Teachings
The church authorities regularly challenged Symeon, even though his teachings were rooted in the Gospels. He was also faithful to the early Greek Fathers and the two main traditions of Byzantine spirituality: the Alexandrian School, which took a more intellectual approach, and the "school of the heart", represented by Mark the Hermit, Pseudo-Macarius, John Climacus, and other early ascetic monks. He combined these different traditions with his own inner experience in a synthesis that was new in Byzantine mysticism.
Symeon often taught that all followers of Christ could have the direct experience of God, or theoria, just as the early church fathers experienced and taught. In that context he frequently described his own experiences of God as divine light. He preached to his monks that the way to God's grace was through a life of simplicity, asceticism, sanctity, and contemplation, which was also the doctrine of the hermits and monks known as the Desert Fathers. In addition, Symeon placed great emphasis on putting oneself under the complete guidance of a spiritual father.
Read more about this topic: Symeon The New Theologian
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