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'Stylos' is the Greek for 'pillar', and Stylitism (living the life of a recluse on a pillar top in order to dedicate yourself completely to God) became a popular movement from the fifth to seventh centuries and again in the tenth and eleventh. You can read the story of Simeon, the first Stylite, here. http://gvanv.com/compass/arch/v1402/saint.html http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13795a.htm http://www.cygnus.uwa.edu.au/~jgrapsas/pages/St_Symeon.htm Simeon spent his nights in prayer and preached to the many pilgrims who visited him during the day. After his death, pilgrims continued to flock to the site of his pillar, and in 472 building began on the great basilica, commissioned by the Emperor Zeno (474-491), which still remains today and which contains what is left of the pillar. |