St. Simeon (says Antony) was chosen by God from his birth, and used
to study how to obey and please him. Now his father's name was
Susocion, and he was brought up by his parents.

When he was thirteen years old, he was feeding his father's sheep;
and seeing a church he left the sheep and went in, and heard an
epistle being read. And when he asked an elder, "Master, what is
that which is read?" the old man replied, "For the substance (or
very being) of the soul, that a man may learn to fear God with his
whole heart, and his whole mind." Quoth the blessed Simeon, "What
is to fear God?" Quoth the elder, "Wherefore troublest thou me, my
son?" Quoth he, "I inquire of thee, as of God. For I wish to learn
what I hear from thee, because I am ignorant and a fool." The elder
answered, "If any man shall have fasted continually, and offered
prayers every moment, and shall have humbled himself to every man,
and shall not have loved gold, nor parents, nor garments, nor
possessions, and if he honours his father and mother, and follows
the priests of God, he shall inherit the eternal kingdom: but he
who, on the contrary, does not keep those things, he shall inherit
the outer darkness which God hath prepared for the devil and his
angels. All these things, my son, are heaped together in a
monastery."

Hearing this, the blessed Simeon fell at his feet, saying, "Thou art
my father and my mother, and my teacher of good works, and guide to
the kingdom of heaven. For thou hast gained my soul, which was
already being sunk in perdition. May the Lord repay thee again for
it. For these are the things which edify. I will now go into a