Rosary: Union of St. Symeon

by Fr. Michael Adams (Rosaries of Divine Union)

Meditation
Saints
Rosary Franciscan-style
Aramaic

St. Symeon the New Theologian is an Eastern Orthodox saint. He lived from 949 to 1022 in the Byzantine Empire (now part of Turkey). While presiding as abbot over St. Mamas Monastery in Constantinople, he delivered a number of sermons which stressed that Christianity only becomes meaningful when the living Christ is encountered personally. Since many individuals of his day felt that this was either impossible or was only possible during the apostolic era, St. Symeon felt compelled to share his personal experiences of Christ. As he puts it:

There are many who harm those who hear them by saying that nobody can be like {the fathers of the church}, or in his deeds attain to what our great fathers achieved, or be found worthy of the spiritual gifts that were granted them. Their unbelief compels me, unwilling as I am, to say the things I never wanted to say, and so to proclaim publicly the reality of God's love for man in order to reprove the slothfulness and carelessness of those who make those claims. (Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses, p. 126)

Despite the controversy which his teachings stirred, St. Symeon asserted again and again that what he was teaching was no different than what the Holy Scriptures and the fathers of the church had taught from the beginning. As he says:

You, on your part, must see and test that which we say. If we have views different from those of the apostles and of the holy God-inspired fathers, if we speak contrary to what they said, if we fail to repeat what the Holy Gospels say about God, then let me be anathema from the Lord God Jesus Christ. Let it fall on me if we do not enkindle in everyone that life-giving energy and gift which is in these [writings] (yet lamentably extinguished, as far as men are able, by foolish reasonings) and fail to point to the light that already is shining, as we establish and assert all things from the Holy Scriptures themselves and clearly demonstrate. (Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses, p. 354)

For the benefit of others he described his own enlightenment, referring to himself in the third person:

During the day he managed a patrician's household and daily went to the palace, engaged in worldly affairs, so that no one was aware of his pursuits. ...One day, as he stood and recited, "God, have mercy upon me, a sinner" (Lk. 18:13), uttering it with his mind rather than his mouth, suddenly a flood of divine radiance appeared from above and filled all the room. As this happened the young man lost all awareness of his surroundings and forgot that he was in a house or that he was under a roof. He saw nothing but light all around him and did not know if he was standing on the ground. He was not afraid of falling: he was not concerned with the world nor did anything pertaining to men and corporeal beings enter his mind. Instead, he seemed to himself to have turned into light. Oblivious of all the world he was filled with tears and with ineffable joy and gladness. His mind then ascended to heaven and beheld yet another light, which was clearer than that which was close at hand... (The Catechetical Discourses XXII)

This Rosary is based upon St. Symeon's poem "We Awaken in Christ's Body".

Instructions

Begin by having an intention in mind for the rosary. This intention may be stated as part of the following prayer.

Prayer of Intention

We who gather to pray this rosary do have in our minds and hearts the following intentions: (Here a few moments of silence allow all to clarify their intentions). We ask that these intentions may bring forth the results desired, according to Your will. Amen.

General Instructions

Holding the cross in the right hand (if right handed), with the rest of the rosary in the left hand, bless yourself with the Invocation:
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Holding the cross in the right hand (if right handed), and with the rest of the rosary draped across the left hand, begin with this version of the Kyrie Eleison:

Leader Response

Lord, Give Yourself to us Lord, give Yourself to us
Christ, give Yourself to us Christ, give Yourself to us
Lord, give Yourself to us Lord, give Yourself to us
God, our Father Give Yourself to us
God, the Son Give Yourself to us
God, the Holy Spirit Give Yourself to us
Holy Trinity Give Yourself to us
Amen.

On the first bead after the cross say the “Our Father”:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Alternate “Our Father” translated from the Aramaic:
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos, focus your light within us—make it useful. Create your reign of unity now; Your one desire acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms. Grant what we need each day in bread and insight. Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strand we hold of others’ guilt. Don’t let surface things delude us, but free us from what holds us back. From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all; from age to age it renews. Amen.

On the next three beads say the “AVE MARIA”:
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Amen.

After the third AVE MARIA hold the chain and say the GLORIA PATRI:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is how and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Name the mystery and read the thoughts and prayer that follow each one. Begin with the OUR FATHER on the bead just before the medal and the AVE MARIA on the next ten beads following the medal. On the chain following these ten beads, say the GLORIA PATRI.

Then, name the next mystery and proceed exactly as above until all the mysteries have been said—that is say the OUR FATHER on the single bead, then the ten AVE MARIAs, then on the chain the GLORIA PATRI, then the next mystery.

First Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
We awaken in Christ's body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ,
he enters my foot, and is infinitely me.

Prayer:
Holy Mary, awake within the Lord, lead us to awaken to our true nature in the infinite Body of Christ. Amen.

Second Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamless in his Godhood).

Prayer:
Holy Mother, guide us to wholeness and completeness, and in that completeness may we see others as ourselves—all together wrapped in the seamless garment of the Love of God. Amen.

Third Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous?—Then
open your heart to him.

Prayer:
Mother of our hearts, fill us with the light of love that we may open our hearts fully and unconditionally to God everywhere—in all people and all things. Amen.

Fourth Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
And let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body

Prayer:
Mother of Grace, we are opening up in sweet surrender to the luminous love-light of the Lord, who in turns opens to us and with open arms welcomes us home. Aid us in awakening to our true nature in the Body of Christ. Amen.

Fifth Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
we wake up inside Christ's body
where all our body, all over,
every most bidden part of it,
is realized in joy as him,
and he makes us, utterly, real,

Prayer:
Mother of Joy, help us share in the Joy of creation and to realize our place in it as bearers of Joy so that we live all mystery as our mystery—our life in God and God in our life. Amen.

Sixth Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

St. Symeon says:
and everything that is hurt,
everything seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably damaged,
is in him transformed

Prayer:
Mother of Ascension, lead us to this transformation, wherein we see all that is imperfect with eyes made whole by Grace; and with new vision we may know the beauty and truth of all things. Amen.

Seventh Mystery of the Union of Saint Symeon

and all is recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in his light
we awaken as the Beloved
in every last part of our body

Prayer:
Mother of the Body of Christ, help us to unite our lives in God, that we may see all of creation as our Beloved, and awake in His Joy and Light, fulfill His desire for our lives. As Saint Symeon found such wholeness and beauty, may we also find ourselves radiant and awake in God and God radiant and awake in ourselves, and we pray that all of mankind may fulfill this Divine destiny—through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing

Note: the following prayer is optional. Holding the cross, this last prayer is said by all:
I give myself this day to the strong power of Love
To the obedience of Angels, the faith of confessors, the preaching of Apostles, to the purity of simple souls.
I give myself this day to the virtues of the starlit heavens, the brightness of the sun, the whiteness of the moon, the flashing of lightening, the restlessness of wind, the stability of earth, and the deepness of the sea.
I give unto myself this day the power of God to lead me, His eye to watch over me, His hand to guide me, His Word to give me speech.
Christ with me, Christ beside me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me,
Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up,
Christ in the heart of every person who may think of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who may speak of me,
Christ in the eye of everyone who may look on me,
Christ in the ear of everyone who may hear me.
I give myself this day to the strong power of Love. Amen.

This document is part of The Global Library,
from the The Southern Province USA of the North American Old Catholic Church.

Additional funding provided by The Wynn and Rick Wagner Foundation.