Simeon Stylites

Saint Simeon Stylites
6th-century depiction of Simeon on his column. A scallop shell symbolizing spiritual purity blesses Simeon; the serpent represents demonic temptations (Louvre).
Venerable Father
Born	c. 390? Sis, Adana Province, Turkey
Died	2 September 459 Qalaat Semaan, Byzantine Syria (between Aleppo and Antioch)
Venerated in	Oriental Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Church
Canonized	pre-congregation
Feast	1 September (Eastern Orthodox Church) 29 Pashons (Coptic Orthodox Church) 5 January (Western Christianity) 27 July (Syriac Orthodox Church)
Attributes	Clothed as a monk in monastic habit, shown standing on top of his pillar

Saint Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite (Syriac: ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܐܣܛܘܢܐ‎ šamʻun dasṯonáyá, Koine Greek Συμεών ὁ στυλίτης Symeón o Stylítis, Arabic: سمعان العمودي‎‎ Simʿān al-ʿAmūdī) (c. 390? – 2 September 459) was a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved notability for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria). Several other stylites later followed his model (the Greek word style means "pillar"). He is known formally as Saint Simeon Stylites the Elder to distinguish him from Simeon Stylites the Younger, Simeon Stylites III, and Saint Symeon Stylites of Lesbos.

Simeon was the son of a shepherd. He was born in Sis, now the Turkish town of Kozan in Adana Province. Sis was in the Roman province of Cilicia. After the dissolution of the Roman Empire in 395 CE, it became part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Christianity developed quickly there.