( Fifth Century )

From the Synaxarion: Translocation of the holy relics of St. Simon, the Stylite. He was a strict ascetic. He left the monastery and dwelt on a pillar for 15 years. He moved to another pillar and dwelt on it for 30 years. He finally reposed after showing the right path to numerous unbelievers.       

Also from:

Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, I.13:

"In these times [about 440 A.D.] flourished and became illustrious, Simeon, of holy and famous memory, who originated the contrivance of stationing himself on the top of a column, thereby occupying a space of scarce two cubits in circumference. This man, endeavoring to realize in the flesh the existence of the heavenly hosts, lifts himself above the concerns of earth, and overpowering the downward tendency of man's nature, is intent on things above. He was adored by all the countryside, wrought many miracles, and the Emperor Theodosius II listened to his advice and sought his benediction.

Simeon prolonged his endurance of this mode of life through fifty-six years; nine of which he spent in the first monastery where he was instructed in divine knowledge, and forty-seven in the "Mandara" as it was called; namely, ten in a certain nook; on shorter columns, seven; and thirty upon one of forty cubits. After his departure [from this life] his holy body was conveyed to Antioch, escorted by the garrison, and a great concourse guarding the venerable body, lest the inhabitants of the neighboring cities should gather and carry it off. In this manner it was conveyed to Antioch, and attended, during its progress, with extraordinary prodigies.

The body has been preserved nearly entire until my time [about 580 A.D.]; and in company with many priests, I enjoyed a sight of his sacred head, in the episcopate of the famous Gregory, when Philippics had requested that precious relic of the saints might be sent him for the protection of the Eastern armies. The head was well preserved save for the teeth some of which had been violently removed by the hands of the pious [for relics].

According to another writer, Theodore, in Simeon's lifetime, he was visited by pilgrims from near and far; Persia, Ethiopia, Spain, and even Britain. To these at times he delivered sermons. He wore on his body a heavy iron chain. In praying, "he bent his body so that his forehead almost touched his feet." A spectator once counted 1244 repetitions of this movement, and then gave up reckoning. Simeon took only one scanty meal per week, and fasted through the season of Lent. It is alleged that the devil having afflicted him with an ulcer in his thigh as reward for a little self-righteousness, Simeon, as penance, never touched the afflicted leg upon the pillar again, and stood for the remaining year of his life upon one leg".

Source. From: William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 348-349.(OCA

 

Subject: Sts Symeon the Stylite and Symeon the New Theologian

Symeon the Stylite    From OrthodoxWiki 
       Saint Symeon the Stylite

  Our venerable and God-bearing Father Symeon the Stylite or Simeon, also called "the Great" (c. 390-459) was a monk living in Syria. Stylite means one who lives on a pillar (style in Greek). He is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on September 1.
            Contents[hide]
   
  Life  Symeon was born to a shepherd's family in the Cappadocian village of Sisan in Syria. When he was a youth, he was deeply moved after hearing the Beatitudes, and decided to join a monastery. His desire for fasting and asceticism grew quickly.
  The abbot asked him to withdraw from the monastery due to his strict asceticism, fearing that the other brothers would imitate the extreme fasts. Symeon withdrew to live in an empty well in the nearby mountains. The monks searched for him and asked Symeon to return to the monastery, but he soon left again to continue his asceticism.
  Crowds came to him to receive healing and to learn more about the Christian faith, but to avoid them, Symeon went up to a pillar and began to live there in a little cell, still devoted to prayer and fasting. He sat or stood in prayer for many weeks at a time, but he was hardly cut off from the world.
  He wrote letters and even received visitors via a ladder. Many threatened and ridiculed him, but far more were inspired by his constant fasting and prayer. Those who were attentive to his teachings include the Emperor Theodosius II of Rome and his wife, Empress Aelia Eudocia, as well as the Righteous Genevieve of Paris. His letter to the Emperor Leo of Constantinople in favor of the Council of Chalcedon was highly respected. Many people came to listen to him and even to be baptized:
   
   "Theodoret says that he became so famous in Rome that the Nomadic Arabs by the thousands believed in Christ and were baptized because of him; the King of Persia sent envoys to inquire into his way of life, and the Queen asked to be sent oil that he had blessed. He also was a great defender of sound doctrine, and confirmed the Orthodoxy of the Holy Council of Chalcedon for many who had been beguiled by the teachings of the Monophysites, including the Empress Eudocia, widow of Theodosius the Younger. After a life of unheard-of achievements and struggles, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine, in the year 459." (1)   His body was taken down three days after his death, and his relics were sent to Antioch.
  This article or section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help OrthodoxWiki by expanding it.
  [edit]
  Hymns  Apolytikion (First Tone):
   
   Thou becamest a pillar of patience and didst emulate the Forefathers, O righteous one:  
   Job in his sufferings, Joseph in temptations, and the life of the bodiless while in the body,  
   O Symeon, our righteous Father, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.   Kontakion (Second Tone):
   
   Thou soughtest the heights, though parted not from things below;  
   thy pillar became a chariot of fire for thee.  
   Thou becamest thereby a true companion of the angelic host;  
   and together with them, O Saint, thou ceaselessly prayest Christ God for us all.   [edit]
  Other Stylites   
   Father Daniel the Stylite (409-493), a disciple of Saint Symeon, whose feast is December 11  
   Saint Symeon the New Stylite or the Younger (d. 592), whose feast is May 24  
   Saint Alipios the Stylite (7th-8th century), whose feast is November 26  
   Saint Lazarus the Stylite (968-1054), who fell asleep on November 8
  [edit]
  External Links and Sources  The biography of Saint Symeon is found in the writings of the monk Anthony, who wrote it in Greek after witnessing the death of Saint Symeon. Another biography was written in Aramaic by two other followers: Symeo, son of Apollon, and Barhtar Barudan. The third source is the "History" of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, in 444. (2)
   
   Simeon the Stylite of the Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Book 1, Chapter 13 by Evagrius Scholasticus (AD 431-594), translated by E. Walford.  
   St. Symeon and the Pillar Saints History of the Christian Church, Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311-600. Chapter 4, Section 37, by Philip Schaff.  
   St. Symeon the Stylite Monastery details the life of Saint Symeon as well as the history of the monastery in his name in Syria  
   Simeon Stylites the Elder, Hermit from the site of Saint Patrick's Church in Washington, DC (Catholic)  
   Saint Symeon the Stylite from the Orthodox Church in America website  
   Father Symeon Stylite the Elder from the Santa Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Orange, CT  
   Symeon the Stylite from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website  
   Simeon Stylites (Wikipedia article)
  Retrieved from "http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Symeon_the_Stylite"
    Symeon the New Theologian    From OrthodoxWiki 
       St. Symeon the New Theologian

                                           
  Our venerable and God-bearing father Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is one of three saints of the Orthodox church to have been given the title of Theologian (the others are St. John the Apostle and St. Gregory Nazianzen). Born in Galatia and educated at Constantinople, he became abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas. His feast day is celebrated by some on March 12, the date of his repose, while others commemorate his feast on October 12, because March 12 falls within Great Lent.
  St. Symeon was a poet who embodied the mystical tradition. He wrote that humans could experience the Spirit of God directly. His works influenced the hesychastic controversy of the 14th century.
  
  [edit]
  Life  [edit]
  Works  Some of his writings are included in the Philokalia.
   
   The Three Ways of Attention and Prayer
  [edit]
  External links   
   Venerable Simeon the New Theologian (OCA)  
   Symeon the New Theologian (GOARCH)  
   St Symeon the New Theologian (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia)
  Retrieved from "http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Symeon_the_New_Theologian"

"Do you see how all who hear His word and do it He elevates to the rank of His mother, and says they are His brothers, and calls them all His kinsmen? Still, as we said above, she who was His mother in the body is alone properly so, as she gave birth to Him ineffably without a man. Yet, all the saints who conceive Him by grace and gift do possess Him. Thus, while from His immaculate mother He borrowed her immaculate flesh, and have her in return His own divinity - O strange and new exchange! - He takes no flesh from the saints, but He does make them sharers of His own, deified flesh. Consider with me, please, the depths of this mystery! While the grace of the Spirit, that is, the flame of the Godhead is of the one Savior and God, from His nature and essence, His body is not from that source but, on the contrary, is taken from the all-pure and holy flesh of the Theotokos and from her all-immaculate blood. This He took from her and made His own, according to the holy saying: `And the Word became flesh' [Jn.1:14]. As we have said, it is by means of this flesh that He Who is Son of God and son of the Virgin communicates the grace of the Spirit - i.e., of divinity - from, on the one hand, the nature and essence of His co-eternal Father, as He says Himself through His prophet, `And it will come to pass that in those days I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh' [Joel 2:28], on all flesh, clearly, that believes; and on the other hand, from the flesh which He took from her who, truly and in the proper sense, gave Him birth."
St. Symeon the New Theologian.

"To have faith in Christ means more than simply despising the delights of this life.  It means we should bear all our daily trials that may bring us sorrow, distress, or unhappiness, and bear them patiently for as long as God wishes and until He comes to visit us. For it is said, 'I waited on the Lord and He came to me.'"
St. Symeon the New Theologian.






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وقد أتي إليه بطريرك إنطاكية عندما سمع خبر انتقاله من هذا العالم فحمل جسده إلى إنطاكية بمجد عظيم .