The small church of Agios Symeon, in the quaint Anafiotika district of Plaka, was built in 1847, by the builders who were brought over from the small island of Anafi by King Othon and his Bavarian court to build Athens in the early 1840s. Agios Symeon, much like Agios Georgios nearby, is a single-naved barrel-vaulted, little church situated directly under the Acropolis. Agios Symeon is celebrated on February 3rd.
Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022 AD) was a Byzantine Christian monk and poet who was the last of three saints canonized by the Eastern Orthodox church and given the title of "Theologian" (along with John the Apostle and Gregory of Nazianzus).
Symeon wrote and spoke frequently about the importance of experiencing directly the grace of God, often talking about his own experiences of God as divine light. Another common subject in his writings was the need of putting oneself under the guidance of a spiritual father. The authority for many of his teachings derived from the traditions of the Desert Fathers, early Christian monks and ascetics. Symeon's writings include Hymns of Divine Love, Ethical Discourses, and The Catechetical Discourses.
