Editor’s note: A version of this column has been previously published.
Although little known in the West, St. Simeon the Stylite remains a powerful figure in eastern Christian hagiography (literature and legend about the lives of saints).
Simeon was born around A.D. 390 to poor shepherds in northwestern Syria, at a time when the Roman empire had been officially Christian for less than a century and the majority of its inhabitants had not yet converted to Christianity. By his death in 459, Simeon had been instrumental in the development of Christian doctrine and monastic practices as well as in the conversion of many pagans to the Christian faith.
Feeling called by God at an early age to a life of religious devotion and extreme austerity, Simeon entered the monasteries of Eusebona and, later, Telanissos. There he lived for 10 years, engaging in ascetic practices such as abstaining from all food during the 40 days of Lent. Eventually, his fervor and asceticism caused such resentment among his fellow monks — who were unable to equal his zeal — that he was asked to leave the monastery.
Thereafter, Simeon became a wandering solitary hermit, seeking always to suppress his physical desires and to liberate his spirit through impassioned ascetic practices. As an itinerant holy man, he attracted the attention both of disciples who sought to follow his spiritual path and of supplicants seeking his advice, intercession with God or miraculous assistance.
Increasingly annoyed by their constant questions and pleas, the exasperated Simeon climbed onto the top of a column to escape his pursuers, pray and meditate. Soon, he found his newfound solitude so refreshing that he refused to come down. Descending thereafter only briefly to mount a series of increasingly taller pillars, Simeon eventually settled on a huge column, some 60 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter, where he remained for the final 30 years of his life, chaining himself to it while he slept in order to avoid accidentally falling.
There he lived surrounded by devoted monks and admirers who brought him food, and increasingly visited by pilgrims or those who were simply curious for a glimpse of the amazing spectacle. His unusual abode gave him his new name, Simeon Stylites — Simeon “of the column” — or Simeon the Stylite. (The Greek word “style” — pronounced very roughly “stoo-lay” — means “column.”)

His goal in living on the column was both to escape the throngs of devotees seeking his advice and intercession and to mystically “fly to heaven” by completely subduing all physical desires through fasting, prayer and meditation. Ironically, in the long term his choice of dwelling greatly multiplied the crowds that so irritated him.
Nonetheless, he was occasionally willing to converse with the pilgrims who came to him from all over the eastern Mediterranean. He offered advice, reconciled enemies, discoursed on theology and preached to the pagans, many of whom were apparently converted by his sermons. Simeon’s fame spread to the point that even Roman emperors sought his advice on major theological issues of the day. Leo I, for example, consulted him in christological controversies — disputes concerning the nature of Christ and the Son’s relationship to the Father.
At his death in 459, Simeon was held in awe throughout the entire Christian world. News of his holiness reached even Paris, as the Roman empire in the West was crumbling under the attacks of Huns and Germans. Later “stylites” — ascetic monks residing on columns — imitated Simeon’s lifestyle, but none ever equaled his fame.
Today, the magnificent ruins of the monastery of Qal’at Sim’an (“fortress of Simeon”), near Aleppo in Syria, stand as a striking reminder of the power of Simeon’s sanctity. The monastic complex rests on a ridge in the stark Syrian hills. The remains of Simeon’s pillar have been chiseled down to a stub about 8 feet high by the tens of thousands of pilgrims who visited the site after his death and carried off small pieces of the column as relics of the saint. The column is enclosed by a huge octagonal shrine; the dome that once covered it collapsed in an ancient earthquake.
The entire complex was surrounded by four basilica churches, a monastery, a cloister, a graveyard, a processional way and a huge baptistry. For nearly two centuries — until the Arab conquests around A.D. 640 — Simeon’s pillar remained one of the major pilgrimage sites in eastern Christianity.
His story provides a fascinating example of how fine the line can be between religious devotion and religious excess.
Daniel Peterson teaches Arabic studies, founded BYU’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, directs MormonScholarsTestify.org, chairs interpreterfoundation.org, blogs daily at patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson, and speaks only for himself.