One night the saint was praying when suddenly a demon appeared before him in the form of a terrible dragon. Instead of fear, despite the feeling of unbearable pain, Saint Simon turned to God with a prayerful cry of a suffering soul, and knowing that it was not a sensual dragon that attacked him, but under the guise of him Satan armed himself, confronted him with the name of the Lord of hosts, and the dragon, like smoke, disappeared in his sight. The consequence of this feat and shameless hope for the help of the Lord was that, as soon as the demon disappeared, a quiet Divine light spilled into the cave, a heavenly aroma wafted and Saint Simon, filled with heartfelt joy and peace, heard a voice from above:
– Take courage and be strong, obedient and faithful servant of My Son!
Thus, Saint Simon remained as before in the cave and spent many years in it, despite the constant struggle with the invisible enemy of his salvation and extreme sorrows and hardships from the outside.
Meanwhile, having learned about his strict life and special spirit of knowledge and prudence, many of the monks of the Holy Mountain began to go to him, for, according to the word of God, “a city cannot be hidden on top of a standing mountain” (Matthew 5:14), and received great benefit for their souls from his soul-helping advice. At the same time, he was honored to receive from the Lord the gift of clairvoyance and foreknowledge. However, in his humility, Simon wanted to move from there to a more deserted place. But God, who provides and cares for the benefit and salvation of everyone, prevented his intention. Let’s listen to how it was:
One night, while practicing prayer, the monk sees the cave, as before, illuminated by Divine light; an inexplicable fragrance spread around him, and then he heard a voice from above:
- Simon, Simon, faithful friend and servant of My Son! Do not move away from here, I have decided to glorify this place, you will be a light for it, and your name will be glorious.
At first, Simon did not believe this vision out of caution, lest it be the snare of the evil one, knowing that, according to the Apostle, Satan will also be transformed into an angel of light. That is why he still did not stop thinking about where he could retire for silence. It was before Christmas. And then one night, leaving the cave, he sees a terrible phenomenon: he imagined that a star had fallen from the sky and stood over the rock, where he subsequently founded a monastery. This vision was repeated for several nights in a row, but the Monk Simon was still afraid that this might be an enemy action, and therefore did not trust him. When night fell on Christmas Day, he again sees a bright star and hears the Divine voice:
-Simon! You must establish a monastic community here. Leave your doubts, I myself will be your Helper, otherwise you will be punished for your unbelief!
He hears this voice three times. And at this time (as he later told his disciples) he imagined that he was in Bethlehem of Judea in the place of shepherds and heard the sweet sounds of angelic singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men: do not be afraid, for great joy is preached to you, which will be for all people” (Luke 2:10. 14). After this, the saint said, fear and frenzy left me and I rejoiced spiritually, mysteriously contemplated the events of Bethlehem, when there, in a manger, the Lady Theotokos and Righteous Joseph reverently stood before the Divine Infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Then several days passed from the Nativity of Christ, and then three laymen, brothers according to the flesh and very rich people, came to the saint: falling down to him, they confessed to him all their sins and then began to convincingly beg him to accept them into obedience. This was a consequence of the fact that the glory of the saint’s virtuous life had already spread throughout Macedonia and Thessaly. Saint Simon did not suddenly bow down to their request, under the pretext of the great difficulties that are associated with the vows of monastic life and unconditional obedience. However, despite the fact that they were sent from above to cooperate with the monk in the creation of the monastery, they did not cease to beg him to leave them with him for at least a few days. “And when you are not pleased with us,” they said, “then get us out of here.” Such intense prayer touched the saint: he accepted them and, according to the proper skill, clothed them in an angelic image, and at the Liturgy he communed them with the Most Pure Mysteries339.
It was then that, as if he were his children in spirit, he revealed to them about the Divine vision that was repeated repeatedly over the neighboring rock of his cave, asking them not to tell anyone about it as long as he was alive. The brethren, having listened to his story, lovingly offered the monk all their wealth for the establishment of the monastery and, in accordance with his desire and blessing, took care of the immediate preparation of everything necessary for this so important and godly task. The craftsmen appeared, the materials were prepared, and all that remained was to designate the place where to lay the main stone of the emerging monastery. But when the Monk Simon showed them where to build the church and other buildings, the builders were horrified when they saw the sheer rock, which, according to his instructions, was supposed to serve as the foundation of the monastery.
“Are you joking, Abba,” they told him, “or are you telling the truth?” See if you can get down to business when this rock can be dangerous for the builders, and even more so for those who will live here. Whatever you want, we are against you.
And the matter thus remained unfinished. Meanwhile, Saint Simon, seeing that he could not convince them to begin construction, ordered a meal to be prepared.
While they were eating, one of the saint’s disciples, bringing them wine, stumbled out of demonic envy and fell from the cliff into a terrible abyss, holding a vessel in one hand and a glass of wine poured from it in the other. Struck by such an accident, the masters sternly remarked to the monk:
“You see, Abba, the beginnings of the murderous consequences of your unfounded enterprise!” How many similar cases of murder could there be if we decided to build a monastery here!
The saint did not answer them, and meanwhile, secretly prayed to the Lady Theotokos, so that he would not be ashamed in the hope of Her intercession. So what? How inexpressible are Your miracles, O Lady, and who can praise Your greatness!
Less than half an hour has passed before the brother, who carelessly fell into the abyss, comes out of it from the opposite side, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, not only completely healthy and unharmed, but also with an unbroken glass and vessel in his hands, so that not a single drop of wine was spilled from them. Such a miracle left the masters in awe and horror; They fell at the feet of the saint and, asking for forgiveness, said: “Now we have learned, father, that you are truly a man of God,” and, according to their zealous desire, they were all accepted by the monk among his disciples and were soon awarded an angelic image. It was then, under the direct supervision and orders of the Monk Simon himself, that his disciples, who had hitherto been artisans, began to build the monastery.
But since they first of all needed to place a huge stone in the foundation, the saint pointed out to them one that was close to them and ordered them to move it, and they, forgetting the miracle of the monk and seeing that not only could they not bring this weight to the appointed place with their common strength, but also move it, they stood in bewilderment and did not know what to do. Seeing this, the saint approaches them and, having imprinted on that stone the sign of the life-giving cross, lifts it onto his shoulders without any outside help and, having brought it, places it where it was needed. Thus, he actually showed the truth of the words that the Lord said to the apostles: “Amen, amen, I say to you, if you have faith like the grain of a mountain, and say to this mountain: move and be cast into the sea, so it will be.”