Feast Day: November 9th
The Life of Saint Symeon:
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A Prayer
Hymn of Praise to Saint Symeon Metaphrastes: Saint Symeon was called Metaphrastes – He dedicated his God-given talent to the Church. He loved the Saints, the friends of God, and wondrously described their struggles: Struggles in spirit, struggles in the flesh, struggles in thought, and struggles in deeds. He was a true friend to the friends of God, who are dearest to God of all the men in the world. He loved those whom God loves, and through them he deepened his love for God. Symeon shone with love for God, and wrote his lives like a brilliant tapestry, for new generations in the four corners of the world, to nourish their Souls with true Spiritual integrity, by having vivid examples of Saintly nobility, by which to follow in the footsteps of Patristic Teachings. Wondrous is Our God in His Saints; Wondrous is the Lord, the Creator of Angels.
Preparation for Holy Communion – The Prayer of Saint Symeon the Metaphrastes:
“O You Who willingly grant me Your Flesh for food, You are a fire, and You consume the unworthy! Burn me not, O my Maker, But rather pass through my composite members Into all my joints, my innermost core, and my heart. Burn up the thorns of all my transgressions; Purify my soul; sanctify my thoughts; Make firm my legs, as well as my bones; Illumine the clarity of my five senses; Nail down the whole of me by Your fear. Ever overshadow, watch, and guard me from every soul-destroying act and word. Purify, cleanse, and train me; Adorn, elucidate, and illuminate me; Show me to be the dwelling of Your Spirit alone, And no longer the dwelling of sin; So that, as Your house, by the entrance of Communion As Fire, every evildoer and passion may flee, I bring to You intercessors, all the sanctified, The captains of the bodiless angels, Your Forerunner, the wise apostles, And to them I add Your pure, immaculate Mother. Receive, O my compassionate Christ, their petitions, And make of your hired servant a child of light! For You are alone our sanctification, O Good One, and the brightness of our souls; And to You, as is fitting, as our God and Master, Do we all ascribe glory from day to day.”
