July 21
Apolytikion:
O God of our Fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take
not Thy mercy from us, but by their entreaties guide our life in peace.
These Saints were from the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia and
flourished during the reign of Justin the Younger (565-578). After a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem they were moved with a desire to forsake the world; they were
tonsured monks by the Abbot Nicon, and soon after left the monastery to struggle
together in the wilderness near the Dead Sea. When they had passed a little more
than thirty years together in silence and prayer, Symeon, having reached the
heights of dispassion, departed for Emesa in Syria, where he passed the rest of
his life playing the fool, saving many souls from sin while hiding his sanctity
with seemingly senseless behavior. He reposed in 570; by the providence of God,
John, who had remained in the wilderness, departed soon after.
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