stylite

stylite, a Christian ascetic who lived standing on top of a column (Greek: stylos) or pillar. Stylites were permanently exposed to the elements, though they might have a little roof above their heads. They stood or sat night and day in their restricted areas, usually with a rail around them, and were dependent for their scanty sustenance on what ther disciples brought them by ladder. They spent most of their time in prayer but also did pastoral work among those who gathered around their columns. A stylite might continue this practice briefly or for a long period; St. Alypius reportedly stayed atop his column for 67 years.

The first to do this was St. Simeon Stylites the Elder, who took up residence atop a column in Syria in 423 ce. Best known among his imitators were his Syrian disciple St. Daniel (409–493) in Constantinople, St. Simeon Stylites the Younger (517–592) on Mount Admirable near Antioch, St. Alypius (7th century) near Adrianopolis, St. Luke (879–979) at Chalcedon, and St. Lazarus (968–1054) on Mount Galesion near Ephesus. Apart from these saints, of whom Greek biographies exist, various other stylites who lived in Greece and the Middle East were mentioned in ecclesiastical sources. John Moschus (died 619) mentions several in his Pratum spirituale, and references to female stylites have also been found.

The practice never spread to the West. Only one abortive attempt was recorded: St. Gregory of Tours in his Historia Francorum (late 6th century) described meeting St. Wulflaicus, then a deacon at Yvoi (near Carignan, Ardennes), who had tried living atop a column but was soon forced by church authorities to descend.