов". azbyka.ru (in Russian). 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
^ "Преподобный Симео́н Метафраст". Православный Церковный календарь (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-04-15.
^ "СИМЕОН МЕТАФРАСТ - Древо". drevo-info.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-04-15.