Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
“Most of the lives of fools for Christ appear to be extraordinary and even controversial – especially to the world – but that of Symeon of Emesa is one of the most complex and unusual of all. One of the earliest recorded holy fools of Christendom. Symeon remains a complicated figure to this day.
Born around the year 522 in Edessa, he was reportedly of noble and certainly wealthy lineage. Little is known of his early life in Eddessa, but he is known to have set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem around age thirty.
Along the way he befriended a fellow pilgrim also from Edessa named John who would become his lifelong friend and confidant. After celebrating the Exaltation of the Cross in Jerusalem together, the two returned to their respective homes in Edessa but remained close friends, both devoted wholeheartedly to following God.
Though both Symeon and John were quite wealthy, they gave up all their earthly inheritance in exchange for an inheritance above, and they both entered the Monastery of St. Gerasimos where they were tonsured monks. After about a year there, the two left the monastery for the desert near the Dead Sea.
There they spent the better part of the next 30 years in solitude and prayer, struggling to overcome all earthly passions. When Symeon was about 60 years of age, he received inspiration from God to return to the world and go to Emesa in order to provide aid and guidance to the people there.
Symeon asked the Lord if he might be allowed to serve the people in a way that would bring no glory or praise to himself, so that all might know whatever good he may perform would be done only by the hand of God who alone should receive praise.
Thus, when he arrived in Emesa, Symeon took on the difficult role of playing a fool for Christ’s sake, in order that all might think him mad and attribute all good things to God alone.”
Symeon of Emesa (sixth century) in Holy Fools: The Lives of Twenty Fools for Christ by Oswin Craton (Chesterton: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2024) 115-121.
Notice two things in this second-to-last holy fool from this great book.
First, Symeon spent the prime of his life in prayer and solitude. Some might call that wasted. Others might say this was his season of preparation. I would lean that direction. Prayer and solitude are great disciplines that position us for God to do His best work through us.
Second, Symeon was 60 years old when his best work happened. Imagine the aid and guidance he could provide to the people of Emesa at 60 years old. So much that we are talking about him 1400 years later. He just shared the good and perfect gifts God lavished on him.
Are you 30? What if God called you to 30 years of prayer and solitude? Are you 60? What if God called you to a season of providing aid and giving guidance? As my friend, John Stanley would say, “Get connected, get clear, and get going!”
What are you waiting for? Your best contributions are yet ahead of you.