Saint Simeon Stylites

Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite[n 1] (Greek: Συμεών ό Στυλίτης; Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܐܣܛܘܢܐ, romanized: Šimʕun dʼAstˁonā; Arabic: سمعان العمودي, romanized: Simʿān al-ʿAmūdī c. 390 – 2 September 459) was a Syrian Christian ascetic who achieved notability by living 36 years on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria). Several other stylites later followed his model (the Greek word style means "pillar"). Simeon is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is known formally as Simeon Stylites the Elder to distinguish him from Simeon Stylites the Younger, Simeon Stylites III and Symeon Stylites of Lesbos. There exist three major early biographies of Simeon. The first of these is by Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, and is found within his work Religious 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 as Antonius, 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 the Christian 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. All three sources have been translated into English by Robert Doran. The Syriac life has also been translated by Frederick Lent. The traditional consensus is that Simeon Stylites adhered to Chalcedonian Christianity, with Syriac letters claiming that he was a Monophysite being viewed as forgeries. The son of a shepherd, Simeon was born and raised in Sis, which was then a part of the Eastern Roman province of Cilicia.