The life of this saintly personage comes to us on excellent authority. The
patron of Symeon in Edessa, and the witness of his acts, was a certain
simple-minded John the Deacon. Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus,
whose _Apology for Sacred Images_ was accepted and approved by the Second
Council of Nicæa, was acquainted with this John the Deacon, and from his
account of the doings of Symeon wrote the life, in Greek, which has come
down to us entire. It is one of the most curious and instructive of early
Christian biographies.
Evagrius, the historian, also a contemporary of Symeon, makes mention of
him in his _Church History_ (lib. iv. c. 34).