The meaning of the word stylite in the Orthodox encyclopedia tree. History and ethnology

Indian yogis and Buddhist monks have always been renowned for their unique physical abilities, acquired through a combination of discipline, meditation and prayer. However, 1700 years ago, a number of Christians showed such an incredible and, in modern terms, extreme example of discipline and love of God, before which the practices of yogis and monks simply fade. These people are stylites. Living on a pillar for decades is truly incomprehensible.

The first stylite

In the 4th century, Christianity was still a relatively young religion; its adherents experienced many difficulties, existing among many people of other faiths. These conditions contributed to extreme asceticism, which was shown especially by believers devoted to God. For some, this meant strict fasting or even starvation. For others, hermitage became a form of close communication with the Almighty and renunciation from earthly temptations. Pillarism is one of the most amazing forms of such asceticism.

The concept of stylites (pillars) comes from the Greek word stylos, which means “pillar” or “column”. In other words, a stylite is a resident of a column.

Apart from ancient legends about certain hermits, passed down from mouth to mouth, the first and most famous stylite was Simeon, who was later canonized. He was born around 390 and died on September 2, 459. This unique man lived near the city of Aleppo. Already at the age of 13, he clearly felt himself to be a Christian, and at 16 he went to the monastery - and at first he lay in front of its gates for seven days, until he was finally accepted into the monastery.

Simeon was known as the most ascetic and, as it seemed from the outside, the strangest of all the monks. And he clearly felt that his place was not here after all. Eventually, he left the monastery and began to live in a secluded hut that he built for himself. For a year and a half he lived in strict fasting and prayer, and during Lent, as legend says, he did not drink or eat anything at all. Those around him said that at that moment he experienced a miracle, and they treated him with great respect.

The next stage of asceticism for Simeon was “standing.” He stood until he fell exhausted. But even this seemed to him not enough. Simeon tried more and more new ways to holiness: he lived in a narrow well, he lived in a twenty-meter space on the side of a mountain (now known as Mount Simeon), he also wrapped his body with rough ropes, exhausting himself with wounds. However, it was not possible to achieve complete renunciation from the world: Simeon was besieged by crowds of pilgrims. They demanded that he reveal the “truth” to them, but it was precisely in search of this very truth and answers to the main questions that he tried to retire in thought and prayer. Finally, Simeon found a radical way - to live on a column.

Its first pillar was nine feet high and topped with a small platform with an area of ​​approximately one meter square, along the edges of which railings were made (so that the stylite would not accidentally fall). Simeon firmly decided to spend the rest of his life on this column.

Boys from the local monastery brought him food, milk and water: they tied it to ropes lowered down, and Simeon pulled them up. The details of the life of a stylite (changing clothes, taking care of natural needs, sleeping, etc.) have hardly survived to this day. According to one version, when his clothes wore out, he was given new ones upstairs. According to another, he remained in rags until they fell off him, and then he continued to stand without clothes.

At first, the local monks decided that such a life on a pillar was nothing more than pride, a desire to exalt oneself over others. And they decided to check it out. The monks urgently asked Simeon to come down from the pillar. He did not resist and obediently began to descend. At that moment they realized that this was not pride at all, but truly an indicator of true faith and detachment from everything earthly.

Evidence has survived to this day that Simeon was able to heal people from physical and mental illnesses, and could also predict the future. In addition, he regularly delivered sermons to believers from his pillar.

It is known that Simeon lived on the column for 37 years (until old age) and died on it, presumably from infections. Today he is revered as a venerable saint by both the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

After Simeon's death, other Christians (especially in Syria and Palestine) began to follow his example. One of them, who lived in the territory of modern Turkey, even took the same name for himself, and they began to call him Simeon the Younger.

In Russia, one of the forms of pillarism can be considered the Christian feat of St. Seraphim of Sarov, who prayed to God, standing on a stone, every night for a thousand days.

Stolpnichestvo of the XXI century

By the end of the 6th century, such a form as pillarism had almost disappeared in the Christian world, and only a few chose this path. And it is all the more surprising that in our time Saint Simeon has a follower. A modern stylite can be considered the Georgian monk Maxim Kavtaradze, who has been living on a pillar for a quarter of a century. True, he practices a more civilized form of pillarism in everyday life.

A Georgian Christian built his home on top of a natural pillar - a narrow and high rock. This pillar is located in a remote gorge in western Georgia. The nearest village is 10 kilometers away.

Once upon a time, on the top of the rock there was a chapel of the Katskhinsky Spaso-Voznesensk Monastery - ancient hermit monks lived here. Father Maxim came to these parts in the early 1990s. Before becoming a monk, he led a completely unrighteous life; he even went to prison for selling drugs, but having gained faith, he gave up bad habits and decided to devote himself to God. With the help of the brother monks, he gradually restored this church. Since then he has lived here alone and only occasionally descends from his 40-meter pillar along a metal staircase.

The chapel, located on a pillar, contains several cells. And at the foot of the rock a small monastery was built, in which several monks and novices serve.

Like Simeon the Stylite, Maxim Kavtaradze tries not to communicate with the outside world and receives food by lifting it on ropes (local novices bring him supplies). However, he sometimes finds time to communicate with difficult teenagers and younger priests who come to him for advice. In addition, he has enough icons, books and even a bed.

Everyone has their own reasons for this.

I probably wouldn’t have known about pillar standing if I hadn’t studied the Chinese tradition and one day I didn’t start practicing pillar standing. It doesn’t look like a complicated exercise, but it’s actually very serious and, as I found out, it is basic for internal styles. I want to warn you that it cannot be performed without prior training and an experienced instructor.

With my message, I just want to open a discussion on the rather interesting topic of the intersection of traditions. It seems that we cannot put an end to this issue, we can only speculate and learn a little new for ourselves.

Below there will be quotes from various sources, diluted with my comments.

So, What is pillarism in the Christian tradition?

Stylite (Greekστυλίτης , lat.stylita) - Christiana saint from among the monks who has chosen a special type of feat - continuous prayer on a “pillar” (an open elevated platform, tower, etc.).

Feats of standing on a pillar for the sake of piety are found even earlierIV century. Saint Ephraim the Syrian, in his 29th sermon to the Egyptian monks, says that he saw a man who stood on a pillar for the sake of virtue. However, Christian tradition considers the Syrian monk Simeon the Stylite to be the founder of pillarism, who labored on the pillar for more than 30 years. Simeon enjoyed exceptional authority in the Christian world, crowds of believers flocked to him for advice and guidance, emperors wrote letters, his veneration as a saint spread during his lifetime, especially in the Syrian communities.

ReverendSeraphim of Sarov, imitating Saint Simeon, prayerfully stood before God on a stone for 1000 days.

It would really be interesting to look at the origins of this tradition and how this feat originated. I did not find information on this matter and it would be interesting if you have something valuable and share your knowledge in the comments. From what I found on the Internet, I can only quote the following:

From the description of the lives of the holy pillars, it is clear that they all acted under the special guidance of the Spirit of God, and therefore one cannot think that they decided to undertake the great feat of pillar-making without first asking for God’s blessing. Yes, St. An angel of the Lord appeared to Simeon three times and called him to become a pillar. And his disciple, St. Daniel had a vision of a pillar, “the height of which surpasses the clouds, the Monk Simeon, standing at the top of the pillar and calling: come up here, Daniel.”

Making pillars

The pillars were made of various types and heights. For example, the pillar of St. Daniel was twice the height of a man, the pillar of St. Bows - 12 cubits. But there were also higher ones - 36 and 40 cubits (1 cubit - 38-45 cm). Basically, it was a pillar-shaped tower with a balcony at the top. The upper platform on which the ascetic stood was quite small. Sometimes it was surrounded by a solid wooden lattice, because of which only the head and shoulders of the stylite were visible. To protect from the heat of the sun and bad weather, sometimes a canopy was built on the pillars. The ladder for climbing the pillar was located outside, as evidenced by the lives of the saints. The pillars were erected partly by the ascetics themselves or by outsiders. For St. Daniel, the first pillar was built by his friend Mark, and the second was built by Gelasius, the owner of the land where the stylite labored; Emperor Leo also created a pillar and a roof over it in gratitude for the useful social activities of St. Daniel.

Preparation for the feat

First of all, the future pillar, who has decided to devote himself to serving the Lord, must cleanse himself and prepare. From the first steps of his improvement, he is obliged to resist the demands of the flesh, forcing himself to good, resisting evil. In preparation for the feat, future stylites settled in monasteries, where they subjected themselves to the most severe hardships. Yes, St. Luke “laid iron all over himself.” St. Daniel, having settled in the idolatry, blocked all the entrances and left only “one window for those who come for the sake of it.” And only after the preparatory feats of self-mortification and seclusion, having tested themselves in selflessness and patience, did the holy ascetics ascend the pillars. The thought of being a pillar came to them by calling and revelation of God.

Silence and contemplation

Solitude and silence served as a beneficial means for contemplation and prayer; they prepared for another type of ascetic stylite exercise - contemplation. Contemplation is understood as such an activity of the spirit, as a result of which the thought deliberately dwells for a long time on an object of religious significance. The holy pillars “directed their souls to the heavenly, their minds hovered in the heavenly.” Inseparable from the thought of God was the thought of their heart, which they carefully guarded even from any thoughts.

Constantly studying the human essence within themselves, listening to its immutable demands and observing for what, why and why it is in an eternal struggle with itself, the stylites understood better than all the sages the true dignity and purpose of man and did not sacrifice the heavenly to the earthly, but earthly things were not honored as heavenly things.

Effects

With the help of this work on themselves, the stylites sometimes became deep psychologists, they could give the best advice in difficulty, heal mental ulcers, resolve doubts, raise the fallen, cleanse, calm. All this attracted a huge number of people to the crowded places. Ordinary laymen, monks, emperors, and senior clergy went there to the mountains and gorges. Many of those who came to the pillars did not want to leave them and, leaving their homes and estates, settled next to the pillars in order to constantly see such a feat before them and learn from the conversations of the holy pillars. Therefore, the pillars were centers where religious life was concentrated. Communities were gradually organized around each holy stylite. They attributed the countless healings performed by the holy stylites solely to the grace of God, forbidding those healed to speak about them. They did not remember the insults, prayed for their enemies and healed slanderers.

Pillar standing (Zhang Zhuang) in Chinese tradition

“Pillar work” is the basis of wushu,

A proverb in the art of fisting says: “If you want to study the fist, first stand upright.” In Xingyiquan, great attention is paid to pillar work,

There is a saying by Xingyiquan masters: “If you want to learn Xingyiquan, first stand like a pillar for three years.”
“He who trains his fists and does not train his skills remains an empty place until old age.”

Wang Xiangzhai wrote: The Pillar Standing exercises are aimed at developing strength from non-strength, movement from non-motion, fast movement from slow movement.

In Yiquan, Pillar Standing is the main training method for developing internal effort for combat, as well as an effective way to improve the body’s health and self-improvement. Positions are conventionally divided into “health pillars” - Jianshen Zhuang and “combat pillars” - Jiji Zhuang.

In health positions, the main purpose of the exercise is to find relaxation of the body and calmness of the mind.

The main requirements in the practice of health pillars are

• Relaxation
• Observation (concentration)
• Correct position
• Breath

Wang Xiangzhai in his work “The Central Core of the Fist Path” writes:

The mind does not run outside, external questions do not penetrate inside, the spirit shines, you feel amazing mobility, as if you were alone in the whole universe, the hairs on your body seem to be stretched and standing on end. The whole body seems to be pulsating. You are like a huge, precious, beautiful tree reaching to the clouds. It is as if you are suspended from above and supported from below. This state of mind can be compared to floating in the air. Your experience, your experience, pulsates gently in all the cells of the body. After some time, this state will become a natural state of movement. Natural methods are good for the body and improve its functioning.
As far as the mind is concerned, you should see the body as a big melting furnace. You have to observe whether the whole body, all the cells of the body are working together in a natural way. Nothing should be forced by force. You should also not give in to fantastic illusions. If you practice properly, the body is trained without using ordinary exercises, the nervous system is cultivated without special cultivation, you feel peace, comfort throughout the body. Character is gradually formed. Natural strength gradually develops. But you should remember that you should not use force in the usual way, as this would interfere with the circulation and you would lose relaxation and harmony. Without relaxation, energy stagnates, strength is rigid, correct intention stops, the spirit is broken.

So, Zhang Zhuang exercises are an effective method of healing and developing fighting skills and strength. But in this exercise, it is not muscle strength that is developed, but strength, which in traditional Chinese Wushu systems is called “neijin” - “internal energy”, also known under such concepts as Qi, Ki, Prana.

It turns out that in the Chinese tradition this exercise was used to develop internal strength, to train the spirit and will. With the help of pillar standing, Chinese masters not only became outstanding warriors, but also improved their health and engaged in self-knowledge.

Also on the topic of the intersection of traditions, especially for lovers of lucid dreaming, I want to say that neither the Chinese nor the Christian tradition practiced lucid dreaming. Moreover, in the Chinese language, there is not even a character for lucid dreaming.

I wanted to know more today who are the stylites. I don’t know why, I just heard it somewhere, or read it briefly, in general, it flashed somewhere and stuck in my head "stylites". I warn you right away, I am not a believer and I apologize to believers for the somewhat free style of presentation. How to say? Since childhood, I’ve been like this: “I want to know everything.” So what did I learn? It turns out that the stylites are quite revered saints in the Orthodox Church, as evidenced by numerous icons, both ancient and more recent. All I had to do was type the word into the search engine stylite.

(*To view larger images, click on the photo)

Alypius the Stylite (Greek icon 1716)

So who are they, the pillars? Let's turn first to dictionaries.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Ushakov

Stylite, a, m. (church history).
A religious fanatic hermit who prayed while standing on a small pillar or secluded himself in a small tower cell

Wikipedia

Stylites- a Christian saint from among the saints who has chosen a special type of feat - continuous prayer on a “pillar” (an open elevated platform, tower, etc.).

Usually, they are depicted like this, on a pillar in the form of a column, which I called it “pillar-column”, or on a pillar in the form of a tower, as indicated by the depicted doors on “pillar-towers”.

There are also images of pillars with cells on top

840-50s Ill. to Ps. 4, 4. Miniature for the “Khludov Psalter”. Byzantium. Moscow. Historical Museum.

Since Wikipedia cannot be completely trusted, and then I also came across a pillar depicted in the form of a tree, I naturally wanted to know why a tree and who he was - Stylite David of Thessaloniki, depicted on the fresco. I turned to other sources.

St. David of Thessalonica. Painting of the parekklision of the Chora Monastery (Kahriye Jami) in Constantinople. 1316-1321

According to the so-called to the anonymous Life of David of Thessalonica, created in 718-720, the monk was born in Thessalonica. He retired to the monastery of St. martyrs Theodore and Mercury, called the monastery of Cucullotes or Cucullats, in the northern part of the city near the wall, where he devoted himself to asceticism and reading the Holy Scriptures. Wanting the Lord to reveal himself to him and give him reason and humility, he sat down on an almond tree that stood on the right side of the church. So he spent 3 years, enduring cold and heat, until an angel appeared to him and commanded him to come down from the tree, build himself a cell and live there. Archbishop Dorotheos and the clergy removed D.S. from the tree and locked him in a prepared cell. The monk was given the grace to cast out demons and heal the sick.

Indeed, this cannot be called anything other than a feat.
And what about the above-mentioned Nikita Stylite?

The Monk Nikita the Stylite of Pereslavl was a native of the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky and was in charge of the collection of government taxes and taxes. In 1152, Prince Yuri Dolgoruky moved the city of Pereslavl and the stone church in the name of the All-Merciful Savior to a new location. In connection with the costs of building the city and the temple, increased collection of taxes was carried out from the city residents. Nikita, who led these collections, mercilessly robbed the residents, collecting huge sums of money for himself. This went on for many years. But the Merciful Lord, who wants to save all sinners, led Nikita to repentance.

Having accepted monastic vows with all his heart, the Monk Nikita spent days and nights in prayer, singing psalms and reading the lives of holy ascetics. With the blessing of the abbot, he put heavy chains on himself and dug two deep wells at the sites of his monastic deeds. Soon the monk intensified his feat - he dug a deep round hole and there, placing a stone cap on his head, stood, like the ancient stylites, in fiery prayer. He saw only the blue sky and the night stars from the bottom of his pillar-well, and a narrow underground passage led under the church wall - along it the Monk Nikita went to the temple for Divine services.

Now the relics of St. Nikita the Stylite rest in a shrine near the altar in the Annunciation Church. Here hangs part of his iron chains - a cross (two or three times larger than the priestly one) and two smaller crosses, fastened with a chain.

Well, it became clear to me who the pillars were. It’s just that the word “fanatic” in Ushakov’s dictionary is confusing; somehow in the modern interpretation it sounds rude. And here’s another thing, on the fresco in the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Lesnoye, Nikita the Stylite is depicted on a pillar made of logs, maybe the icon painter wanted in this fresco to display the name of the village - Lesnoye (it’s difficult to depict a pillar in the form of a pit), or the icon painter wanted to display a Russian wooden architecture?

Why wasn’t he depicted on a pillar in the form of a column? I didn't find the answer. But let's look at other icons and frescoes. Here are the pillars David and Simeon already mentioned above. David is on the “pillar-tree”, and Simeon is on the “pillar-column”

Stylites Simeon and David.

Who is Simeon?

In the country of Cappadocia, in the village of Sisan, lived the Christians Susotion and Marfa. God blessed their marriage with the birth of a son, whom they named Simeon and, according to Christian custom, washed in the bath of baptism...

... Like rivers, various peoples and tribes flocked to Simeon: they came to him from Arabia and Persia, from Armenia and Iberia, from Italy, Spain and Britain. Thus God glorified him who glorified Him. When such a multitude of people gathered around Simeon and everyone tried to touch him, receiving his blessing, the blessed one began to be burdened by such veneration and anxiety. And he invented an unprecedented way to get rid of human vanity: so that those who came could not touch him, he decided to build a pillar and stand on it. Having erected such a pillar, he built on it a cramped dwelling of two cubits, and began to spend his life here in fasting and prayer. And he was the first pillar. The pillar was six cubits high, and Saint Simeon stood on it for several years. Afterwards, the height of the pillar was increased to twenty cubits, and then to thirty-six. So the monk, with pillars of varying heights, like ladders, ascended to the heavenly land, enduring suffering, wet by rain in summer and scorched by the heat, and enduring cold in winter...

Well, I think it’s not just that the icon painter depicted one on the “pillar-column”, and the other on the “pillar-tree”.

And here is another, for some reason rarely mentioned, Peter the Stylite.

I think that if it weren’t for the Temple in the name of St. Peter the Stylite, standing in the homeland of Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov (1815-1869), author of the famous fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” I would hardly have come across it on the Internet.

Ershov was sensitive to his heavenly patron, as evidenced by the constant mentions in his letters to family and friends of February 22 - his birthday, coinciding with his name day and even the 22nd of other months. For example, in a letter to his wife dated November 23, 1858, Ershov, at that time the director of schools throughout the Tobolsk province, writes the following: “Dear Elena. Here I am in Yalutorovsk. This is the last city of my real route, and then to you, to hug you and your dear children. I left Ishim on Saturday at 5 o’clock. I dined at the caretaker’s place with P.I., who came to see me off. At 6 o'clock the caretaker and I were already in Bezrukova, the place of my birth, and drinking tea. Here several peasants with village heads appeared, asking for my assistance - to build a church in Bezrukova. They want to draw up a sentence - for three years they will contribute 1 silver ruble per person (and their souls are approximately up to 800), which in 3 years will amount to 2500 rubles. My job will be to ask for permission to build a church, deliver the plan and help as much as possible. The caretaker said that the church should be built in the name of St. Peter, and the peasants agreed. They themselves chose the place for the church, the same one where the commissary’s house was, i.e. exactly where I was born. I confess that I did not sleep the whole night, thinking about whether the Lord would really be so merciful that my long-standing desire would be fulfilled and the place of my birth would be sanctified and the name of my Saint would be praised. It’s not for nothing that his name is mentioned in the calendar for the first time this year. The rapprochement, no matter how you judge it, is prophetic. And how pleasant it was for me to hear unfeigned praise of my father from the old peasants! All this made for me the 22nd (remember – the 22nd, and not another) one of the most pleasant days of my life.”.

The peace of the Lord is so wonderful!
The free path is so gratifying!
How many grains of sonorous songs
Then it will sink into my chest!
I will envelop them with delight,
I will water streams of tears,
I will warm them with a hot feeling,
I’ll pour it out in Russian speech.

(P. P. Ershov, “To Friends”, 1837)

But what interested me here was the icon, or rather the unusual image of the “pillar-tower”.

And here is the famous Theophanes the Greek. On the fresco, each of the three saints has pillars depicted differently. (?)

Theophanes the Greek. Stylites. Fresco of the Church of the Savior on Ilyin Street in Novgorod. 1378

From an architectural point of view, their forms, which are not at all characteristic of Russian architecture of that time, most likely reflect ancient Roman or Middle Eastern architecture.

And here is an interesting miniature from the Minology of Vasily II.

St. Simeon the Stylite. Miniature from the Minology of Basil II. Master Pantoleon

Buildings of Middle Eastern architecture and people in turbans who came to the stylite Simeon either for advice or for healing, and on the right a gray-haired man with a staff of clearly European appearance is simply listening attentively. But the “pillar-column”, well, exactly the same as the column of Marcus Aurelius or the Column of Trojan in Rome, even the railings are painted. By the way, these columns inside have spiral staircases to climb to the platform.

I heard somewhere that stairs are supposedly meant to light fires at the top. For what? Light up the area, too high. Use as a beacon? Why is he in Rome? But it was definitely possible to broadcast anything from them. After all, this is exactly how minarets are designed.
By the way, let's look at the minarets.

Minaret Kalyan. Bukhara. 1127

Minaret of the Taj Mahal. Agra. India.

It seems that everything has fallen into place. The pillars are the minarets. Or, minarets are the same pillars. It's whatever you want. One question remains unresolved for me. Why is the Church silent about this?

What came first: “The chicken or the egg?”

I will allow myself a little “arithmetic”, since I did not find the exact date of birth of the stylite Simeon, as stated, the founder of the stylite movement (and in fact I did not look for it). In the description of his life (www.pravoslavie.uz) there is the following phrase: “The monk reposed during the reign of Leo the Great, in the 4th year of this reign.” Saint Leo the Great, (born in 390 - died on November 10, 461) - Pope from September 29, 440 to November 10, 461. Islam, as a world religion, originated in the 7th century AD. (I think no one will argue with this). This means that they learned to build minarets and broadcast from the “pillars” from Christians. I wonder if there are any pillars to the most ancient world religion, Buddhism (which originated in the 5th century BC)

Yes, as many as you like, both ancient and “modern”. I conclude: “The pillars appeared long before the stylite Simeon, and were intended specifically for public broadcasting”. Well, something doesn’t fit with the version that the higher you are, the closer you are to God. God hears everyone anyway. The more suitable, the higher, the more people will hear the broadcaster.

Why are there so many similar names?

Sanbenito- a small town located 120 km north of Baghdad.

True, in our Russian Samara there is no Tower of Babel, but there are many other temples, also with magnificent architecture, for example this one.

As the founder of Stylites, Simeon the Stylite is probably the one with the most icons and frescoes dedicated to him, but I have not come across a single one where he is “tied” to a pillar. Everywhere he is depicted broadcasting from a tower.

Simeon the Stylite and martyr. John the Warrior

On December 24, the Orthodox Church remembers the Venerables Daniel the Stylite and Luke the Stylite. What is the true meaning of the feat of pillarism, which even during the life of the saints aroused surprise among some, and censure among others?

Every person, in order to feel more or less protected and settled in this life, needs his own shelter, or, as they say, a roof over his head. True, everyone has their own ideas about what this very roof should be like, but in any case, the desire to have your own comfortable home has always been considered a completely natural human need. Therefore, anyone who dared to abandon normal living conditions and chose for himself a very harsh and rather strange, from the point of view of society, way of existence, caused surprise among those around him at best, and at worst, they hastened to classify such a selfless daredevil as a madman. Today it is difficult for us to imagine that someone would suddenly begin to arrange a place to live, say, on... a pillar, a tree or in a well (there were such ascetics), voluntarily exposing themselves to all sorts of inconveniences, hardships and trials, courageously enduring cold, heat, rain, wind.

Any phenomenon that seems to us to be a deviation from the norm, which we are unable to comprehend, is usually called anomalous or phenomenal. There are many such phenomenal manifestations in Christianity. One of them is asceticism in its various forms. Some forms of asceticism, in former times, and even more so in the present, are sometimes perceived even by Christians as certain extremes. What can we say about non-believers! However, all this is quite natural. There are people who spend their entire lives at the foot of the mountains, but it never occurs to them to storm the top. And there are those who are imbued with the desire to reach the highest mountain point and, like mountain climbers, day after day, overcoming obstacles, they stubbornly go towards achieving their goal. The thirst for the proximity of heaven makes them do incredible things. Asceticism is a constant and persistent movement towards heaven, towards God. And from this point of view, every Christian should be an ascetic to one degree or another. However, true ascetic asceticism cannot be the lot of many, because it requires enormous faith and love for God, self-denial, incredible spiritual, mental and physical efforts, and a certain inner attitude.

Among the various types of Christian asceticism, the most unusual is pillarism, which is very often put on a par with foolishness, because it also resembles “foolishness for Christ’s sake,” about which the Apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:10). Styliteism is a rather rare and mysterious phenomenon in the history of the Christian Church, and the attitude of researchers (especially representatives of the Western school) towards it is very ambiguous. Among the ascetics glorified by the Church who labored on the pillars, only about two dozen names are known. Although some authors who have studied this phenomenon state that in the 6th century the number of stylites in the Byzantine Empire was so great that state legislation gave them the status of a special class. Who belonged to this class? Initially, stylites included all hermits who settled on high, tight stone cliffs that had a natural origin and were shaped like pillars. In order to be in a state of vigilance and constant wakefulness during the feat of unceasing prayer, some of the ascetics, neglecting the danger of falling down, specially chose very narrow cliffs. When the hermit was unable to find a suitable cliff, he built himself a pillar in its likeness.

Styliteism is an exclusively Eastern phenomenon; it has not taken root in the West at all. There they did not approve of him and treated him with suspicion. In any case, of the Western stylites, only one such hermit is known, who labored in the Ardennes Mountains - this is Wulfilai of Trier. This type of asceticism is quite ancient; it arose, as historiographers and chroniclers believe, immediately after the end of the era of persecution of Christianity and martyrdom as its unique continuation. Knowing what physical and mental suffering these desperate lovers of God subjected themselves to, spending their lives on the pillars and performing amazing feats, they can truly be put on a par with the martyrs.

The pillar was perceived by the hermit as a prototype of the cross on which he crucified his flesh, striking its bodily sinful nature. At the same time, the pillar served for each ascetic as a kind of ladder, elevating him to perfection and bringing him closer to God. In addition, standing on a pillar was one of the ways to draw the attention of a society mired in sins and evading the fulfillment of God’s commandments to its moral fall and spiritual degradation. From this place of exaltation, the ascetic, like the Old Testament prophets, was engaged in such an unusual missionary service, first of all, through the way of his life, and then through the word - exhorting those around him, calling them to repentance and faith. The results of such preaching activities were sometimes so effective that entire communities gathered around the stylites and monasteries were created. It is believed that this type of asceticism arose in opposition to the pagan cult of mountains and hills. From the lives of the holy pillars it is known that some of them deliberately settled (like Daniel the Stylite) in an empty pagan temple, others (like the Monk Alypius) - in the place where idol pillars had previously stood. This also had its own special meaning - the destruction of idolatry and its replacement with Christian worship of God.

Some of the stylites from a very early age felt drawn to the ascetic life. Each of them, before taking on such a difficult feat, first underwent obedience and a certain ascetic training, as a rule, either in a monastery under the guidance of a spiritual mentor, or in a retreat, constantly practicing fasting, silence, prayer and contemplation, subjecting themselves to strict deprivation and teaching to resist the desires of the flesh. And only after this, compelled by the special action of God’s Providence and strengthened by grace, did he take the path of such service. The pillars on which the ascetics spent all their time varied in type and height (from 3 to 15 meters and above). Some of them were a pillar-shaped narrow tower with a lattice that resembled a balcony with a canopy on top. But there were such courageous stylites who refused the canopy, enduring the hardships of cold and heat, having only the sky above their heads as their only cover.

The Monk Alypius the Stylite was such a voluntary sufferer for 53 years. The most amazing thing is that with such a harsh and difficult lifestyle, almost all the stylites were long-lived. This fact testifies to the action of the strengthening grace of God in these righteous people. The feats of pillarism continued in the East until the 12th century, and in Rus' until the second half of the 15th century. The last of the famous Russian stylites, Savva Vishersky, died in 1460.

On December 24, the Orthodox Church honors two of the famous pillars - Saints Daniel and Luke. Saint Daniel (410 - 490) was a disciple of the Monk Simeon the Stylite, whom ancient church historians consider one of the founders of this type of ascetic work. He was born in Mesopotamia. In the life of the Monk Daniel the Stylite it is said that his birth occurred in an amazing way. His mother, Martha, was barren for a long time and suffered reproaches from her husband and relatives. One day, a desperate woman prayed with tears all night to God, promising that if a child was born, she would give it as a gift to Him. Soon she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. The saint received his name only at the age of five from one abbot, by inspiration from above. At the age of 12, he secretly left home with the intention of entering a monastery and taking monastic vows. However, the abbot, looking at such a young age of Daniel, initially refused to tonsure him. The boy’s parents arrived and managed to persuade the abbot to take monastic vows. Not long after, the monk Daniel, together with the abbot, went on a trip to holy places. During this trip, the future hermit met with the Monk Simeon the Stylite, from whom he received instructions, blessings and predictions about his future feat of stylite life. First, the ascetic secluded himself for 9 years in an empty pagan temple, where he began to fight a horde of demons. Fasting and prayer were his main weapons. And only after passing this severe test, he, by the revelation of God, ascended the pillar. The first pillar for the monk was built by his friend Mark. Very soon people from surrounding villages learned about the ascetic. Immediately there were dissatisfied people, envious people, and slanderers who reviled him and accused this holy sufferer of pride and lust. They tried to destroy the pillar and drive out the hermit. But the humility, meekness, kindness and philanthropy of this righteous man conquered even his enemies, one of whom built him another, higher pillar.

During his lifetime, the saint performed many different miracles. The prayers of the Monk Daniel had such power that God healed those possessed by demons through him. Through the prayers of the saint, an heir was born to the Greek king Leo the Great. The king, rejoicing over the birth of his son and in gratitude for his prayers, erected a third pillar for him. The holy ascetic had the gift of clairvoyance and foresight. He predicted a great fire in Constantinople. The monk lived for a very long time on a pillar without a roof over his head and allowed it to be built, yielding to the king’s requests, only when one day, after a long snowfall and frost, the disciples found the stylite covered in ice. God also revealed to him the hour of his death. Gathering his disciples, he gave them a spiritual testament and asked them to bury with the relics of the three holy youths of Babylon - Ananias, Azariah and Misail, so that the Christians who came to his grave would honor not him, but the relics of the three youths. Thus, this righteous man retained his humility and humiliation before God even after death.

There is not much information about St. Luke, the New Stylite. What is known is that he was a warrior under the Greek king Romanus (919–944) and under Constantine the Porphyrogenitus (912–959). In 917, the Byzantine Empire was attacked by the Bulgarians. During the battle, many soldiers died, but Luke, by the Providence of God, remained alive. After this, he accepted monasticism and was ordained a presbyter. Jealous of high spiritual perfection, he climbed the pillar and began to succeed in more severe feats. Covering his body with iron chains, the monk observed a very strict fast, eating only once a week the prosphora and a few vegetables brought to him. Three years later, the holy hermit went to Mount Olympus, then to Constantinople, where, in order to maintain his vow of silence, he lived with a stone in his mouth. Finally, he settled in the city of Chalcedon and spent 45 years there on the pillar, becoming famous for his righteous life and performed miracles.

The ascetic life of all the pillars is a clear example of the Apostle Paul’s saying that: “...even if our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). The holy stylites showed the world the most amazing examples of the triumph of the spirit over the flesh. Their physical and spiritual nature, purified by feat, ascended to such heavenly heights that even while living on earth they achieved that godlikeness to which every person is called by the Creator.

Valentina Novikova