Simeon of Mega Spilaion

Venerable Simeon of Mega Spilaion is, together with his brother Theodore, the founder of the Mega Spilaion Monastery (the Great Cave) in the Peloponnese, regarded as the oldest monastic settlement in Greece. The two brothers were born in Thessalonica at the beginning of the fourth century, in a devout and educated family, and studied theology, philosophy, rhetoric and poetry.

Drawn by the labours of the desert, they embraced monasticism and lived in turn on Mount Olympus, Ossa and Pelion. Then they travelled to the Holy Land and Sinai. On their return they were ordained priests by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem. While still in Jerusalem they had the same dream, in which the Mother of God, accompanied by the apostles Paul, Andrew and Luke, ordered them to go to Achaia to find an icon of Hers carved by Luke. They set out for the north-⁠east coast of the Peloponnese, and according to tradition, in the year 362, with the help of the shepherdess Euphrosyne, they found the icon in a cave. The place became the Mega Spilaion Monastery, where the icon is kept to this day. After a life of struggle Simeon fell asleep in peace. He is commemorated on 18 October (new style), together with Theodore and Euphrosyne.