Symeon of Karyes

Symeon of Karyes was born of pious parents in the village of Longanikos in Sparta in 1864, with 16 siblings. From childhood he was sickly. His good mother, with her deep faith and as a practical physician, helped him often in his illnesses. He finished the Pastoral School of Tripoli. He wanted to become a monk in a monastery of his region, but his father held him back.

So in 1890 he left secretly for the Holy Mountain. He stayed hidden for nine years. At first he struggled at Kavsokalyvia. His elder was Father Menas, who had been a disciple of the renowned ascetic Hadji-⁠George (d. 1886). After the dissolution of Hadji-⁠George's community, Father Menas moved to Karyes with his good disciple Symeon and they settled in the Iviron cell of the Holy Trinity. Symeon received from his beloved elder the strict ascetic rule of his "grandfather." He loved study much, which his elder allowed him. He read many books with great zeal and taught himself French, English... He did not eat dairy. Even at Pascha he did not eat eggs, but dyed potatoes red, following the rule of Hadji-⁠George.

In the last years of his life he withdrew to a cave outside the village of Nichori in Phalaisia, after his last Paschal Liturgy. He lived on greens. He sank into silence. Now he benefited the world only by his fervent prayer. He distributed to churches and monasteries what he had, mostly books. After an attack by robbers his health was shaken further. Some thought him mad. Without possessions, silent, ill and praying, he gave up his spirit to his Maker quietly, in December 1916. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.