RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Simeon Metaphrastes Simler
monk of the same monastery in the middle of the eleventh century. According to Nicetas Simeon wrote Biblon holen opheleias ousan pneumatikes agrammatos on (MPG, clii. 266 sqq.), perhaps the same as " Thirty- two Ascetic Sermons " attributed to " Simeon the Monastic."
Bibliography: Leo Allatius, De Symeonum scriptis, Paris, 1664; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 140,_152-154.
SIMEON STYLITES. See Stylites.
SIMEON OF THESSALONICA: Archbishop of that city in the early fifteenth century; d. probably in the latter part of 1428. Of his life almost nothing is known, except that he had become archbishop of Thessalonica before 1423, when the city was purchased from the Despot Andronikos Palaiologos by the Venetians, to whom Simeon remained loyal, despite the efforts of Murad II. to induce the Greeks to surrender Thessalonica to the Turks. As a theological writer Simeon exercised a wide influence, being used, and even copied, by many later authors. His works were first edited by Dositheos of Jerusalem (q.v.; Jassy, 1683), and were then reprinted in MPG, civ., which also gives the pagination of Dositheos. One of the chief mystagogic theologians of the later Greek Church, he lays far less stress on doctrine than on participation in the divine mysteries, which alone give salvation; and as a polemist his critique of the Bogomiles and his defense of the Hesychasts have the value of original sources. His chief work was the dialogue " Against all Heresies, and on the One Faith of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy Rites, and all Mysteries of the Church." The first part, which is much the briefer, is doctrinal, its special themes being the Trinity and Christology, but it also includes polemics against the Jews, Bogomiles, and Mohammedans, and declares that, while it is impossible to convert all men, the Christian should ever be ready to profess his faith. The second part of the dialogue, a mystagogic introduction to the liturgy, begins with the doctrine of baptism and chrism; while the Eucharist affords an opportunity for a most minute discussion of the entire ritual connected with it, the vestment, the sanctuary, etc. Ordination and the various orders of the clergy are then discussed, as well as confession, marriage, and extreme unction, with an appendix on prayer, the daily services, the hymns, the Trishagion (q.v.), and the benedictions.
The dialogue just analyzed (ed. Dositheos, pp. 1-270) is followed by a number of briefer writings. First among these is the treatise " On the Holy Temple " (pp. 271-291), mystagogic like the dialogue. This is followed by three expositions of the Nicene Creed: the " Synoptic Interpretation " (pp. 292-312); the " Most Necessary Exposition " (pp. 313-319; repeated almost word for word in the Chronicon, iv. 22, of Georgios Phrantzea, who may indeed have been, as he claimed to be, the author of the treatise, rather than Simeon); and the " Direct Interpretation " (pp. 319-322; incorporated in the first reply of the Patriarch Jeremias II., q.v., to the Wittenberg theologians, and likewise of dubious authorship). Unlike these last two treatises, there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the X.— 27
" Answers to the Bishop " (pp. 323-370), the prelate in question perhaps being the Metropolitan Gabriel of Pentapolis. This contains information on liturgy and such problems as the origin of evil, life after death, and the angels. The last treatise in the edition of Dositheos imparts the theory of the priesthood to a monk intending to become a priest, a strong tendency toward symbolism being a marked characteristic of the treatise. A number of works as yet unedited are also ascribed to Simeon of Thessalonica, among them a treatise on the exit of the soul from the body and on " The Similar Triodia of Passion Week " (both preserved in manuscript at Jerusalem), as well as a number of letters contained in an Athos manuscript. (Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography: Leo Allatius, De Symeonum scriptis, pp. 185-194, Paris, 1664; C. Oudin, Commentarius de scriptoribus ecclesice, iii. 2242 sqq., Leipsic, 1722; M. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, ii. 58-59, ib. 1740; W. Cave, Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum hist, literaria, ii., appendix, pp. 113— 114, Oxford, 1743; Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Grceca, xi. 328-334, Hamburg, 1808; Ersch and Gruber, Encyklopadie, I., lxxxvi. 87 sqq.; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 112-113; KL, xi. 1073-74.
SIMEON, CHARLES: Church of England; b. at Reading Sept. 24, 1759; d. there Nov. 13, 1836. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge, became fellow in 1782, and in 1783 incumbent of Holy Trinity Church in the same city. He may be considered the founder of the Low-church party. His " evangelical " preaching at first encountered opposition; but eventually he made many converts, and exerted a wide influence. He became interested in missions, and Henry Martyn's work is traceable to him in part. He established a society for purchasing advowsons, and thereby was able to put his sympathizers at strategic points. He published a translation of Claude's Essay on the Composition of a Sermon (London, 1801), to which he added notes and a hundred sermon-skeletons, and subsequently published such outlines (2,536 in number) upon the entire Bible (Horce Homileticce, 17 vols., London, 1819-28; new ed., with addition of remaining works, 21 vols., 1840); Memorial Sketches of Rev. David Brown, with a Selection of his Sermons Preached at Calcutta (1831); and a large number of occasional sermons.
Bibliography: W. Carus, Memoirs of the Life of Charles Simeon with a Selection from his Writings and Cor-
respondence, London, 1847; F. Close, Brief Sketch of the Character and Last Days of C. Simeon, ib. 1836; J. Williamson, Brief Memoir of the Rev. C. Simeon, ib. 1848; H. C. G. Moule, Charles Simeon, ib. 1895.
SIMLER, JOSIAS: Swiss Protestant; b. at Cappel (15 m. s. of Zurich) Nov. 6, 1530; d. at Zurich July 2, 1576. He was educated at Basel and Strasburg, and, after completing his studies at Zurich in 1549, was for a few years a teacher and a ministerial supply. In 1552, however, he was made professor of New-Testament exegesis at Zurich, being also minister of the village of Zollikon, near Zurich, until 1557, and deacon of St. Peter's, Zurich, from 1557 to 1560. At Zurich he came into contact with such refugees from the Roman Catholic reaction under Queen Mary of England as John Jewel (q.v.) and John Parkhurst (later bishop of Norwich). In 1560 Simler succeeded Theodor Bibliander (q.v.), and,
Simler Simon Magus