Without a dress, without a necklace, it came for capture on 26.5.99, Attica. A solitary man sits and reads, filled with silence on 15.11.16, midday in Athens. The night gently falls, I reminisce, and calm waters ripple on 5.9.18, at the Cell of the Holy Cross. Abyssal eyes, impenetrable sorrow, silent lips on 29.11.18, morning in Athens.

COMMENTS ON THE WRITINGS OF SYMEON "These poems are brief and dense, reminiscent of Japanese haikus. However, they are not completely haikus as they adhere to very strict rules of composition. I would rather call them seconds, minutes, or moments of eternity because what they capture are internal flashes, sudden illuminations, spontaneous wonders, random meetings of the real and the unreal, the psalm of a bird's song, the troparion of a spring, the Lord have mercy of the wind, all these noises, these whispers, these breaths, and these soft voices like breezes that the monk feels within himself, but also outside of himself, and describes briefly, like the brushstrokes of an Impressionist painter." – JACQUES LACARRIÈRE

Comments on the poetic unity Symeon Grave of Hieromonk Symeon (Agra Publications, 1994 and 2019). Le Mont Athos Éd. de l’Imprimerie Nationale, 2002.

“Father Symeon explains to us that for him, writing is a way to experience more deeply the nature surrounding him on the Mountain, another way to pray and find immediate redemption and solace... He resembles those rare exceptions of the human species who can change their lives whenever there's a need, even now. Why does he do it? To avoid being eaten away by routine, to not turn to stone like a statue. To continue exploring the endless possibilities of the world and life until his last breath, with the same cheerful curiosity with which he asks me about everything I know and do not know. I was so profoundly moved to meet him that when we said goodbye, I felt I was parting from an old and beloved friend... It was, without a doubt, his generous human warmth...” – MARIO VARGAS LLOSA Nobel Prize in Literature 2010, El Pa í s, 29.9. 2002.