- St Symeon Stylites (the Younger) of the Wonderful Mountain (595)
- He was born in Antioch in 522. His father, John, died in an
earthquake, leaving him to be raised by his mother Martha. From his
earliest childhood he lived a very ascetic life and was under special
protection and guidance of St John the Baptist, who often appeared to
him. He became a monk as a young man and, after a vision of the Lord,
who appeared to him as a handsome youth and filled his heart to
overflowing with love for Christ, he ascended onto a pillar, where he
stayed for eighteen years, praying and singing psalms. He then went to
the mountain called 'Wonderful', where he lived alone in a barren place
for ten years; he then ascended another pillar, where he remained in
extreme hardship for forty-five years. During this time he became known
as a wonder-worker and visionary: the Prologue
says 'The measure of his love for God was such that rare grace was
given him, by the help of which he was able to heal every sort of
illness, tame wild beasts and perceive the most distant regions of the
earth and the hearts of men. He was taken out of the body and saw the
heavens, conversed with angels, harried the demons, prophesied, spent
thirty days at a time without sleep and even longer without food,
receiving nourishment at the hands of angels.' He reposed at the age of
85; seventy-nine years of his life had been spent in asceticism.
- Our Holy Father Nikita Stylites (1186)
- As a youth, he was heedless and corrupt; but one day he entered a
church and heard the words of Isaiah, 'Wash you, make you clean' (Is.
1:16). His life changed completely: he left his family and property to
enter a monastery near Pereyaslavl, where he took on a life of severe
asceticism. He wore chains and (in the words of the Prologue,
'shut himself up in a pillar', for which he was called the Stylite. He
was granted the gift of healing and by his prayers restored many who
came to him, including Michael, Prince of Chernigov, whom he healed of
palsy. Some thieves, seeing his chains and thinking that they were made
of silver, killed him one night and made off with the chains. Soon
afterward, Saint Nikita appeared to an elder named Simeon and told him
to put the chains with him in his grave when they were found.
source: http://www.abbamoses.com
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