Symeon the Stylite was a famed ascetic and one of the first of the stylitae, hermits who lived on the tops of pillars. He was born in northern Syria and was drawn to the eremitical life and entered a monastery at Eusebona, near Antioch.

His fellow monks found his extreme asceticism to be ill-suited to the community's life, and so convinced him to depart. Symeon spent three years in a hut, distinguishing himself by fasting during Lent, and for standing for as long as his strength might endure.

Still he found this life unsatisfactory and so took up residence upon a pillar with a platform set up on the top. The first pillar was nine feet high, but he found its height insufficient to escape the crowds who began gathering to see him and who sought out his advice. The pillar was extended to about fifty feet, and Symeon remained perched at the top until his death.

Numerous visitors still came to see him, including many political and religious leaders. He also carried on a wide correspondence and regularly preached to the eager faithful who assembled beneath his pillar.

His method of attaining spiritual perfection, while unusual, was nevertheless the source of much inspiration to his contemporaries, convincing a number of other ascetics to follow his example.