ST SYMEON THE STYLITE MONASTERY

Saint Symeon the Stylite

St Symeon the Stylite Church of the Theotokus - Aleppo

The biography of St Symeon is found in the writings of the monk Anthony, who wrote it in Greek after witnessing the death of St Symeon. Another biography was written in Aramaic by two other followers: Symeon son of Apollon and Barhtar Barudan. The third source is the "History" of Theodoret Bishop of Cyrrhus in 444.

St Symeon was born in 389 in the city of Sissa, 40 kilometers north west of Cyrrhus, and worked as a shepherd gaurding his mother's flock. He spoke Aramaen and later learned Greek in the monastery. In 401 Symeon sought the complete life in Christ and wanted to learn from various monks in the area. After two years in a small monastery near his hometown, he left for a more strict monastic life. The abbot of the monastery of Burj Saba hesitated before accepting him in his brotherhood because of his young age, but Symeon showed persistence and seriousness. 

In 413 the abbot asked Symeon to leave the monastery because he feared other monks in his brotherhood would imitate Symeon's strange and extreme fasts. Symeon found a dry well in the mountains and left to live and worship God in it. His fellow monks felt regret, searched for him until they found him, and took him back to the monastery. And because he soon went back to his extreme ways, he was asked again to leave. 

In 314 Symeon left to live in a small monastic community founded by Mars Ben Artoon. The harsh nature of that hermitage pleased the young Symeon. A priest called Bassus was frequently sent by the Archbishop of Antioch to check on monks in his archdiocese and to deliver communion to them. When Symeon wanted to spend the forty days lent before Pascha without any food or drink Bassus tried to stop him, insisting that it is not orthodox to torture the body, and asked him to fast in a regular way instead. Therefore Symeon accepted ten loaves of bread and water from Bassus, but insisted that his hermitage door be blocked from the outside. When Bassus returned on Pascha, forty days later, He opened the door to find the bread and water untouched, and Symeon lying on the floor unconscious and weakened. After he realized that it had worked, Symeon fasted that way for twenty eight more years. 

St Symeon the Stylite Cathedral The Remains of the Pillar in the Middle

In 416 Symeon left the hermitage to live on "Mount Liloon" (which was later called Saint Symeon's Mountain) over-viewing the beautiful forests below and the endless horizon that stretched towards eternity. Although his monastic methods were unaccepted in the Church, Symeon insisted on strict fasts, and chained himself to a rock in case his weakness overwhelmed him and convinced him into abandoning that life. When Bishop Melitius of Antioch visited him once, he was surprised to see his ways of conducting monasticism; therefore, he convinced him to leave the chains saying: "If one's faith cannot restrict him, then neither would chains." Symeon became famous in the area, and people came to take his blessings and guidance, but he was unhappy with that, and felt that he was far from deserving any of it. So he thought of taking refuge on a pillar crown built on a cubic base. Through the years Symeon added more blocks to his pillar, until it reached the height of thirty six feet. This is where he would spend four decades in constant fasting and prayer. Although most monks did not approve of his methods, they deeply admired his true patience and undoubted love for God. Some even accused and ridiculed him, including Theodoret the historian who visited him in 444 and later learned to admire and respect this simple shepherd's divine knowledge and humility. Theodoret says that visitors of the saint surprisingly came from all corners of the old world: Persians, Armenians, Iberians, Gallics (French), Spanish, and British. 

It is said that Antiochus son of Sabinos, the ruler of Damascus, once invited Al Nu'man the Arab, who came with his people to settle in the Syrian Desert, to a feast. While together, Al Nu'man asked him about Symeon the Stylite, and whether his people viewed him as a man or a god. Antiochus answered: "He is a man like us, but he serves God." Al Nu'man said: "this man's reputation has spread beyond the horizons, and his name is honored among our tribes. People visit him in huge numbers and follow his preaching and guidance. Our leaders feared that these frequent visits would result in our people becoming Christian and supporting the Romans in the name of religion. So I was forced by interest to forbid my people from contacting this man, threatening with death whomever dared to seek Symeon or listen to him. But while I was asleep an honorable man entered my chamber with a sword in his hand and ordered that I be scourged; then five of his men tied and scourged me, and I heard him say to me: 'Beware, beware not to strain your people from Symeon, or I shall cut you into pieces.' After that I allowed conversion to Christianity. Christianity spread among us and we now have priests and bishops."

On 2.5 square meters, Symeon bears the elements of nature for four decades. On Sunday the 26th of July 459, the 71 year old Symeon died while prostrating. His body was brought down three days after his death, a skeleton of a man exhausted from 56 years of painful and long fasts; 36 of them spent on the pillar. 

After his death, Antioch and its bishop Martyrius insisted on taking his relics, but the locals refused with stubbornness. Following that, the Armenian general Arbadorus was sent with 600 soldiers to bring the body after a great ceremony to be placed 50 kilometers away in Antioch. Later, Emperor Leo (457-474) asked for the saint's relics to be removed to Constantinople. Daniel the Stylite, a disciple of Symeon, asked Emperor Zeno (474-491) to honor the memory of Symeon by erecting a cathedral around the 21 meter long pillar. The years that followed witnessed the building of the greatest cathedral in the East.

St Daniel the Stylite
Feast day: December 11th

History of the Monastery

St Symeon's Monastery is located 40 kilometers north west of the city of Aleppo, in Syria. It was built on top of a hill on the mountain of St Symeon, 800 meters above sea level. Nearby, passes the Roman road from Aleppo to Antioch. The site consists of huge constructions built to commemorate St Symeon the Stylite, or the Great (389-459). His feast day is celebrated on the 1st of September, the first day of the Orthodox ecclesiastical calendar.

St Symeon's Monastery is the jewel of the ancient dead cities of northern Syria. The people who lived here since the beginning of Christianity possessed a highly advanced civilization that disappeared slowly after the Arabic invasion in the 7th century. Olives and grapes were the main products of the land, and people traded their olive oil through Antioch and Aleppo, using the Roman roads that provided an advanced network of transportation throughout the Empire. In nearby Antioch followers of Christ were first called "Christians" in the first century (Acts 11:26).

Archeological discoveries started more than a century ago and hundreds of sites were discovered in the mountains between Antioch, Aleppo and Hama. Historical records mention hundreds of monasteries that were very active until the 13th century. Monks lived in the thousands and contributed to the ecclesiastical literature, Church councils, and art in the early centuries of Christianity. The area had a growing population as a result of the prosperity it had enjoyed until the 7th century. After that, continuous battles between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Muslim Arabs turned this area into a war zone for five centuries, and buildings were converted to fortifications. These conditions made trade impossible and the inhabitants were forced to desert their homes. In the 13th century the area was completely abandoned, and other cities in Syria would suffer a similar fate with the invasion of the Turks and Mongols.

Many stylites later followed the example of St Symeon, living a life of extreme poverty, humility, and chastity, the three monastic virtues. Saints such as Symeon the priest, who lived in the monastery of Murran in a village east of Aleppo, and Symeon the Antiochian (521-592) who lived in the Admirable Mountain 17 kilometers south of Antioch by the sea, where another monastery was built in 551.

St Symeon the Stylite Cathedral Back of the Altar

Before this building was erected, nothing stood on top of the hill except a 21 meters-long column, and a low fence around it with an entrance. In a few years (476-490), and with the efforts of St Symeon's disciple Daniel the Stylite, a huge cathedral, a monastery, a guesthouse, and a baptism church were built. The cathedral's design is the oldest and most marvelous example that combines the basilica design with the "Byzantine" cross design. In the center of the cross-shaped cathedral stands the saint's pillar, surrounded by an octagonal hall topped by eight huge arches. The arches carried a gigantic wooden roof, while four of them led to the four wings of the cathedral. The entrance wing (to the south) has three large doors topped with three beautiful arches. Saint Symeon's monastery remained the pearl of the Christian east for centuries, and prospered with pilgrims and visitors from every place.

After the Arab invasion in 638 the site was seldom inhabited, underwent destruction, and a fire damaged its eastern wing. According to a writing carved in Greek and Syriac in 969, the site was still a monastery that was recaptured by the Eastern Romans. When Nikiforos Phocas defeated the Hamadani Arabs in Aleppo in 969, he might have fortified the monastery, which stands at a strategically important point. The monastery was restored, according to the writing, in 979 "in the days of Emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII." After the Eastern Roman leader John Tizmisis seized the monastery, Christians re-inhabited it, modified the interior church to suit the Byzantine services and brought monks to live in it. They also enhanced the fortifications around the monastery with thirteen defensive towers. Many other churches in Kharab Shams, Kaluta, Brad, Basoufan, Tal Akbareen, and Sarmada were also fortified. This explains why the monastery was later called "Qalat samaan" (Arabic for "Symeon's citadel").

St Symeon the Stylite Cathedral The Baptistery Church

We learn from Yahya ben Saeed the Antiochan historian (11th C) that St Symeon's monastery had many monks and flourished in his days. The army of Saad Al Dawla son of Saif Al Dawla the Hamadani captured the monastery after a three days siege in 985. Some monks were slaughtered while others were sold as slaves. The monastery was restored between 985 and 1017 with the return of the Eastern Romans, but was attacked frequently. The Fatimid army attacked twice in 1017 and again in 1135, but the Eastern Romans stood fast there. Finally, in 1164 Nour Al Din attacked and looted the monastery, captured its monks and sent them to Aleppo. The area again became an Islamic territory and new Muslim people were brought to inhabit it. The monastery ruins were ever since forgotten. 

As a result of the bitter war between Muslims and Eastern Romans, all monastic life in northern Syria was lost. Monks were slaughtered, sold, or forced out to other areas. In the nearby monastery of Miafarkeen the Turks massacred 120 monks simultaneously, and many monasteries were destroyed around the city of Raha in 1110. Today, St Symeon's buildings form a vast field of ruins. A huge part of St Symeon's pillar still stands on the base he carved in stone. Pilgrims and visitors shattered most of the pillar to take as blessings.

The construction work of the greatest cathedral known to Christians in the fifth century lasted for approximately fourteen years (from 476 to 490) according to the Russian engineer George Tshalenko. Before the completion of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in 537, this was the greatest monument ever built in Christendom. The cathedral is most unique for its combination of the three most common building styles in the East The Basilica style was the most common in large cathedrals; in this system, the interior of the cathedral is divided by two rows of columns in the middle, forming three parallel halls, as in the Trinity basilica in "Kuleb Loza." The second is the circular (octagonal) system used in some late 5th century churches in Seleucia Pieria, Mareia, and the Martyrdom church in Sergiopolis. The third style is cross-shaped, as in the Kawwsia church in Antioch. The architects who designed St Symeon's cathedral successfully combined the three styles that Antioch was famous for.

St Symeon the Stylite Monastery 10th Century Plan (Enlarge)

The octagonal Baptistery church and the building next to it were erected between 476-490. This church was used for the baptism of adults, which was done in an 80 centimeters deep baptism bowl, covered with bricks on the sides, and descended by three steps on each side. The cathedral itself occupies 5000 square meters. The monastery chapel, buildings, and cemetery occupy another 5000 square meters. The small Baptistery church occupies 2000 square meters. In all, the monastery is built on 12000 square meters. The length of the cathedral from the west to the east is 103 meters and its width is 91.5 meters. There are 27 doors into the cathedral. The central octagon is 30 meters in diameter and 43 meters in height. The altar is to the east as usual. 

The huge wooden ceiling covering the octagon collapsed after a violent earthquake in 527, and left the column of St Symeon exposed. Carvings on the columns and the walls form a mixture of Syrian and Roman art. The floor was covered with beautiful marble designs, and paintings covered the walls. Today, the monastery plays a humble role in Syrian tourism and lacks the attention it deserves. In the 1950s the Syrian ministry of archeology helped restore some of the severely damaged parts in the monastery. The Orthodox church of Aleppo organizes a pilgrimage and celebrates St Symeon's feast every year on the 1st of September.

 

Glory be to God in All Things

By Abraham Aboud