176 The Lives of Simeon Stylites

saint. For we said earlier that no mortal human could reckon or count all the benefit and relief that God did for people by him and that no mouth could tell or relate the glorious deeds wrought in far-off places through his prayer. Again our Lord revealed and explained to him many visions. Many of them he concealed and told to no one for he was careful that no one should think that he repeated them out of pride. On this point he had a revelation and information. For he saw two men, splendidly dressed and excel-

lently outfitted, standing in front of him and discussing the matter between them. One of them said to the other, 'Look at how many visions and revelations are shown to him, but he conceals and hides

them and does not reveal a one of them to anyone.' The other replied and said to his companion, 'He does quite correctly. In this point is his goodness commended: that he does not reveal or

tell or make known anything revealed to him by God. By this it is clear that he does not seek his own glory, nor is there room for others to say what they want.' They discussed these things and much more about the matter with each other while walking to and fro in the enclosure. Then they departed. They said nothing to the saint about the matter. 228 Then the saint knew, although they had not spoken to him at all, that they had spoken so as to caution him. Because of this he was extremely careful and refrained from repeating or telling people anything that he saw or that was revealed to him by God.

108. Now concerning the monastic customs and practices and exercises which he followed and practiced and wore himself out with before God both inwardly and outwardly: it was clearly obvi-ous to everyone that neither among the ancients nor among more recent people could be found a body clothed in flesh that could endure, sustain, and withstand the afRictions which the saint's body endured and withstood. For we all know and are convinced that the Holy Spirit had the victorious acts of the believers in the Holy Scriptures written with miracles and wonders for the consolation, encouragement, help, and admonition of humankind. For Moses-

the great prophet, the clear-seeing eye of all Israel, the victorious

228 This sentence is not in Assemani who has left out two lines of text through haplography.

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athlete, the wise master-builder, the diligent servant, the watchful sailor, the famous pilot, the trained scribe, the faithful steward-fasted twice only for forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread or drink water while he was on the mountain with his Lord.

Clouds circled him and darkness surrounded him, there were fiery flames and smoke ascending, horns blowing and trumpets sound-ing. Angels were alarmed, and the watchers of heaven troubled; seraphim cried out 'Holy! Holy! Holy!' and the cherubim were making a joyful noise. 229 Moses spoke, and God answered with a voice.230 Moses was refreshed: his food was the divine vision, his drink the heavenly glory. He grew fat during his fast, and he glowed during his prayers. Again, Elijah the zealot, a burning fire, walked for forty days and nights in the desert on the strength of the food which he received from the angel at the visitation of his Lord, food which men had not sown and which mortals do not prepare.231 Far from food, with no drink nearby, he climbed the mountain and entered the cave. By his fast of forty days he was

deemed worthy to hear the voice of God and to see that awesome and stupendous vision at which heavenly beings tremble and earthly beings are terrified. He was sent to anoint kings and prophets. He received there a pledge from his fast that he would be lifted up from this sorrowful world and ascend to Eden full of all delights. Again, Daniel, a man all one could ask for, a faithful steward, fasted for twenty-one days: he did not eat bread or drink water, he did not wash or anoint himself with oil. A watcher of heaven, a captain of

angels, was sent to him and in his fast and prayers revealed secret things to him and explained to him what would happen.232 By his prayers he brought back the captivity from Babylon, and by his fast the seed of Abraham, the friend of God, was delivered from slavery to their enemies.

109. We worship our Lord for his grace because he was merciful towards the creation of his hands and he was compassionate: he came down and formed and put on a body233 which he in his

229 This last clause is missing in Assemani. 230 Ex 19:19. The two times mentioned are at Ex 24:18; 34:28. 231 1 Kings 19. 232 Daniel 10-12. 233 M: 'put on in the womb the garment of a body' .

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178 The Lives of Simeon Stylites

grace fashioned with his holy hands as seemed good to him. When he led it to the desert to be tempted (that is, to be tried and proved234), it is written that he remained forty days and nights in fast and prayer without eating bread or drinking water.235 As much therefore as his divinity knew the body could endure, so much it allowed the holy body it clothed to endure. After he had remained forty days in fast and prayer, it pleased his divinity to give the nod to hunger and it came, he commanded and it approached that he might show forth and prove that truly it pleased his high divinity to be clothed in the body of Adam, subject to hunger and thirst, to weariness and sleep. That body conquered his enemy, put Satan to shame and scattered his hosts; it trampled sin under foot, killed death, laid waste Sheol and received the crown of victory.

110. If then, as we said before, our Lord performed these glori-ous acts and signs by the hands of these warriors, men of renown, by their fasts of forty days, what can we say about the blessed Mar Simeon? No one knows how to describe fully the practices of his ascetic life. God alone knows and is aware of his exercises and his labors-how he wore himself out and labored and toiled before God with severe unspeakable fasting and with rigorous, countless prayers, in hunger and thirst, in heat and cold, so that continually, unceasingly, he offered perpetual intercession and he was standing at all times so that he would not give sleep to his eyes. There was no rest for his body, day or night, for fifty-six years. He was in the monastery nine years in amazing ascetic practices and harsh works of discipline--we wrote and noted them down above. And he was in the enclosure at Telneshe for forty-seven236 years. He stood in a corner of the enclosure for ten years, some of the time locked up in confinement while he struggled mightily and waged war and fought against the enemy. After this he stood on those smaller columns, seven years on the ones eleven and seventeen and twenty-two cubits high. He stood for thirty years on the column forty cubits high. Our Lord gave him strength and endurance and he finished his days on this column in peace and tranquility and

234 This explanatory gloss is not in B, but is in M. The author cannot simply say that Jesus was tempted. See Introduction, n. 82.

235 Mt 4:2; Lk 4:2. 236 M : forty-six.

The Syriac Life 179

in works of righteousness. He had, as it is written, a good end with men ofpeace.237 His end was magnified ten times more than his beginning. His Lord worked for him his will and pleasure, and answered his request: he asked and he received, he sought and he found, he knocked at the door of his Lord in truth, and it was opened for him.238 He honored God with a perfect heart, and he was honored by God with all good things. He loved his Lord with all his heart, more than himself and his life, for he surren-dered and placed himself in the hands of his Lord. So it was that the Lord, who saw his diligence, gave him favor in the eyes of all humans and extolled the fame of his glorious deeds from one end of creation to the other, and he granted whatever his soul desired. For often he asked and petitioned his Lord in prayer, speaking in this way, 'Lord, almighty God, do not force me into the power of mortals, that I should dismount from my place here and people see me on the ground. But grant me that on this stone, on which I stood at your command and order, I may complete the days of my life. From it receive the soul of your servant according to your Lordship's will.'

111. Perhaps someone will say, 'What made it necessary or re-quired that he mount on a pillar? Could he not please our Lord on the ground or at most in that corner?' Truly, we all know and are convinced that God is everywhere-in heaven and on earth, on high and in the deep, in the sea and in the abyss, below the earth and above the heavens. There is no place where his divinity is absent, except in humans who do not do his will. Wherever a human calls on him in truth, there he finds him. For Jonah called to him in the deep abyss and he heard his prayer and re-ceived his request. From the inner depth of Sheol he lifted him up. Again, Daniel and the followers of Hananiah called on him from the pit and the furnace, and he sent an angel with his grace as he asked, and he delivered and rescued them.239 Everyone of his servants found him wherever they sought him-Elijah on Carmel, Abraham on the top of the mountain. Immediately he heard their prayer, did their will, and answered their request. It also seemed

237 Ps 37:27. 238 Mt 7:7. 239 Jonah 2; Daniel 2.

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180 The Lives of Simeon Stylites

good to his lordship to send each one of his servants to preach and to teach at the time that seemed fitting and right to him. Again as he desired he gave them laws and commandments: to the household of Adam, not to eat of the tree; to the sons of Seth to have nothing to do with the household of Cain;24o to Noah the rainbow and the indissoluble covenant; to Abraham the sign and seal of circumcision; to Moses, the Sabbath and the keeping of the law. He clothed Elijah with zeal glowing like a flaming fire . He had Isaiah walk before him naked and barefoot. He commanded Jeremiah to put on his neck the yoke and its collar. He said to Ezechiel, 'Shave your beard and your head with a razor, and put your baggage on your shoulder. Breach the wall and go out as though one departing.' To Hosea a holy prophet he commanded, 'Take a harlot as your wife'.241 Thus to each and every one of his

servants at the right time he commanded how to behave, because he has authority as master in his creation and as God in his hand-iwork and there is no one who can fault the will of his lordship. Whoever obeys and keeps and does his will is kept and magni-fied and becomes famous. For Abraham was counted worthy to be called 'friend of God',242 Moses shone out and became head and ruler,243 and our Lord worked great and astounding exploits through him. Again Elijah flew and was taken up and did not taste

death.244 So therefore it pleased his Lord that Mar Simeon stand on a pillar in these days because he saw creation as if asleep. He sought by his affiiction to awaken the world from the heavy torpor of its inhabitants245 and to have the name of his divinity praised

through his believers.246

240 B: 'with the daughters of Cain'. This prohibition is not found in the Hebrew Scriptures, but is part of the early tradition which interpreted 'the sons of God' ofGen 6:2 as 'the sons of Seth' . See A.F.J. Klijn, Seth inJewish, Christian and Gnostic Uterature, Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 46. (Leiden: Brill, 1977), as well as the discussion in Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa, Another Seed: Studies ill Gnostic Mythology (Leiden: Brill, 1984) 125-134.

241 Gen 2:17; Gen 9:12-16; Ex 20-31; 1 Kgs 18:20-40; Is 20:2;Jer 27:2; Ezech 5:1;12:3; Hos 1:2.

242 James 2:23. 243 Ex 3:10. 244 2 Kgs 2:11. 245 Band M: its sleep. 246 Band M have the singular.

TIle Syriac Life 181

112. To convince you that this was truly the work of the Lord:247

the saint had a recess for storing the holy vessels .248 Before it a stone about three cubits high was placed, with incense and a censer

on it. After about three weeks into the lenten confinement, there appeared to blessed Mar Simeon a splendid man whose face glowed like a fire and who was girded for battle. He saw him come and pray before that recess . After he finished his prayer he went up and stood

on that stone. He joined his hands behind him and was bending and straightening up and praying earnestly. He turned around and looked at the saint and then again raised his hands heavenward and lifted his eyes upward. He turned again as he prayed and supplicated and looked at the saint. For three nights he acted this way from

evening till morning. Thus the saint perceived and understood that he was acting this way on his account and had been sent by the Lord to show and teach him how to be diligent in prayer. When he stopped after those three days and went away, the blessed Mar went and stood on that stone. He was happy and content so to stand, especially as he realized this was from God, and after Lent and the door of his enclosure was opened he had that stone brought to him and he set it up and stood on it249 three months. After that he began to make those columns until he had made that one of twenty cubits.250

113. And to convince you truly that this was God's doing that he should so stand on a pillar, I will again tell you what really in truth happened. After he had stood on those smaller ones, up

to that one of twenty cubits, for seven years, he had a mind to change the one of twenty cubits to one of thirty cubits. As Lent approached he called his disciple-the one who was with him and had served him for many years and who placed his hands upon his eyes and upon whose shoulder the saint laid his head

when he yielded his spirit to his Lord-and ordered him, 'Till

247 Band M add: 'I will tell you the affair as it really happened'. 248 On the v manuscript two words are missing, seemingly rubbed out. The

only words that M has in addition to those legible on the v manuscript is 'in the enclosure' . Perhaps a copyist rubbed out his mistake on v, while M conflated the readings of v and B.

249 The section 'He was happy ... on it' is not in B, left out by haplography. 250 Assemani adds trtyn and makes it twenty-two cubits.

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