Thursday, March 12, 2026

0:00It is the 12th of March, 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm Dan, fanvores. It took a long time to get there, but I made it back on time, a shout out to the great folks at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. My class and two sermons are up on their website at AdventBurmingham.org. So can we talk about the Eastern Anomastic Habit? On a what? On a mastic. It refers to the practice of naming. Today in the West we have a given first and middle and then our family name, but this was not always the case. And when it comes to figuring out who is who, especially in the past, we do well to figure out how some people were named. And it's not uncommon in the church to have names attached that tell us something about

1:02the person, especially in the Eastern traditions. We have John the Golden Mouth, that's Chrysostom and name so on account of his preaching. We have Maximus the Confessor and two theologians. A high rank indeed the Eastern church calls John the Apostle and Gospel writer the theologian, as well as Gregory of Nazionzus. But there is one called the new theologian. And in church history new can be someone from the 900s. He was Simeon the new theologian born in 949 and dying on this day, the 12th of March, in 1021. How it came about that he was called the new theologian isn't entirely clear, it may have been an epithet at first an ironic name for a theologian charged with innovations. Simeon was born in Asia Minor. He studied at Constantinople for a life at court. There he would come onto the influence of Simeon the pious.

2:04He remained at court but would start studying theology with Simeon the pious and after a religious experience entered a monastery around 970. He would surround him and he would move to the monastery at Saint Mamas where he would be the abbot for 25 years. From 1009 he would be exiled over disputes with the Byzantine authorities and spent the rest of his life at a small semi independent monastery near Chrysopolis. This is modern Uscadar and Turkey across the Bosphorus from Constantinople, now Istanbul. What made him so controversial? In many ways he was a good son of the church but some of his practices and emphases made him suspect. He is among the first in the east to write theology as a kind of autobiography. In the west Augustine began this tradition but it didn't make its way to the east until later. This wasn't out of bounds but it would cause suspicion as if he was drawing attention to himself.

3:05It was in the fleshing out of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit where he would come under the most suspicion. He made a distinction between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, something that made him popular amongst 20th century Pentecostals. He taught that the active indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers, kicked against some of the authority structures so important in the medieval church, he believed that if the Holy Spirit is actively working in a believer, they could have the ability to give spiritual counsel and importantly, hear confession and absolve sins. It wasn't just for ordained priests. He believed that it wasn't the office but that anyone who had experienced the Holy Spirit and sufficiently tasted of its grace could then bind and loose the sins of others. For Simeon the new theologian it wasn't the office but the spirit that mattered.

4:06We can trace from Simeon the new theologian both the coming of the radical reformation and those sometimes pitting spirit versus flesh and elevate a kind of leveling spirit against institutions and sometimes texts. Over the years Simeon was rehabilitated in the East and he is now considered venerable in the Eastern Orthodox church that came to appreciate his hymns, his writing on prayer, and the experience of the Holy Spirit. Because of the day of his death today lands inland, his feast day in the East is on October 12th. Today we remember the venerable but one time controversial medieval saint who suggested that the spirit not necessarily ordination was key. He was Simeon the new theologian. The last word for today comes from the daily electionary and a word from Paul, touching on the Holy Spirit and forgiveness from Ephesians 4, therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor.

5:09For we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin, do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work, doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ. God forgave you. This has been the Christian History Alman Act for the 12th of March, 2026 brought to you

6:10by 1517 at 1517.org. This show is produced by Christopher the bearded Gillespie, the show is written and read by Dan the tattooed Van Vores. You can catch us here every day and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true. Everything is going to be okay.