Symeon’s Hymn on Divine Love offer one abbot’s answer to the question, “What do monks want?” Or rather, “What did what one abbot want his monks to want?” In his poems, Symeon enacts longing and desire. His expression of passionate love of God borrows vocabulary and tropes found also in the ancient Greek novel. Far from sublimating queer desire, Symeon seeks to activate and engage it. Unfulfilled queer longing thus becomes the essence of monastic love, as Symeon cultivates eros within the confines of expected celibacy.