Lives of the Saints…
St. Simeon Stylites
(He did Lent well)
St. Simeon was the first and probably the most famous of the long succession of
stylitoe (pillar-hermits), who, for more than six centuries throughout eastern Christendom, acquired by their strange form of asceticism a great reputation for holiness. The information regarding this strange and deeply religious phenomenon has been preserved till modern day by very reliable sources from first-hand accounts. Were it not for that, we should be disposed to attribute much of what history records about these men to legend; but no modern critic ventures to dispute the reality of the feats of endurance practiced by these ascetics.
Simeon the Elder was born about 388 at Sisan, near the northern border of Syria.
After beginning life as a shepherd boy, he entered a monastery before the age of sixteen, and from then on imposed upon himself the practice of an austerity so extreme, and to all appearance so extravagant, that his brethren judged him – perhaps not unwisely – to be unsuited to community life.
Being forced to quit the monastery, he shut himself up for three years in a hut at Tell-Neschin, where for the first time he passed the whole of Lent without eating or drinking. Every succeeding Lent this became his regular practice, and he combined it with the mortification of standing continually upright so long as his limbs would sustain him. His body adapted to his penances so much so that in his later days he was able to stand thus on his column, without support, for the whole period of the Lenten fast.
During those three years, Simeon’s reputation for superhuman penances and mysticism spread quickly throughout the early Church and brought pilgrims swarming to his crude doorway. Simeon felt that this was counterintuitive to a hermetic vocation, and sought a more secluded residence. He came across a rocky ledge in the desert and compelled himself to remain a prisoner within a narrow space less than twenty yards in diameter. But crowds of pilgrims invaded the desert to seek him out, desiring his counsel or his prayers, and still leaving him insufficient time for his own devotions. In desperation he dreamt up a home which would literally be out of the pilgrims’ reach: Simeon erected a pillar with a small platform at the top, and upon this he determined to take up his abode until death released him. At first the pillar was little more than nine feet high, but when the well-intentioned crowds didn’t get the hint, the first pillar was replaced by another, then another; each subsequently higher until the last in the series stood over fifty feet from the ground.
However extravagantly austere this way of life may seem, it produced a deep impression on contemporaries, and the fame of this ascetic spread through Europe. Rome in particular seemed fascinated by him, and local artists began churning out a large number of representations of the saint.
Meanwhile, even on the highest of his columns, Simeon was not withdrawn from interaction with his fellow men. By means of a ladder which could always be erected against the side, visitors were able to ascend and converse with him.
He endured the interruptions, and only made one demand in return: that, for the sake of his vow of chastity, women refrain from approaching. This request was understood and honored.
We know that Simeon wrote letters, some of the text of which we still possess, through which he instructed his disciples. He was also known to correspond with St. Genevieve in Paris. He delivered sermons to those assembled beneath his pillar. Around the tiny platform which surmounted the summit of the pillar, there was probably something in the nature of a balustrade, but the whole of the structure was exposed to the open air, and Simeon seems never to have permitted himself any sort of roof or shelter. During his earlier years upon the column, there was a stake to which he bound himself in order to maintain the upright position throughout Lent, but even this was an alleviation with which he soon afterwards dispensed.
Great personages, such as the Emperor Theodosius and the Empress Eudocia manifested the utmost reverence for the saint and listened to his counsels, while the Emperor Leo the Thracian paid respectful attention to a letter Simeon wrote to him in favor of the ruling of the controversial Council of Chalcedon.
This Council had great ramifications for the unity of the early Church. It was called in AD 451 in Chalcedon, a city in Asia Minor. The council’s ruling was an important step in further clarifying the nature of Christ and the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. The council also laid the groundwork for one of the most significant events in ecclesiastical history—the Great Schism.
In order to appreciate the significance of the Council of Chalcedon, we need a little background. Debate about the person of Christ arose prior to the first Council of Nicaea in AD 325. A man named Arius had taught the false doctrine that the Son of God was a created being and that He was of a different substance (heteroousios) than the Father. The Council of Nicaea sought to unambiguously define the relationship between the Father and the Son. The council said Jesus was truly God. Yet opponents of the divinity of Christ did not simply give up after the Nicene promulgation. But faithful Christians like Athanasius continued to defend Christ’s deity, and, in the end, truth triumphed over error.
After Nicaea came the Council of Constantinople in AD 381, which called heresy on the teachings of Apollinaris, who said that Jesus’ divine nature had displaced His human mind and will.
According to Apollinaris, Jesus was not fully human. Later, Nestorius said Jesus had two separate natures and two wills, essentially making Him two persons sharing one body. This teaching was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. And ten years later Eutyches also denied that Jesus was truly human, saying Jesus’ human nature was "absorbed" or swallowed up by His divine nature. This led to the Council of Chalcedon, which only lasted from October 8 to November 1, 451.
The Council of Chalcedon anathematized those who taught that Christ had only a single, divine nature and those who taught a "mixture" of His two natures (The Coptic Christians held the latter view, and split from the Great Church over this disagreement, effectively becoming the first protestant sect).
The Council produced the "Chalcedonian Definition," which affirms that Christ is "the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man."
He is "consubstantial [homoousios] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood." Jesus Christ is "to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably." The divine and human natures of Christ are distinct yet united in one Person. This co-existence of Christ’s two natures is called the Hypostatic Union.
By codifying this dogma, the Council of Chalcedon made it easier to identify error. The Council was also significant because it ratified the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople, and it condemned the false doctrines of Nestorius and Eutyches. The council reaffirmed the single Personhood of Christ and the authenticity and perfection of both His natures: human and divine.
St. Simeon received word from his perch of the Council’s rulings, and approved of them whole-heartedly. Not surprising that one in such constant conversation with God would be able to recognize the truth at once.
He lived on top of that pillar until the end of his life. Once when he was ill, Emperor Theodosius sent three bishops to beg him to descend and allow himself to be attended to by physicians, but the sick man preferred to leave his cure in the hands of God, and before long he recovered. A double wall was finally raised around him to keep the crowd of people from coming too close and disturbing his prayerful concentration.
Simeon spent 37 years upon the pillar.
He died on September 2, 459. A disciple found his body stooped over in prayer.
The Patriarch of Antioch performed the hermit’s funeral before a huge throng of clergy and devotees. They buried him not far from the pillar.
A contest arose between Antioch and Constantinople for the possession of his remains. The preference was given to Antioch, and the greater part of his relics were left there as a protection to the unwalled city. The ruins of the vast edifice erected in his honor and known as "the Mansion of Simeon" remain to the present day. It consists of four basilicas built out from an octagonal court towards the four points of the compass.
In the center of the court stands the base of St. Simeon’s column. ■
Sources:
catholicsaints.info/catholic-encyclopedia-saintsimeon- stylites-the-elder/ gotquestions.org/council-of-Chalcedon.html newadvent.org/cathen/13795a.htm wikipedia.org/wiki/Levant
"And yet I know not well, for that the evil ones come here, and say, ‘Fall down, O Simeon; thou hast suffered long For ages and for ages!’"
- Alfred Tennyson’s St. Simeon Stylites
![[image]](images/image_20170305_09_0_large_gray.jpg)