Simeon Stylites | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) 6th century depiction of Simeon on his column. A scallop shell symbolizing spiritual purity blesses Simeon; the serpent represents demonic temptations (Louvre). | |
| Venerable Father | |
| Born | c. 390 Sis,Cilicia,Eastern Roman Empire |
| Died | 2 September 459 (aged 68–69)[1][2] QalaatSemaan,Byzantine Syria (betweenAleppo andAntioch) |
| Venerated in | |
| Canonized | Pre-congregation |
| Feast |
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| Attributes | Clothed as amonk inmonastic habit, shown standing on top of his pillar |
Simeon Stylites orSymeon the Stylite[n 1] (Greek: Συμεών ό Στυλίτης;Syriac:ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܐܣܛܘܢܐ,romanized: Šimʕun dʼAstˁonā;Arabic:سمعان العمودي,romanized: Simʿān al-ʿAmūdīc. 390 – 2 September 459) was aSyrianChristian ascetic, who achieved notability by living 36 years on a small platform on top of a pillar nearAleppo (in modernSyria). Several otherstylites later followed his model (theGreek wordstyle means "pillar"). Simeon is venerated as a saint by theEastern Catholic Churches,Oriental Orthodox Churches,Eastern Orthodox Church, andRoman Catholic Church. He is known formally asSimeon Stylites the Elder to distinguish him fromSimeon Stylites the Younger,Simeon Stylites III andSymeon Stylites of Lesbos.
There exist three major early biographies of Simeon. The first of these is byTheodoret, bishop ofCyrrhus, and is found within his workReligious History. This biography was written during Simeon's lifetime, and Theodoret relates several events of which he claims to be an eyewitness. The narrator of a second biography names himself asAntonius, a disciple of Simeon's. This work is of unknown date and provenance. The third is a Syriac source, which dates to 473. This is the longest of the three, and the most effusive in its praise of Simeon; it places Simeon on a par with the Old Testament prophets, and portrays him as a founder of theChristian Church. The three sources exhibit signs of independent development; although they each follow the same rough outline, they have hardly any narrative episodes in common.[3]
All three sources have been translated into English by Robert Doran.[4] The Syriac life has also been translated by Frederick Lent.[5]
The traditional consensus is that Simeon Stylites adhered toChalcedonian Christianity, with Syriac letters claiming that he was aMonophysite being viewed asforgeries.[6]
The son of a shepherd, Simeon was born and raised inSis, which was then a part of theEastern Roman province ofCilicia. According to Theodoret, Simeon developed a zeal for Christianity at the age of 13, following a reading of theBeatitudes. He entered amonastery before the age of 16. From the first day, he gave himself up to the practice of an austerity so extreme that his brethren judged him to be unsuited to any form of community life.[2] They asked Simeon to leave the monastery.[citation needed]
Simeon shut himself up in a hut for one and a half years, where he passed the whole ofLent without eating or drinking. When he emerged from the hut, his achievement was hailed as a miracle.[7] He later took to standing continually upright so long as his limbs would sustain him.[citation needed]
After one and a half years in his hut, Simeon sought a rocky eminence on the slopes of what is now theSheik Barakat Mountain, part ofMount Simeon. He chose to live within a narrow space, less than 20 meters (66 ft) in diameter. But crowds of pilgrims invaded the area to seek him out, asking his counsel or his prayers, and leaving him insufficient time for his own devotions. This eventually led him to adopt a new way of life.[2]
In order to get away from the ever-increasing number of people who came to him for prayers and advice, leaving him little if any time for his private austerities, Simeon discovered a pillar which had survived among ruins in nearbyTelanissa (modern-day Taladah inSyria).[8][9]
When the monasticElders living in the desert heard about Simeon, who had chosen a new and strange form of asceticism, they wanted to test him to determine whether his extreme feats were founded in humility or pride. They decided to order Simeon under obedience to come down from the pillar. They decided that if he disobeyed, they would forcibly drag him to the ground, but if he was willing to submit, they were to leave him on his pillar. Simeon displayed complete obedience and humility, and the monks told him to stay where he was.
The first pillar that Simeon occupied was little more than 3 meters (10 ft). He later moved his platform to others, the last in the series reportedly more than 15 meters (50 ft) from the ground.[2] At the top of the pillar was a platform, which is believed to have been about one square meter and surrounded by abaluster.
Edward Gibbon in hisHistory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describes Simeon's life as follows:
In this last and lofty station, theSyrianAnachoret resisted the heat of thirty summers and the cold of as many winters. Habit and exercise instructed him to maintain his dangerous situation without fear or giddiness, and successively to assume the different postures of devotion. He sometimes prayed in an erect attitude, with his outstretched arms in the figure of a cross, but his most familiar practice was that of bending his meagre skeleton from the forehead to the feet; and a curious spectator, after numbering twelve hundred and forty-four repetitions, at length desisted from the endless account. The progress of an ulcer in his thigh might shorten, but it could not disturb thiscelestial life; and the patient Hermit expired, without descending from his column.[10]
Even on the highest of his columns, Simeon was not withdrawn from the world. If anything, the new pillar attracted even more people, both pilgrims who had earlier visited him and sightseers as well. Simeon was available each afternoon to talk with visitors. By means of a ladder, visitors were able to ascend within speaking distance. It is known that he wrote letters, the text of some of which have survived to this day, that he instructed disciples, and that he also lectured to those assembled beneath.[11] He especially preached against profanity andusury. In contrast to the extreme austerity that he practiced, his preaching conveyed temperance and compassion and was marked with common sense and freedom from fanaticism.
Much of Simeon's public ministry, like that of other Syrian ascetics, can be seen as socially cohesive in the context of the Roman East. In the face of the withdrawal of wealthy landowners to the large cities, holy men such as Simeon acted as impartial and necessary patrons and arbiters in disputes between peasant farmers and within the smaller towns.[12]
Reports of Simeon reached the church hierarchy and the imperial court. The EmperorTheodosius II and his wifeAelia Eudocia greatly respected Simeon and listened to his counsels, while the EmperorLeo I paid respectful attention to a letter he sent in favour of theCouncil of Chalcedon. Simeon is also said to have corresponded withGenevieve of Paris.
PatriarchDomninos II (441–448) of Antioch visited the monk and celebrated theDivine Liturgy on the pillar.[13]
Evagrius Scholasticus records an instance in which Simeon denounced the emperor's prefectAsclepiodotus to Emperor Theodosius for supposedly encouraging pagans and Jews and undermining Christians. Theodosius then fired Asclepiodotus.[14][15]
Once when Simeon was ill, Theodosius sent three bishops to beg him to come down and allow himself to be attended by physicians, but Simeon preferred to leave his cure in the hands of God, and before long he recovered.
A double wall was raised around him to keep the crowd of people from coming too close and disturbing his prayerful concentration. Women were, in general, not permitted beyond the wall, not even his own mother, whom he reportedly told, "If we are worthy, we shall see one another in the life to come." She submitted to this, remaining in the area, and embraced the monastic life of silence and prayer. When she died, Simeon asked that her coffin be brought to him, and he reverently bade farewell to his dead mother.[13]
Accounts differ with regard to how long Simeon lived upon the pillar, with estimates ranging from 35 to 42 years.[11] He died on 2 September 459. A disciple found his body stooped over in prayer. ThePatriarch of Antioch,Martyrius, performed the funeral of the monk before a huge crowd. He was buried not far from the pillar.[13]
Simeon inspired many imitators. For the next century, ascetics living on pillars,stylites, were a common sight throughout the ChristianLevant.
He is commemorated as a saint in theCoptic Orthodox Church, where his feast is on29 Pashons. He is commemorated 1 September by theEastern Orthodox andEastern CatholicChurches, and 5 January in theRoman Catholic Church.
A contest arose betweenAntioch andConstantinople for the possession of Simeon's remains. The preference was given to Antioch, and the greater part of hisrelics were left there as a protection to the unwalled city. Pilgrim tokens for Simeon Stylites have been found across the Byzantine Empire, attesting to the popularity of his veneration.
The ruins of the vast edifice erected in his honour and known inArabic as theQalaat Semaan ("the Fortress of Simeon") can still be seen. They are located about 30 km northwest ofAleppo (36°20′03″N36°50′38″E / 36.33417°N 36.84389°E /36.33417; 36.84389) and consist of fourbasilicas built out from an octagonal court towards the four points of the compass to form a large cross. In the centre of the court stands the base of thestyle or column on which Simeon stood. On 12 May 2016, the pillar within the church reportedly took a hit from a missile, fired from what appeared to be Russian jets backing the Syrian government.[16]
The life of Simeon Stylites inspired an 1842 poem byAlfred Tennyson,"St. Simeon Stylites".[17] Modern works based upon the life of the saint includeLuis Buñuel's 1965 filmSimón del desierto,Hans Zender's 1986 operaStephen Climax and the 1998 filmAt Sachem Farm.
James Hamilton-Paterson'sGerontius, a work of fiction based on Sir Edward Elgar's actual voyage to Brazil in 1923, includes a dream sequence in which the acolyte Rahut charges "dreamers" a fee to be allowed to ascend to the top of the pillar for a conversation with the ascetic. Awe mingles with horror as the visitor's "head sinks to the level of a pair of monstrous feet from whose rotting toes curl yellow nails."
