medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
> 4) Symeon Stylites the Elder (d. 459)....a monk and later a recluse before
mounting the first of several pillars built for him at at today's Qalat Seman
some forty miles from Antioch on the Orontes. On these, the last of which is
said to have been more than sixty feet in height and on which he spent the
last thirty years of his life, he stood exposed to the elements, ate very
sparingly, prayed mightily, fasted throughout Lent, operated miracles, and
communicated to the world through disciples who formed a monastic community at
the pillar's base.
he also was not exposed to the diseases which infested the population of his
time --particularly tuberculosis, which was epidemic.
he seems to have been so intent upon avoiding his fellows that he, first,
entered a monastery, then became a hermit, then, when he got too popular as a
Holy Man, allowed himself to be chased up a 60 foot column.
a very determined "Solitary," it would seem.
c
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