Simon the Myrrh-gusher
Our Venerable Father Simon the Myrrh-gusher, Founder of Simonopetra on Mount Athos
Venerable · Wonderworker · d. c. 1287, on Mount Athos
Commemorated 28 December — Repose on Mount Athos
Simon the Myrrh-gusher (†c. 1287) was a hermit of Mount Athos and the founder of the monastery of Simonopetra — "Simon's Rock" — one of the great houses of the Holy Mountain, built upon a sheer pinnacle of rock above the sea. After years of solitary struggle in a cave, he was granted, on the eve of the Nativity, the vision of a star that came to rest over a neighbouring crag, and the voice of the Mother of God bidding him raise a monastery there; he named it New Bethlehem, and dedicated its church to the Nativity of Christ. His masons faltered before the terrifying site until a miracle — a workman who fell from the cliff yet rose unhurt — confirmed the Mother of God's protection. Renowned as a wonderworker in life, Simon after his repose was glorified by the myrrh that flowed from his tomb, whence his surname. He is commemorated on December 28.
Ascetic beginnings
The details of Simon's origins are not securely preserved; the tradition makes him a Greek of the thirteenth century who came young to the Holy Mountain and placed himself under the obedience of a strict and holy elder, whom he served with such humility and self-denial that he advanced quickly in the ascetic life. After his elder's repose he withdrew to a cave on the wild south-western flank of Athos, above the sea, and there gave himself to prayer, fasting, and vigil in complete solitude, wrestling — as the Lives of the Athonite fathers tell of him — with the assaults of the demons, who sought by terrors and by flattery to drive him from his rock.
The star and the founding of New Bethlehem
The turning-point of his life, and the origin of his monastery, the tradition sets in the days of the Nativity. For several nights Simon saw a star of extraordinary brightness descend from heaven and stand over a great neighbouring crag of rock; fearing a demonic deception, he paid it no heed. But on Christmas Eve the star came again and rested over the pinnacle, and he heard the voice of the Mother of God commanding him to build there a monastery for the salvation of souls, and promising her protection over it and over him. Simon understood the sign — the star that had stood over Bethlehem now standing over his rock — and named the house he would raise New Bethlehem, dedicating its katholikon to the Nativity of Christ; from its founder it came to be called Simonopetra, Simon's Rock.
The building of the rock, and the miracle of the workman
The site was all but impossible: a narrow, dizzying spur of rock falling sheer to the ravine and the sea, on which to raise walls and cells seemed to court death. The workmen Simon had gathered took fright at the terror of the place and were on the point of abandoning the work. At that moment — the Life relates — one of them, carrying refreshment to his fellows (in the received account, Simon's disciple Isaiah bearing a jug of wine), lost his footing and fell from the pinnacle into the abyss; and when the horrified builders looked down expecting his broken body, he rose to his feet unhurt, the vessel he carried unbroken and the wine unspilled. The masons, seeing in this the Mother of God's promised protection, took heart and completed the monastery. Simon governed the community he had gathered as its first abbot, a spiritual father and, the tradition holds, a wonderworker already in his lifetime.
Repose and the streaming of myrrh
Simon reposed in peace on the Holy Mountain, by the monastery's own reckoning in the year 1287 (some accounts place his repose earlier, about 1257). After his death he was glorified by many miracles, and above all by the fragrant myrrh that flowed from his tomb — the sign that gave him his surname, the Myrrh-gusher (Myroblytes) — so that the faithful came to be anointed and healed by it. In the years that followed, the Serbian ruler John Uglješa, whose daughter (the tradition says) was healed through the saint's intercession, became a great benefactor of Simonopetra, enlarging and endowing the monastery that Simon had founded upon the rock. Simon's own relics and the exact place of his grave are no longer identified with certainty on the Mountain, but his memory and his monastery endure.
Feast and commemoration
December 28 (church date; Old Calendar civil January 10), within the afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ — a fitting placement for the founder of "New Bethlehem," whose monastery keeps its patronal feast at the Nativity. He is honoured throughout the Byzantine world and with particular solemnity on the Holy Mountain and at Simonopetra. His full service was composed by Archimandrite Hieronymos of Simonopetra and published in 1924, and Nikodemos the Hagiorite wrote salutations and an encomium in his honour.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4
Let us the faithful praise the far-renowned Myrrh-gusher, the all-precious pearl of Christ and glory of monastics, Simon our God-bearing father, who upon the rock founded a house to the honour of the Master's Nativity; for he pours out healings and streams of myrrh on those who cry: Glory to Christ who glorified thee; glory to him who made thee wondrous; glory to him who through thee works healings for all.
Original translation from the Greek
Kontakion — Tone 8
As a chosen branch of the venerable fathers and a follower of the Apostles, equal to them in honour, we hymn thee, O Simon; for thou wast shown a citizen of heaven and a founder upon the rock, pouring forth myrrh and healings. Wherefore we cry to thee: Rejoice, O father Simon, boast of the Holy Mountain.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Simon is depicted as an Athonite monastic elder — long-bearded, in the schema, often holding a scroll — and characteristically holding or presenting the monastery of Simonopetra, the many-storied house upon its sheer rock, in the manner of a founder (ktetor) bearing his foundation. Icons of the miracle show the workman falling from the pinnacle with the vessel of wine, borne up unhurt by the grace of the Mother of God. No pre-modern image has been identified for storage here; the entry is noted for a wanted icon.
Disputed questions
- Date of repose. The Simonopetra tradition gives 1287; some notices give c. 1257, and the sparse sources allow no closer fixing. The thirteenth century is secure.
- Not to be confused with the several other Simons of the calendar — the Apostle Simon the Zealot, Simon Peter, Simon the Myrrh-bearer of the Gospel, or Simeon the God-receiver. "The Myrrh-gusher" and "of Simonopetra" belong to this Athonite founder alone.