The Venerable Simeon, a fool for Christ's sake, and his companion John were Syrians who lived in the sixth century in the city of Edessa. They had a close friendship since childhood. The eldest of them, Simeon, was single and lived with his elderly mother. John, having just married, lived with his father (his mother had died) and with his young wife. Both friends belonged to wealthy families. When Simeon turned 30 and John turned 24, they traveled to Jerusalem for the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. On the way back, the friends talked about ways to save their souls. Dismounting, they sent their servants ahead with their horses while they set off on foot.
When they reached Jordan, they saw monasteries on the banks of the river, located on the border of the desert. Both had an uncontrollable desire to leave the world and spend the rest of their lives in monastic labors. They turned off the road that their servants were following to Syria, and after praying fervently to God, they headed in the opposite direction – towards the monasteries. They asked the Lord to indicate which monastery they should choose and decided to go to the monastery whose gates would be open. At that time, in a dream, the Lord informed the abbot of the monastery, Nikon, to open the monastery gates and let the sheep of Christ into the monastery. In great joy, the friends approached the open gates of the monastery, were kindly received by the abbot and remained in the monastery. They soon took vows.
After spending some time in the monastery, Simeon was fired with the desire to strengthen his feat, to go deep into the desert and there to struggle in complete solitude. John did not want to leave his friend behind and decided to share the labors of desert breeding with him. The Lord revealed to Abbot Nikon the intention of his friends, and that night, when monks Simeon and John wanted to leave the monastery, he himself opened the gates for them, prayed with them, gave his blessing and let them go into the desert.
Having begun their desert life, the spiritual brothers initially suffered severe abuse from the devil, who inspired them with sorrow for their abandoned relatives, terrified the ascetics, and made them feel relaxed, discouraged, and lazy. The brothers Simeon and John, firmly remembering the vows they had made during their tonsuring, relying on the prayers of their elder, Abbot Nikon, continued to steadily follow their chosen path, spending time in incessant prayer and strict fasting, supporting each other in the struggle against temptation. After a while, with God's help, the temptations stopped.
The monks received a notification from God that Simeon's mother and John's wife had died and the Lord had honored them with heavenly bliss. After that, Simeon and John lived in the desert for 29 years, achieving complete dispassion and a high degree of spirituality. The Monk Simeon, at the suggestion of God, thought that they should now serve people, and for this it was necessary to leave the desert solitude and go into the world. But Saint John, believing that he had not yet reached the same degree of dispassion as his companion, decided not to leave the desert. The brothers parted with tears. And Simeon went to Jerusalem, where he worshiped the Holy Sepulchre and all the holy places. In his great humility, the holy ascetic fervently prayed to the Lord to deign him to serve his neighbors in such a way that they would not glorify him.
Saint Simeon chose for himself the difficult feat of foolishness for the sake of Christ. When he came to the city of Emessa, he stayed there and behaved like a madman, committing strange acts, for which he was subjected to ridicule, abuse and beatings, and meanwhile performed many good deeds. He cast out demons, healed diseases, delivered from sudden death, led unbelievers to faith, and led sinners to repentance. He did all these good deeds under the guise of foolishness, and received no praise or gratitude from people. But St. John highly revered his spiritual brother: when any of the inhabitants of the city of Emessa visited him in the desert, asking for advice and prayers, he invariably directed them to the "fool Simeon," who could better give spiritual advice.
Three days before his death, Saint Simeon stopped appearing on the streets and shut himself up in his hut, which contained nothing but a bundle of firewood. After remaining in unceasing prayer for three days, Saint Simeon reposed to the Lord. Some of the city beggars who were friends with him, having not met the fool, came to his hut and found him dead there. Taking the body of the deceased, they carried it without the usual church singing to the place where they buried the homeless and wanderers. When the body of Saint Simeon was being carried, some of the residents heard wonderful church singing, not understanding where it was coming from.
Following Saint Simeon, the Monk John peacefully departed to the Lord in the desert. Shortly before his death, Saint Simeon was given to see a crown over the head of his spiritual brother with the inscription: "For the desert patience."