Symeon
8. HAERESIARCHA S. MASSALIANUS.
Works
Anathemas
In an appendix to the Panoplia of Euthymius Zigabenus [EUTHYMIUS ZIGABENUS] described by Lambecius, who printed some portions of it (Commentarius de Biblioth. Caesaraea, lib. s. vol. iii. col. 424, &c.), and published, with a Latin version, by Tollius (Insignia Itinerarii Italici. p. 106, &c.), are a string of anathemas against various Massalians or Bogomilans, among whom are given in one group Dadoes, Sabas, Adelpheios, Hernias, and Symeon. These do not belong to the age of Alexius Comnenus, to which Euthymius belonged, and in which the anathemas appear to have been uttered, but to a much earlier period, for in an account of the Council of Side in Pamphylia, held in or about A. D. 381, and which account is preserved by Photius, (Biblioth. Cod. 52), Dadoes, Sabas, Adelpheios, and Symeon are mentioned as contemporaries of the council and founders of the Massalian or Euchite sect. Theodoret also (Haeret. Fabul. Compend. 4.11) mentions them.
Variations on the name Symeon
In the older editions of Photius the name of Symeon was written Σημεσώνης, " Semesones," but Bekker in his edition gives it (on the authority of a manuscript in the library of Cardinal Bessarion, now of St. Mark, at Venice) Συμεωνης, Symeones, which is the form used by Theodoret (l.c.). Lambecius and Tollius give it as Συμεών, Symeon.
His sect, the Massaliani
The sect of which he was one of the leaders had its rise in the reign of the Emperor Constantius II., apparently in the parts of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor adjacent to the Euphrates. They were a very enthusiastic sect, who placed the whole business of life in prayer and religious exercises, in which they gave themselves up to unwonted and uncontrolled excesses. Their names, Massaliani or Messaliani or Mesaliani (Μασσαλιανοὶ or Μεσσαλιανοὶ, or Μεσαλιανοί), and Euchitae (Εὐχῖται), derived the first from the Syriac, the second from the Greek language, were significant of their characteristic practice; they meant " praying people."
Symeon the Haeresiarch
There was another Symeon, an haeresiarch, who was burnt to death with many of his followers for heresy in the time of Justinian II. Photius gives to him the vague and often misapplied epithet of a Manichaean.
Further Information
Phot. Narratio in epitome de Manichaeis repullulantibus, apud Montfauc. Biblioth. Coislin. pp. 360, 361.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.