I was reminded today of a truly weird historical figure: St. Simeon Stylites (sometimes “the Elder” is added to his name). Supposedly, Simeon is one of those (few) early saints who they have historical eyewitness accounts of from independent sources. Simeon is thought to have lived circa 388 - 459 in Northern Syria. He spent many years as a monk, but eventually decided that wasn’t good enough for him. He headed out to live in the desert, but followers continually bothered him while he was praying. So he became a stylite. That is, he decided to live on top of a small platform on a column. Over time, the column was built higher and higher until he was living some 15 meters in the air. Crowds continued to gather round him, but could no longer disturb his constant prayer. Supposedly, a ladder sometimes allowed followers to ascend and speak with him, and he also occasionally addressed the crowds below. He allegedly lived some 36 years on top of a pole in service to his idea of Godliness.
Apparently “stylitism” became a fairly popular practice in the Middle East during this time. There was even a second St. Simeon Stylies the Younger.
Pole-sitting today is generally more of a feat of endurance (for prize money) rather than a feat of religiosity. Here’s some info about the world-record for modern pole-sitting:
Daniel Baraniuk, an out-of-work 27-year-old from Gdansk, Poland set the world record for pole-sitting by sitting at the top of a 8-foot, 2 1/2 inch pole for 196 days and nights. In doing so he won the World Pole-Sitting Championship and nearly $23,000 in prize money.
All the competitors mounted their poles on May 15, 2002 and were only allowed to leave their 16 by 24 inch platform for 10 minutes every two hours. While his nearest competitor fell off the pole in October, Baraniuk finally gave up on November 26, 2002.
Not nearly as impressive as 36 years, I’ll say. Here’s some more articles about St. Simeon Stylites:
- Simeon Stylites (Wikipedia)
- A Greek Orthodox site about St. Simeon
- Catholic Encyclopedia on Simeon
- St. Simeon Stylites: He Dug Deeper and Ended Up Higher
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8 Comments
it reminds me of the bishop of some large american city in a documentary on 9/11 saying that as he saw the planes going into the buildings he knew this was a religious act.he knew of no other impetus on earth that would compel men to do such things.it`s the same with stylites.the money incentive pales in comparison to devotion to your faith.
thats funny, because i dont think 9/11 was a religious act at all. at least not on the part of a terrorist network that anyone outside of america will tell you doesn’t even exist. i think for most people, the faith incentive actually pales besides devotion to faith - as is again evidenced by 9/11
there is a film about st. simeon: luis bunuel’s simon of the desert.
i haven’t seen it but i usually like bunuels stuff.
i was quoting the bishop.he left his job as a result.i don`t have any beliefs regarding 9/11.i also haven`t seen much that i can trust as fact,other than the fact that the buildings burned and fell.pretty much everything else has been speculation.
bunuel’s film is absolutely amazing (as are all of his films)!
This guy makes David Blaine look like a wuss!
david blaine IS a wuss!
No arguments here…