ABSTRACT
St Symeon Stylites is the most famous of all the early Syrian ascetic saints: as a model of denial he attracted the attention of thousands during his lifetime,2 and many thousands more as pilgrims after his death. He effectively created a new industry, and 123 more Stylites have been recorded, the most recent in 1848.3 However, the extremism of his actions led him into trouble: his fellow monks were suspicious of him and forced him out of one monastery, and modern theological scholars have anguished at the form of his asceticism. As the Franciscan Ignace Peña has pondered: "We can wonder whether it is really necessary to follow Christ by standing almost immobile at the top of a pillar for many long years and in view of all. Was this way of life not a little exhibitionist?'4
