Venerable Simeon the Stylite

Life

A Syrian by birth, of peasant parents. At the age of eighteen he fled from his parents and became a monk. He gave himself over to the most severe ascetic labors, at times fasting for forty days. He then devoted himself to a particular ascetic feat, until then unknown, namely: to stand day and night upon a pillar in unceasing prayer. His pillar was at first six cubits high, after which they raised one of twelve, then of twenty-two, then of thirty-six, and finally of forty cubits in height. His mother Martha came twice to see him, but he would not receive her, and from the pillar he said to her: "Do not disturb me now, my mother; if we are deemed worthy, we shall see one another in the other world." Saint Simeon endured countless temptations from demons, but he conquered them all by prayer to God. And the saint performed great miracles and healed many of the sick by his word and prayer. Around his pillar people gathered from all sides, rich and poor, emperors and slaves. And he helped them all, restoring bodily health to some, offering consolation and instruction to others, and reproving some for heretical beliefs. He thus turned Empress Eudocia away from the heresy of Eutyches and restored her to Orthodoxy. He practiced his asceticism in the time of Emperor Theodosius the Younger, Marcian, and Leo the Great. This first stylite in Christianity and great wonderworker, Saint Simeon, lived one hundred and three years and reposed in the Lord on September 1, 459. His relics were translated to Antioch, to a church bearing his name.