No other human is more famous than Simeon Stylites the Elder, who is alleged to have lived for 36 years on top of a tall stone pillar about two feet wide. Why anyone would deprive himself of living his life to the fullest is quite bizarre.
St. Simeon
advocated that, since Jesus suffered, his followers should follow his example
of endless pain. As a monk in his native Syria, Simeon chained his right leg to
a rock and performed miracles by healing the sick who flocked to see him. We
are not sure if miracles were performed but writers about them seem to believe
so.
Records show
that Simeon walled himself during Lent and allowed all sorts of vermin to crawl
on his body as a form of suffering. If historical record is correct, he never
harmed any of them.
Simeon’s
fanatical reputation grew far and wide and people traveled hundreds of miles to
see him. He eventually grew weary of the attention and decided to escape the
crowds by living on a pillar, closer to God, away from the daily pressures of
the world. It was his effort of living on a deserted island without actually leaving
his hometown.
At the age
of 33, in 423 A.D., Simeon chose a stone column in his village of Telnishe in
north Syria. The remains of these columns can be seen today. The initial
column was 6 ft tall; over the next six or seven years he changed columns, eventually
settling on a 72 ft high pedestal. For 30 years he never came down and had food
and water brought up by ladder. The top of the column was 2 feet square, probably
surrounded by a railing that would keep Simeon from falling down while he was
sleeping. He was exposed to all elements and all seasons.
Simeon spent
his entire life on fasting and prayer. His disciples listened to every word he
shouted down to the base of the column and even counted the number of times
that he prostrated during prayer.
Simeon was
so famous for settling disputes that evidence exists in a letter in which some
priests pledged, at Simeon’s determination, that they would never charge more
than six percent interest on money they loaned. The usual at the time was
twelve percent.
Simeon’s
influential reputation extended to letters he wrote to people in power such as
the Roman Emperor Theodosius II on behalf of the Syrian bishops, or a letter to
the Patriarch Basil of Antioch in which he argued theology with them.
It is easy
to consider St. Simeon as a fanatic and eccentric whose self-mutilation served
very little purpose. But his Lebanese followers could argue the contrary.
When Simeon
died in 459 A.D., his death was kept a secret to prevent his followers from
dismembering his body for religious relics. Some teeth were stolen anyway as
holy relics. He was eventually buried in the Church of Constantine in Antioch.
Parishioners thought that his fanatical fame and deprivation would protect them
from earthquakes which were occurring frequently in the area.
The cult of stylitism
(living on a pillar) never took hold on religious followers but there were
enough converts through the twelfth century. Some stylites lived in huts on top
of a pillar, others lived in the hollows of the pillars. One notable convert lived
ten years in a tub suspended between two pillars.
The most
masochistic of St. Simeon’s disciples was St. Alypius, who is alleged to have
lost use of his feet from standing on a pillar for 53 years near Adrianopolis
(Edirne, Turkey today). For the next 14 years he was on his side on the pillar.
Christian
monasticism did not limit itself to a monastery or a pillar like St. Simeon. A good majority of monks who
wished to isolate themselves from the world during those times lived in caves
dug onto the surrounding hills.
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