Books: The Hermits

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From that time, for twenty-eight years (says Theodoret), he had
remained fasting continually for forty days at a time. But custom
had made it more easy to him. For on the first days he used to
stand and praise God; after that, when through emptiness he could
stand no longer, he used to sit and perform the divine office; and
on the last day, even lie down. For when his strength failed
slowly, he was forced to lie half dead. But after he stood on the
column he could not bear to lie down, but invented another way by
which he could stand. He fastened a beam to the column, and tied
himself to it by ropes, and so passed the forty days. But
afterwards, when he had received greater grace from on high, he did
not want even that help: but stood for the forty days, taking no
food, but strengthened by alacrity of soul and divine grace.

When he had passed three years in that little house, he took
possession of the peak which has since been so famous; and when he
had commanded a wall to be made round him, and procured an iron
chain, twenty cubits long, he fastened one end of it to a great
stone, and the other to his right foot, so that he could not, if he
wished, leave those bounds. There he lived, continually picturing
heaven to himself, and forcing himself to contemplate things which
are above the heavens; for the iron bond did not check the flight of
his thoughts. But when the wonderful Meletius, to whom the care of
the episcopate of Antioch was then commended (a man of sense and
prudence, and adorned with shrewdness of intellect), told him that
the iron was superfluous, since the will is able enough to impose on
the body the chains of reason, he gave way, and obeyed his
persuasion. And having sent for a smith, he bade him strike off the
chain.

[Here follow some painful details unnecessary to be translated.]

When, therefore, his fame was flying far and wide everywhere, all
ran together, not only the neighbours, but those who were many days'
journey off, some bringing the palsied, some begging health for the
sick, some that they might become fathers, and all wishing to
receive from him what they had not received from nature; and when
they had received, and gained their request, they went back joyful,
proclaiming the benefits they had obtained, and sending many more to
beg the same. So, as all are coming up from every quarter, and the
road is like a river, one may see gathered in that place an ocean of
men, which receives streams from every side; not only of those who
live in our region, but Ishmaelites, and Persians, and the Armenians
who are subject to them, and Iberi, and Homerites, and those who
dwell beyond them. Many have come also from the extreme west,
Spaniards, and Britons, and Gauls who live between the two. Of
Italy it is superfluous to speak; for they say that at Rome the man
has become so celebrated that they have put little images of him in
all the porches of the shops, providing thereby for themselves a
sort of safeguard and security.

When, therefore, they came innumerable (for all tried to touch him,
and receive some blessing from those skin garments of his), thinking
it in the first place absurd and unfit that such exceeding honour
should be paid him, and next, disliking the labour of the business,
devised that station on the pillar, bidding one be built, first of
six cubits, then of twelve, next of twenty-two, and now of thirty-
six. For he longs to fly up to heaven, and be freed from this
earthly conversation.

But I believe that this station was made not without divine counsel.
Wherefore I exhort fault-finders to bridle their tongue, and not let
it rashly loose, but rather consider that the Lord has often devised
such things, that he might profit those who were too slothful.

In proof of which, Theodoret quotes the examples of Isaiah, Hosea,
and Ezekiel; and then goes on to say how God in like manner ordained
this new and admirable spectacle, by the novelty of it drawing all
to look, and exhibiting to those who came, a lesson which they could
trust. For the novelty of the spectacle (he says) is a worthy
warrant for the teaching; and he who came to see goes away
instructed in divine things. And as those whose lot it is to rule
over men, after a certain period of time, change the impressions on
their coins, sometimes stamping them with images of lions, sometimes
of stars, sometimes of angels, and trying, by a new mark, to make
the gold more precious; so the King of all, adding to piety and true
religion these new and manifold modes of living, as certain stamps
on coin, excites to praise the tongues not only of the children of
faith, but of those who are diseased with unbelief. And that so it
is, not only words bear witness, but facts proclaim aloud. For many
myriads of Ishmaelites, who were enslaved in the darkness of
impiety, have been illuminated by that station on the column. For
this most shining lamp, set as it were upon a candlestick, sent
forth all round its rays, like of the sun: and one may see (as I
said) Iberi coming, and Persians, and Armenians, and accepting
divine baptism. But the Ishmaelites, coming by tribes, 200 and 300
at a time, and sometimes even 1,000, deny, with shouts, the error of
their fathers; and breaking in pieces, before that great
illuminator, the images which they had worshipped, and renouncing
the orgies of Venus (for they had received from ancient times the
worship of that daemon), they receive the divine sacraments, and
take laws from that holy tongue, bidding farewell to their ancestral
rites, and renouncing the eating of wild asses and camels. And this
I have seen with my own eyes, and have heard them renouncing the
impiety of their fathers, and assenting to the Evangelic doctrine.

But once I was in the greatest danger: for he himself told them to
go to me, and receive priestly benediction, saying that they would
thence obtain great advantage. But they, having run together in
somewhat too barbarous fashion, some dragged me before, some behind,
some sideways; and those who were further off, scrambling over the
others, and stretching out their hands, plucked my beard, or seized
my clothes; and I should have been stifled by their too warm onset,
had not he, shouting out, dispersed them all. Such usefulness has
that column, which is mocked at by scornful men, poured forth; and
so great a ray of the knowledge of God has it sent forth into the
minds of barbarians.

I know also of his having done another thing of this kind:--One
tribe was beseeching the divine man, that he would send forth some
prayer and blessing for their chief: but another tribe which was
present retorted that he ought not to bless that chief, but theirs;
for the one was a most unjust man, but the other averse to
injustice. And when there had been a great contention and barbaric
wrangling between them, they attacked each other. But I, using many
words, kept exhorting them to be quiet, seeing that the divine man
was able enough to give a blessing to both. But the one tribe kept
saying, that the first chief ought not to have it; and the other
tribe trying to deprive the second chief of it. Then he, by
threatening them from above, and calling them dogs, hardly stilled
the quarrel. This I have told, wishing to show their great faith.
For they would not have thus gone mad against each other, had they
not believed that the divine man's blessing possesses some very
great power.

I saw another miracle, which was very celebrated. One coming up
(he, too, was a chief of a Saracen tribe) besought the divine
personage that he would help a man whose limbs had given way in
paralysis on the road; and he said the misfortune had fallen on him
in Callinicus, which is a very large camp. When he was brought into
the midst, the saint bade him renounce the impiety of his
forefathers; and when he willingly obeyed, he asked him if he
believed in the Father, the only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And when he confessed that he believed--"Believing," said he, "in
their names, Arise." And when the man had risen, he bade him carry
away his chief (who was a very large man) on his shoulders to his
tent. He took him up, and went away forthwith; while those who were
present raised their voices in praise of God. This he commanded,
imitating the Lord, who bade the paralytic carry his bed. Let no
man call this imitation tyranny. For his saying is, "He who
believeth in me, the works which I do, he shall do also, and more
than these shall he do." And, indeed, we have seen the fulfilment
of this promise. For though the shadow of the Lord never worked a
miracle, the shadow of the great Peter both loosed death, and drove
out diseases, and put daemons to flight. But the Lord it was who
did also these miracles by his servants; and now likewise, using his
name, the divine Simeon works his innumerable wonders.

It befell also that another wonder was worked, by no means inferior
to the last. For among those who had believed in the saving name of
the Lord Christ, an Ishmaelite, of no humble rank, had made a vow to
God, with Simeon as witness. Now his promise was this, that he
would henceforth to the end abstain from animal food. Transgressing
this promise once, I know not how, he slew a bird, and dared to eat
it. But God being minded to bring him by reproof to conversion, and
to honour his servant, who was a witness to the broken vow, the
flesh of the bird was changed into the nature of a stone, so that,
even if he wished, he could not thenceforth eat it. For how could
he, when the body meant for food had turned to stone? The
barbarian, stupified by this unexpected sight, came with great haste
to the holy man, bringing to the light the sin which he had hidden,
and proclaimed his transgression to all, begging pardon from God,
and invoking the help of the saint, that by his all-powerful prayers
he might loose him from the bonds of his sin. Now many saw that
miracle, and felt that the part of the bird about the breast
consisted of bone and stone.

But I was not only an ear-witness of his wonders, but also an ear-
witness of his prophecies concerning futurity. For that drought
which came, and the great dearth of that year, and the famine and
pestilence which followed together, he foretold two years before,
saying that he saw a rod which was laid on man, stripes which would
be inflicted by it. Moreover, he at another time foretold an
invasion of locusts, and that it would bring no great harm, because
the divine clemency soon follows punishment. But when thirty days
were past, an innumerable multitude of them hung aloft, so that they
even cut off the sun's rays and threw a shadow; and that we all saw
plainly: but it only damaged the cattle pastures, and in no wise
hurt the food of man. To me, too, who was attacked by a certain
person, he signified that the quarrel would end ere a fortnight was
past; and I learned the truth of the prediction by experience.

Moreover there were seen by him once two rods, which came down from
the skies, and fell on the eastern and western lands. Now the
divine man said that they signified the rising of the Persian and
Scythian nations against the Romans; and told the vision to those
who were by, and with many tears and assiduous prayers, warded that
disaster, the threat whereof hung over the earth. Certainly the
Persian nation, when already armed and prepared to invade the
Romans, was kept back (the divine will being against them) from
their attempt, and occupied at home with their own troubles. But
while I know many other cases of this kind, I shall pass them over
to avoid prolixity. These are surely enough to show the spiritual
contemplation of his mind.

His fame was great, also, with the King of the Persians; for as the
ambassadors told, who came to him, he diligently inquired what was
his life, and what his miracles. But they say that the King's wife
also begged oil honoured by his blessing, and accepted it as the
greatest of gifts. Moreover, all the King's courtiers, being moved
by his fame, and having heard many slanders against him from the
Magi, inquired diligently, and having learnt the truth, called him a
divine man; while the rest of the crowd, coming to the muleteers and
servants and soldiers, both offered money, and begged for a share in
the oil of benediction. The Queen, too, of the Ishmaelites, longing
to have a child, sent first some of her most noble subjects to the
saint, beseeching him that she might become a mother. And when her
prayer had been granted, and she had her heart's desire, she took
the son who had been born, and went to the divine old man; and
(because women were not allowed to approach him) sent the babe,
entreating his blessing on it . . . [Here Theodoret puts into the
Queen's mouth words which it is unnecessary to quote.]

But how long do I strive to measure the depths of the Atlantic sea?
For as they are unfathomable by man, so do the things which he does
daily surpass narration. I, however, admire above all these things
his endurance; for night and day he stands, so as to be seen by all.
For as the doors are taken away, and a large part of the wall around
pulled down, he is set forth as a new and wondrous spectacle to all;
now standing long, now bowing himself frequently, and offering
adoration to God. Many of those who stand by count these
adorations; and once a man with me, when he had counted 1,244, and
then missed, gave up counting: but always, when he bows himself, he
touches his feet with his forehead. For as his stomach takes food
only once in the week, and that very little--no more than is
received in the divine sacraments,--his back admits of being easily
bent. . . . But nothing which happens to him overpowers his
philosophy; he bears nobly both voluntary and involuntary pains, and
conquers both by readiness of will.

There came once from Arabena a certain good man, and honoured with
the ministry of Christ. He, when he had come to that mountain
peak,--"Tell me," he cried, "by the very truth which converts the
human race to itself--Art thou a man, or an incorporeal nature?"
But when all there were displeased with the question, the saint bade
them all be silent, and said to him, "Why hast thou asked me this?"
He answered, "Because I hear every one saying publicly, that thou
neither eatest nor sleepest; but both are properties of man, and no
one who has a human nature could have lived without food and sleep."
Then the saint bade them set a ladder to the column, and him to come
up; and first to look at his hands, and then feel inside his cloak
of skins; and to see not only his feet, but a severe wound. But
when he saw that he was a man, and the size of that wound, and
learnt from him how he took nourishment, he came down and told me
all.

At the public festivals he showed an endurance of another kind. For
from the setting of the sun till it had come again to the eastern
horizon, he stood all night with hands uplift to heaven, neither
soothed with sleep nor conquered by fatigue. But in toils so great,
and so great a magnitude of deeds, and multitude of miracles, his
self-esteem is as moderate as if he were in dignity the least of all
men. Beside his modesty, he is easy of access of speech, and
gracious, and answers every man who speaks to him, whether he be
handicraftsman, beggar, or rustic. And from the bounteous God he
has received also the gift of teaching, and making his exhortations
twice a day, he delights the ears of those who hear, discoursing
much on grace, and setting forth the instructions of the Divine
Spirit to look up and fly toward heaven, and depart from the earth,
and imagine the kingdom which is expected, and fear the threats of
Gehenna, and despise earthly things, and wait for things to come.
He may be seen, too, acting as judge, and giving right and just
decisions. This, and the like, is done after the ninth hour. For
all night, and through the day to the ninth hour, he prays
perpetually. After that, he first sets forth the divine teaching to
those who are present; then having heard each man's petition, after
he has performed some cures, he settles the quarrels of those
between whom there is any dispute. About sunset he begins the rest
of his converse with God. But though he is employed in this way,
and does all this, he does not give up the care of the holy
Churches, sometimes fighting with the impiety of the Greeks,
sometimes checking the audacity of the Jews, sometimes putting to
flight the bands of heretics, and sometimes sending messages
concerning these last to the Emperor; sometimes, too, stirring up
rulers to zeal for God, and sometimes exhorting the pastors of the
Churches to bestow more care upon their flocks.

I have gone through these facts, trying to show the shower by one
drop, and to give those who meet with my writing a taste on the
finger of the sweetness of the honey. But there remains (as is to
be expected) much more; and if he should live longer, he will
probably add still greater wonders. . . .

Thus far Theodoret. Antony gives some other details of Simeon's
life upon the column.

The devil, he says, in envy transformed himself into the likeness of
an angel, shining in splendour, with fiery horses, and a fiery
chariot, and appeared close to the column on which the blessed
Simeon stood, and shone with glory like an angel. And the devil
said with bland speeches, "Simeon, hear my words, which the Lord
hath commanded thee. He has sent me, his angel, with a chariot and
horses of fire, that I may carry thee away, as I carried Elias. For
thy time is come. Do thou, in like wise, ascend now with me into
the chariot, because the Lord of heaven and earth has sent it down.
Let us ascend together into the heavens, that the angels and
archangels may see thee, with Mary the mother of the Lord, with the
Apostles and martyrs, the confessors and prophets; because they
rejoice to see thee, that thou mayest pray to the Lord, who hast
made thee after his own image. Verily I have spoken to thee: delay
not to ascend." Simeon, having ended his prayer, said, "Lord, wilt
thou carry me, a sinner, into heaven?" And lifting his right foot
that he might step into the chariot, he lifted also his right hand,
and made the sign of Christ. When he had made the sign of the
cross, forthwith the devil appeared nowhere, but vanished with his
device, as dust before the face of the wind. Then understood Simeon
that it was an art of the devil.

Having recovered himself, therefore, he said to his foot, "Thou
shalt not return back hence, but stand here until my death, when the
Lord shall send for me a sinner."

[Here follow more painful stories, which had best be omitted.]

But after much time, his mother, hearing of his fame, came to see
him, but was forbidden, because no woman entered that place. But
when the blessed Simeon heard the voice of his mother, he said to
her, "Bear up, my mother, a little while, and we shall see each
other, if God will." But she, hearing this, began to weep, and
tearing her hair, rebuked him, saying, "Son, why hast thou done
this? In return for the body in which I bore thee, thou hast filled
me full of grief. For the milk with which I nourished thee, thou
hast given me tears. For the kiss with which I kissed thee, thou
hast given me bitter pangs of heart. For the grief and labour which
I have suffered, thou hast laid on me cruel stripes." And she spoke
so much that she made us all weep. The blessed Simeon, hearing the
voice of her who bore him, put his face in his hands and wept
bitterly; and commanded her, saying, "Lady mother, be still a little
time, and we shall see each other in eternal rest." But she began
to say, "By Christ, who formed thee, if there is a probability of
seeing thee, who hast been so long a stranger to me, let me see
thee; or if not, let me only hear thy voice and die at once; for thy
father is dead in sorrow because of thee. And now do not destroy me
for very bitterness, my son." Saying this, for sorrow and weeping
she fell asleep; for during three days and three nights she had not
ceased entreating him. Then the blessed Simeon prayed the Lord for
her, and she forthwith gave up the ghost.

But they took up her body, and brought it where he could see it.
And he said, weeping, "The Lord receive thee in joy, because thou
hast endured tribulation for me, and borne me, and nursed and
nourished me with labour." And as he said that, his mother's
countenance perspired, and her body was stirred in the sight of us
all. But he, lifting up his eyes to heaven, said, "Lord God of
virtues, who sittest above the cherubim, and searchest the
foundations of the abyss, who knewest Adam before he was; who hast
promised the riches of the kingdom of heaven to those who love thee;
who didst speak to Moses in the bush of fire; who blessedst Abraham
our father; who bringest into Paradise the souls of the just, and
sinkest the souls of the impious to perdition; who didst humble the
lions, and mitigate for thy servants the strong fires of the
Chaldees; who didst nourish Elisha by the ravens which brought him
food--receive her soul in peace, and put her in the place of the
holy fathers, for thine is the power for ever and ever."

Antony then goes on to relate the later years of the saint's life.

He tells how Simeon, some time after this, ascended the column of
forty cubits; how a great dragon (serpent) crawled towards it, and
coiled round it, entreating (so it seemed) to be freed from a spike
of wood which had entered its eye; and how, St. Simeon took pity on
it, he caused the spike (which was a cubit long) to come out.

He tells how a woman, drinking water from a jar at night, swallowed
a snake unawares, which grew within her, till she was brought to the
blessed Simeon, who commanded some of the water of the monastery to
be given her; on which the serpent crawled out of her mouth, three
cubits long, and burst immediately; and was hung up there seven
days, as a testimony to many.

He tells how, when there was great want of water, St. Simeon prayed
till the earth opened on the east of the monastery, and a cave full
of water was discovered, which had never failed them to that day.

He tells how men, sitting beneath a tree, on their way to the saint,
saw a doe go by, and commanded her to stop, "by the prayers of St.
Simeon;" which when she had done, they killed and ate her, and came
to St. Simeon with the skin. But they were all struck dumb, and
hardly cured after two years. And the skin of the doe they hung up,
for a testimony to many.

He tells of a huge leopard, which slew men and cattle all around;
and how St. Simeon bade sprinkle in his haunts soil or water from
the monastery; and when men went again, they found the leopard dead.

He tells how, when St. Simeon cured any one, he bade him go home,
and honour God who had healed him, and not dare to say that Simeon
had cured him, lest a worse thing should suddenly come to him; and
not to presume to swear by the name of the Lord, for it was a grave
sin; but to swear, "whether justly or unjustly, by him, lowly and a
sinner. Wherefore all the Easterns, and barbarous tribes in those
regions, swear by Simeon."

He tells how a robber from Antioch, Jonathan by name, fled to St.
Simeon, and embraced the column, weeping bitterly, and saying how he
had committed every crime, and had come thither to repent. And how
the saint said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven: but do not try
to tempt me, lest thou be found again in the sins which thou hast
cast away." Then came the officials from Antioch, demanding that he
should be given up, to be cast to the wild beasts. But Simeon
answered, "My sons, I brought him not hither, but One greater than
I; for he helps such as this man, and of such is the kingdom of
heaven. But if you can enter, carry him hence; I cannot give him
up, for I fear him who has sent the man to me." And they, struck
with fear, went away. Then Jonathan lay for seven days embracing
the column, and then asked the saint leave to go. The saint asked
him if he were going back to sin? "No, lord," he said; "but my time
is fulfilled," and straightway he gave up the ghost; and when
officials came again from Antioch, demanding him, Simeon replied:
"He who brought him came with a multitude of the heavenly host, and
is able to send into Tartarus your city, and all who dwell in it,
who also has reconciled this man to himself; and I was afraid lest
he should slay me suddenly. Therefore weary me no more, a humble
man and poor."

But after a few years (says Antony) it befell one day that he bowed
himself in prayer, and remained so three days--that is, the Friday,
the Sabbath, and the Lord's day. Then I was terrified, and went up
to him, and stood before his face, and said to him, "Master, arise:
bless us; for the people have been waiting three days and three
nights for a blessing from thee." And he answered me not; and I
said again to him: "Wherefore dost thou grieve me, lord? or in what
have I offended? I beseech thee, put out thy hand to me; or,
perchance, thou hast already departed from us?"

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