OUR VENERABLE FATHER SIMON THE BISHOP OF VLADIMIR AND SUZDAL

(10/23 MAY)

Jesus the Son of Sirach wrote of Simon the son of Onias, Simon the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple. The height of the temple, the double building and the high walls of she temple were also founded by him. And later, He shone in his days as the morning in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full. And as the sun when it shineth in the temple of God (Sir. 50, 1, 6-7).

One may justly say the same of our holy father Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal. He was the next, after St Nestor, hagiologist of the Kiev Cave saints. He truly built up God’s house, affirming Christ’s Church with his writings. He glorified the Holy Church by the lives of the saints as one of those good shepherds, which the Lord promised through the prophet Jeremy, And I shall give you pastors after My own heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding (Jer. 3, 15).

St Simon received the monastic image in the holy Cave Monastery and began to struggle in virtues. He set the remembrance of the great struggles of faith and deed, performed by the first abbot, St Theodosius, and the founder, St Anthony, the great luminary. These two great elders stood like the sun and moon, and the saints multiplied around them like stars in the firmament. From the lives of the saints, St Simon learned to grow in humble obedience. God poured out gifts of His grace in abundance upon the meek struggler, and Simon’s reputation of sanctity spread far. When Vladimir and Suzdal cathedra became vacant, St Simon was called to be its bishop. The saint became a true shepherd and father to his flock.

St Simon had served his sheep for twelve years. He was renowned for the holy love and care, which he demonstrated for every one of his people. The saint never faltered in his monastic struggles, and though his body was in his diocese, his soul was at the Cave Monastery. When he departed to the Lord, his sacred relics were returned to his beloved monastery and were placed in the caves where they remain to this day, radiant with incorruptibility.