The Monastery of Simon Stylites in Antioch

Last updated on: July 15, 2024 at 1:57 am by Ben Witherington

The Monastery of Simon Stylites in Antioch 2024-07-01T17:24:17-04:00 Ben Witherington

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Hovering high above the city of Antioch, and founded long after the time of St. Paul, is the remains of a Byzantine monastery, famous for Simon Stylites or Simon the pole sitter, who according to legend sat on a column for 45 years without coming down, out of total devotion to God. When I say high, I mean even higher than the wind turbines dotting the mountain it’s on…

It is of course a defunct monastery now for many centuries and is in ruins (which is the running joke about the life of archaeologists– it;s in ruins). Here is the sign that is at the entrance— NOTE the major misspelling of monastery.

Built of the local limestone which was on the mountain, it was built to last. None of what you see was damaged or harmed by the recent earthquake which leveled half the city below.

The Byzantines loved to use intricate patterns in their stone work, and in their floor mosaics.

Here we have the bishops or clerics seats

The only living thing in the monastery today is a persistent fig bush, hanging out in the shade of a doorway

If you think you’ve preached from a high pulpit before, this one tops whatever one you’ve been in. And below is our fearless leader, Levent Oral, the head of Tutku Tours, at the base of the massive column on which Simon sat. Either someone provided that man with pillows for the pillar, or he had buns of stone like the material he was sitting on.

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