949–1022

Symeon the New Theologian and the Origins of Hesychast Theology

At 14 Symeon became a disciple of Symeon the Studite, then a monk of the Stoudios monastery. From 980 to 1005 he was abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople. A dispute with the court theologian Stephen of Nicomedia ended in his exile in 1009; Symeon was later restored to his rights and died in 1022. Most controversial was his claim that the mystical experience he taught about is available to all Christians.

He was called the "New Theologian", probably by analogy with Gregory the Theologian. He laid the foundations of a tradition that Gregory Palamas would systematize three centuries later in the hesychast disputes.