Peace on a Pillar

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Romans 5:1]

Simeon the Stylite was born in A.D. 390 in northern Syria as it became part of the Byzantine Empire. Influenced by his deeply religious mother, he developed a strong zeal for Christianity. By the age of 13, he began to frequently fast from food. Before he was 16, Simeon entered a monastery and commenced a regimen of fasting and prayer so severe he was asked to leave. He then shut himself up for three years in a hut, fasting up to 40 days during Lent, seeking peace with God. But the hut was too comfortable, so Simeon moved to a rocky cliff in the desert and compelled himself to remain a prisoner within a narrow ledge.

Crowds of pilgrims, hearing of this holy hermit, invaded the desert to seek his counsel and prayers. All this attention left him little time for his own private devotions. This inspired him to adopt a new way of life. If he could not avoid the world horizontally, he now hoped to find peace by escaping it vertically. Simeon discovered an ancient pillar, 48 feet high, amongst some ruins. On top of this pillar, with the help of friends, he built a platform about twelve feet square. He lived many years perched on top of this pillar, exposed to the elements. He became known to history as Simeon the Stylite (the Latin word “stylus” means “pillar”).

But the new pillar drew more pilgrims and curious sightseers. Simeon patiently allowed people to visit him every afternoon by means of a ladder. He wrote some letters we still possess today, in which he instructed disciples, and he sometimes preached about holy living to his visitors. After spending 37 years on his pillar, Simeon died at the age of 69. He inspired many imitators, and for the next century ascetics living on pillars, or stylites, were a common sight throughout the Byzantine East.

Today Simeon is commemorated as a saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, but is it really necessary to be an aerial ascetic to find peace with God? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified by faith, enabling us to “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can bring reconciliation. We can never do anything to improve on what He has already done. We find peace with God by placing our faith in Jesus.