The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Life of Symeon Stylites by Antonios (BHG 1682-1683e)


Summary (except § 29 and 33, which are given in full)


§ 1: Something strange has happened in our time, which I, Antonios [i.e., the author and Symeon’s disciple], am going to recount insofar as I understood it.

§ 2: When Symeon was still young, he tended his father’s flocks. One day, he entered the church and listened to the Holy Scriptures, yet without being able to comprehend the meaning of the words. The same happened some years later, and Symeon, now a young adult, asked an old man to explain to him the apostle’s words about self-restrain and the salvation of the soul in the Kingdom of Heaven. He then wanted to learn more about the doctrine of Christianity.

§ 3: The old man pointed to the importance of fasting, regularly addressing prayers to God like the monks, groaning and weeping, being hungry and thirsty, accepting humiliation and renouncing (physical) health and (fleshly) desires. Symeon was thus encouraged to follow this way of life to be recognised by angels.

§ 4: Symeon left the church and went to a desolate area where he cried and prayed to God for seven days, without eating or drinking anything at all. Afterwards he entered a monastery and implored the abbot on his knees to accept him as he was a lost soul. Indeed, the abbot learned first his name and his status as a freeman and then he gave him permission to stay there, along with all the other monks.

§ 5: Symeon led his life there following the rule of the monastery, whilst his parents began to search for him. One day, he found the bucket from which the monks drew water from the well outside the monastery, and he wrapped the rope which had been attached to the bucket around his entire body. He then covered his body with a tunic made of hair and returned to the monastery. He remained a year or more with the rope bound around his body, and it consumed parts of his flesh, causing a stench, while his bed was full of worms. Nobody knew what had happened.

§ 6: Unlike all the other monks, who fasted solely until sun-down, Symeon used to eat only on Sundays; all other days he distributed his food to the poor. A fellow monk reported Symeon’s habits to the abbot and complained about his stench and the situation of his bed, insisting that the abbot had to expel Symeon from the monastery as he violated its rule.

§ 7: The abbot ascertained the truth of what he had been told and asked Symeon for an explanation. He then ordered that his clothes be removed to see where the stench was coming from.

§ 8: The monks needed three days to remove the garment which had stuck on his putrefied flesh, and his body was entirely covered with worms. Symeon expressed his wish to die because of his countless sins.
The abbot, together with the monks, wept over the young man’s serious wounds (Symeon was not yet eighteen-years-old), and ordered that he be treated by two physicians; with great difficulty, they succeeded in removing the rope from his body, and when Symeon was completely healed, the abbot sent him away.

§ 9: Symeon found refuge in a well that had dried up and was inhabited by evil spirits and various reptiles.

§ 10: Seven days later, the abbot was threatened in a dream by a great number of men clad in white [i.e., angels]: they wanted to burn him along with his monastery, because he had sent the true servant of God, Symeon, away. When he woke up, he shared this dream with his monks and asked them to find Symeon at any price.

§ 11: Despite their thorough search, the monks were not able to locate him and returned to the monastery. The abbot then ordered them to go and search for him at the place with the wild beasts [i.e., the old and dry well]. After praying for three hours over the well, the monks descended into it and found Symeon, who voiced his desire to stay there till his imminent death. However, the monks pulled him out of the well and dragged him along to the monastery. The abbot immediately knelt before Symeon and requested that he teach him the true meaning of endurance (καρτερία).

§ 12: Symeon stayed in the monastery for three years before secretly abandoning it and moving to an isolated place, near which there were only some villages; the nearest was called Gelasois [(Γελασοῖς), cf. Doran 1992: 92, n. 6: Talanis]. He built a small, open-air enclosure from stones, and he completely exposed himself to the elements for four years. He consumed only lentils and water for sustenance. There he built a pillar four cubits high and lived on it for seven years. He won fame for his way of ascesis, and the crowds of people who gathered there created for him two enclosures from stones [apparently, one on the top of the pillar where Symeon stood and another one below, which functioned as an entrance/vestibule, cf. Doran 1992: 92, n. 8, with a reference to Festugière’s relevant work]. The people there also made for him a pillar thirty cubits high, where he lived for fifteen years and performed plenty of healing [miracles].

§ 13: Symeon offered healings to lame and dumb people as well as to lepers in imitation of Christ. However, he admonished them to say that it was not he but God who performed the healings; otherwise, they would face the same hardships as previously. He also explained to them that swearing by God is a great sin.

§ 14: A remarkable miracle occurred: once his mother discovered his whereabouts, she went to visit him and be blessed by him. Still, in her effort to climb the pillar, she fell down. Symeon sent word to her that he would come to see her soon, while in the meantime she should have some rest. She died immediately afterwards. When Symeon approached her and addressed a prayer to God, her dead body (λείψανον) moved and a smile appeared on her face. She was finally buried in front of his pillar.

§ 15: Another mysterious thing happened: some people, who desired to visit the holy man and receive his blessing, encountered on their way a pregnant deer. They immobilised it only by mentioning the name of the saint; then they slaughtered and ate it. They suddenly began speaking and behaving like animals, until the saint recognised their sincere repentance and healed them.

§ 16: A further wonder: when a woman unknowingly swallowed a snake which was in a pitcher of water and became ill, her close relatives brought her to the saint, appealing for help, as no physician had managed to provide her with an effective remedy. Symeon gave her a mixture of blessed water and soil [cf. Doran 1992: 94, n. 12], and the snake immediately came out of her stomach and died.

§ 17: The people there raised the height of his pillar by ten cubits [i.e., it was now forty cubits in total], thus making the saint famous worldwide. Even Saracens [i.e., Arabs] visited him and converted to Christianity after their encounter with him. However, the Devil smote him with a painful tumour in his thigh, from which an ‘immense numbers of worms’ (σκώληκες ἀνείκαστοι) fell to the ground.

§ 18: When the king of the Saracens came to visit the saint, a worm fell from his thigh. The king intended to keep it as something that would bring him blessing and forgiveness for his sins, but the saint informed him that it was a stinking worm. When the king opened his hand, he observed that the worm had been turned into ‘a precious pearl’ (μαργαρίτης τίμιος) and began glorifying God. Through this miracle, the king was led to the knowledge of the Christian God and, after receiving the saint’s blessing, he left for his homeland.

§ 19: A big dragon (δράκων μέγας) lived in the surrounding area. When a piece of wood became lodged in its eye, it suffered terribly, and everybody could hear its pained hissing. The dragon moved towards the saint’s enclosure and placed itself outside of it. The piece of wood suddenly fell away from its eye, and after three days the dragon recovered completely and abandoned the place without harming anybody.

§ 20: A leading robber (ἀρχιληστής) named Antiochos lived in Syria, and soldiers often tried, in vain, to seize him and bring him to Antioch for punishment. One day, they found him in an inn in a village and surrounded the place. But the robber learned of this and began to plan his escape: he sent his mare, along with his clothes, to the river to wait for him while he confronted the soldiers with his sword. He managed to escape from them and reach the river, and from there he came to Symeon’s enclosure. The holy man did not deliver him to the soldiers who arrived on the spot; instead, he chased them away. In this way, Symeon succeeded in returning him to the right path. Immediately afterwards, the robber died and was buried near the saint’s enclosure. The next day, a great number of soldiers arrived from Antioch to arrest the robber, but when the holy man explained to them how he died, they glorified God and returned to Antioch.

§ 21: When the water in the area had been used up, saint Symeon prayed for seven days, and water began to pour out of a spot in his enclosure. The people of the area drilled down there and found a kind of cave full of water. All glorified God for this miracle.

§ 21a*. Some unbelievers took a sceptical view of Symeon’s ascetic practice, and they came to the area of his enclosure to ascertain whether he kept standing during the winter. The saint ‘healed’ their disbelief [lit. passion/negative emotional condition (ἰασάμενος αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ πάθους)], and they implored him to pray to God for them. Then he sent them back home.

§ 21b*. A leopard living in this region devoured many animals and humans. Symeon ordered a mixture of water and soil to be sprinkled in that place, and the next day, the leopard was found dead. When the locals skinned the animal, the holy man ordered that the skin be filled with chaff and displayed there for several days as a reminder for everyone to glorify God.

§ 22*: A queen of the Saracens [i.e., the Arabs] who was sterile came to Symeon’s enclosure, trusting that he would help her give birth to a child. Indeed, when she returned to her homeland, she conceived and bore a daughter, who, however, until her fifth year of life, was not able to speak or walk. The whole family visited the saint, and the child was healed in the end by divine intervention.

§ 23*: A woman who wished to see the holy man in person disguised herself as a soldier and accompanied a group of soldiers to the saint’s enclosure. When they entered Symeon’s pillar, she remained outside to guard their animals. She planned to visit him alone later once everybody had returned, but the saint, who was miraculously aware of her presence, sent word to her that the Lord had already blessed her. She then revealed her female identity, and everybody blessed the saint and God.

§ 24*: A large crowd of people gathered to receive the saint’s blessing. When the deacon and I [i.e., Antonios] called him over, he did not reply ‘because his spirit was not present at all’ (οὐδὲ γὰρ παρῆν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ). However, when he finally answered, he explained that his spirit had travelled elsewhere: he was called on to save about three hundred people whose ship had been struck by a storm, and after his intercession, the sea became calm again. They glorified God, and the saint blessed them to return to their homeland in peace.

§ 25*: The saint also healed a female snake which suffered from a large tumour. The female snake waited in the women’s section until the male snake had prayed in front of the saint’s pillar and was told by Symeon to take clay from the ground and place it on his wife. When this happened, the female snake was healed, and the crowd that was present glorified God.

§ 26*: When terrible disasters (earthquakes, deaths of people, collapse of houses) occurred, people from the whole of the East and Antioch turned to him for help. The saint told them they were not worthy of praying to God as they had committed major sins. Indeed, only the prayer of one man among the whole crowd was heard by God. Symeon brought him into the middle and asked him to share with them his good deeds. This man explained then how he handled his earnings as a farmer: he always reserved an amount for the poor, paid the state taxes, and the rest was intended for his own needs. Everybody showed the respect due to him.

§ 27*: Ardabur, a man ill-intentioned towards Symeon, tried to shoot an arrow with his bow to hit the saint, but his hand grew numb, and he suffered from this, along with gout [kidney disease], until his death.

§ 28: Symeon followed his practice of standing on different pillars for forty-seven years. It was on Friday when he isolated himself in his pillar for prayer, and he did not move at all for the next two days. I [i.e, Antonios] approached him and waited for him to react. I then touched him and realised that he was dead. I kissed his mouth, his eyes, his beard, and his feet. His body emitted a sweet smell (ὀσμὴ μύρου and εὐωδία). Suddenly, his body and the pillar shook, and a voice resounded: ‘Amen, Amen, Amen!’ I asked him to bless me and remember me in his place of rest.

§ 29: Καὶ κατῆλθον καὶ οὐκ ἐφανέρωσά τινι τὸ μυστήριον, ἵνα μὴ θόρυβος γένηται, ἀλλὰ διὰ πιστοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐσήμανα τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἀντιοχείας Μαρτυρίῳ καὶ τῷ στρατηλάτῃ Ἀρδαβουρίῳ. καὶ τῇ ἑξῆς ἡμέρᾳ ἔρχεται ὁ ἐπίσκοπος Ἀντιοχείας μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων ἓξ ἐπισκόπων· ἔρχεται δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀρδαβούριος μετὰ ἑξακοσίων ὀνομάτων, ἵνα μὴ συναχθέντων τῶν χωρίων ἁρπάσωσι τὸ τίμιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον· οὕτως γὰρ καὶ ἐσκέπτοντο. ἐγένοντο δὲ κορτῖναι κύκλῳ τοῦ στύλου αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἀνέρχονται τρεῖς ἐπίσκοποι καὶ φιλοῦσι τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ εἰπόντες τρεῖς ψαλμοὺς καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν γλωσσόκομον μολύβδινον καὶ ἔθηκαν τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον καὶ καταφέρουσιν αὐτὸ διὰ μαγγάνων καὶ τότε ἔγνωσαν πάντες, ὅτι ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ ἅγιος Συμεών, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς Σαρακηνοὺς πάντας συναχθῆναι ἐν ὅπλοις μετὰ καμήλων βουλομένων καὶ αὐτῶν ἁρπάσαι τὸ λείψανον. καὶ γίνεται σύγχυσις τοῦ ὄχλου ὥστε μὴ φαίνεσθαι τὸ ὄρος ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τοῦ καπνοῦ τῶν θυμιαμάτων καὶ τῶν κηρῶν καὶ λαμπάδων τῶν καιομένων, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμός. Αἱ δὲ φωναὶ τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων ἀπῄει ἕως μακρὰν καὶ ὅλον τὸ ὄρος ἐσαλεύετο ἀπὸ τῆς κραυγῆς τῶν πετεινῶν τῶν συναχθέντων καὶ κυκλωσάντων τὴν μάνδραν τοῦ ἁγίου. Ὡς οὖν κατήγαγον αὐτόν, ἔθηκαν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀλτάριον τὸ μαρμάρινον, ὃ εἶχεν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ στύλου αὐτοῦ τετάρτην ἤδη ἔχων ἡμέραν τελευτήσας. καὶ οὕτως ἥπλωσεν τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον ὡς πρὸ ὥρας μιᾶς ἀναπαείς. καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐπίσκοποι ἔδωκαν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀγάπην· τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἦν φαιδρὸν πάνυ ὡς τὸ φῶς· αἱ δὲ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πώγωνος ἦσαν ὡσεὶ χιών. ἠθέλησεν δὲ ὁ ἐπίσκοπος Ἀντιοχείας ἆραι τρίχαν τοῦ πώγωνος αὐτοῦ εἰς εὐλογίαν καὶ ἐξηράνθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐποίησαν πάντες οἱ ἐπίσκοποι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ εὐχὴν κλαίοντες καὶ λέγοντες τῷ ἁγίῳ λειψάνῳ ὅτι Οὐδέν σοι λείπει τῶν μελῶν ἢ τῶν ἱματίων οὔτε πάλιν ἀρεῖ τις ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου σου καὶ τιμίου λειψάνου. καὶ ταῦτα αὐτῶν λεγόντων μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ ἀπεκατεστάθη ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου ὑγιής. καὶ τότε μετὰ ψαλμῶν καὶ ὕμνων ἔβαλον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ γλωσσοκόμῳ.

‘And I descended, and I did not reveal the secret to anybody so that no turbulence is caused, but, through a trustworthy man, I made the bishop of Antioch, Martyrios, and the commander, Ardabur, aware [of the situation]. And on the next day, the bishop of Antioch arrived along with six other bishops. Ardabur also arrived together with six hundred men [i.e., soldiers] to prevent the villages that would gather from carrying off his [i.e., Symeon’s] revered remains, as they were truly considering. They [i.e., the soldiers] created a protective shield, surrounding his [i.e., Symeon’s] pillar. And three bishops ascended [the pillar] and kissed his clothes, singing three psalms. They carried a leaden casket up and placed his holy remains [in it] and brought it down using pulleys. And then everyone became aware that saint Symeon had died. Following this, all the Saracens [i.e., Arabs] also gathered, armed and on camels, since they too wished to seize the relics. There was such a rush of people that the mountain could not be seen for the crowd and the smoke from the incense, the wax tapers, and the countless burning lamps. The [loud] voices of the weeping men, women, and children could be heard from a great distance, and the entire mountain was shaking from the screeching of the fowl which had gathered and surrounded the saint’s enclosure. So, when they had brought him [i.e., Symeon] down, they placed him on the marble altar which was located in front of the pillar. It was already the fourth day after his death. [Yet,] his holy dead body was stretched out [on the altar] in a way that gave the impression that he [i.e., the saint] had died an hour ago. And all the bishops gave it [i.e., the dead body] a kiss of peace. His face was so bright like the light, and the hair of his head and beard looked like snow. However, the bishop of Antioch wished to pluck a hair from his beard [to keep it] as a blessing, and his hand withered. All the bishops offered a prayer for him, weeping and saying to the holy body: ‘nothing was removed from your limbs or clothes, nor will anybody try again to remove something from your holy and revered body’. And while they were saying these words in tears, the hand of the bishop recovered. Then, singing psalms and hymns, they placed him [i.e., the dead saint] in the casket.’

§ 30: Eleven days before his death, I saw a huge man speaking with Symeon, giving him the kiss of peace, eating and singing with him.

§ 31: The saint’s casket was transferred to Antioch. On the way, miraculous healing took place: at the side of the road was an open grave with a sinful man sitting inside. This man was once in love with a married woman; when she died, he had sexual intercourse with her dead body. Immediately thereafter, he lost the ability to speak and hear, but when the retinue of the saint’s relics went by there, he was healed and in tears recognised the miracle performed by the saint.

§ 32: The saint’s relics were brought into the church of Kassianos in Antioch. The whole city, holding tapers and lamps and dressed in white, hastened to venerate them. Thirty days later, the relics were placed inside the great church [the main basilica of the city]. At a later point in time, a shrine (εὐκτήριος ναός) was built and devoted to the saint.

§ 33: Πολλοὶ δὲ παρεκάλεσαν δεδωκότες χρυσίον καὶ ἀργύριον, ἵνα λάβωσιν εὐλογίαν ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ λειψάνων. καὶ οὐδενὶ παρέσχεν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους, οὓς ὤμωσεν. πολλαὶ δὲ ἰάσεις ἐπιτελοῦνται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, ἔνθα ἀπόκεινται τὰ τίμια αὐτοῦ λείψανα διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ. ἐτελειώθη δὲ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ Συμεὼν μηνὶ σεπτεμβρίῳ αʹ βασιλεύοντος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

‘Many people sought to give gold and silver in order to receive a blessing [cf. Lietzmann 1908: 78 [ms. X]: τι/‘a piece’] from his holy relics. But the bishop did not allow anybody [to do so] because of the vows he had made [in § 29]. In the place in which his [i.e., Symeon’s] revered relics are kept, many healings occur through the grace given to him by our Lord, [Jesus] Christ. The saint-of-God Symeon died on the first of September during the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is due glory and power throughout the ages of ages. Amen.’

§ 34*: I, Antonios, have just recounted a part of the saint’s story as one would be unable to sufficiently describe all of his miracles.



Text: Lietzmann 1908: 20-78 (with changes proposed by Doran 1992).
Summary and translation: C. Papavarnavas

[Note: Chapters marked with an asterisk (*) are found only in some of the manuscripts that include the Life of Symeon, and can be regarded as later additions (cf. Festugière 1959: 370; Doran 1992: 97 n. 16, 22).]

Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Uncertainty/scepticism/rejection of a saint

Miracle during lifetime
Miracle after death
Punishing miracle
Miracles causing conversion
Miracle with animals and plants
Healing diseases and disabilities
Fertility- and family-related miracles (infertility, marriages)
Material support (supply of food, water, drink, money)
Invisibility, bilocation, miraculous travels

Bodily relic - entire body
Bodily relic - nails, hair and bodily products
Contact relic - dust/sand/earth
Division of relics
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Construction of cult building to contain relics
Theft/appropriation of relics

Women
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Pagans
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Monarchs and their family
Soldiers
Angels
Animals

Source

Discussion

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