The Hermit on the Pillar

St. Simeon Stylites took the concept of religious isolation to a vertical extreme. After being expelled from a monastery for his excessive austerities (such as tying a rope of palm leaves so tightly around his waist that it rotted his flesh) Simeon sought a way to escape the crowds of pilgrims who flocked to him for advice. His solution was to live atop a stone pillar.

• He started on a pillar six cubits high, eventually reaching a height of roughly 50 feet.
• For 37 years, he lived on a platform barely wide enough to stand or kneel, never once coming down to the ground.
• Legend states that when maggots fell from his infected sores, he would pick them up and put them back, saying, "Eat what God has given you."

His pillar became a bizarre tourist attraction and a seat of spiritual authority. High atop his perch, he preached to the masses below, settled legal disputes, and even influenced imperial politics. Simeon's life of extreme physical endurance and vertical piety redefined the ascetic traditions of the early Medieval period, proving that for some, the only way to get closer to God was to go up.