Ruins of the Church of St. Simeon
Syria – Near Aleppo
Saint Simeon Stylites the Elder (c. 390-459) was a Christian ascetic saint who lived 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo in Syria. After his death a cult developed around his example and others emulated him. Adherents of this form of monasticism became known as stylites, after the Greek word stylos, means pillar. St. Simeon the Younger perched on his pillar near Anthioc in the mid sixth century. Others continued this custom until about the eleventh century.
Syria – Near Aleppo, the remains of St. Simeon the Elder’s column, now topped with boulder.
Turkey – Nigde, Gumusler Monastery
Monasticism and the spiritual life of monks has always been an essential element in Orthodoxy. In the fourth century, Cappadocia became the centre for the concept of the monastery, which in time spread throughout Europe, initiated by the Cappadocian Fathers, Saint Basil the Great (c.329-379), Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Saint Basil the Great defended the doctrine of the established religion against heretics. He held that the way to render perfect service to God was through asceticism. He developed the system of rules for the Orthodox monastery after visiting the monasterial establishments in Egypt and Syria. He rejected the introverted isolation and concept of suffering of the monks who tortured their own flesh. He established organized communities which encouraged the principles of cooperation and of individual independent worship. The monastic system he developed was influential on the whole Christian world for centuries. The day of his death is a commemorative day in both Orthodox and Catholic-Churches.
In the Christian world, initially in the east, monkshood was the accepted life-style of each individual candidate for sainthood. After the fourth century, this concept spread to the west and monasteries were established. The object was to become an indigent and perfect follower of Christ. The most important monastic community on Greek soil, after Ayion Oros (Mount Athos), is the Meteora Monasteries founded from the eleventh century onwards. Until 1923 the Metamorphosis Monastery could be accessed only by being hauled up in a basket, but nowadays it can be reached by climbing the steps on narrow roads and through passages carved out of the rocks. Those of the Orthodox faith who do visit this monastery gain the status of having completed a pilgrimage. In the region where once more than twenty monasteries were established, at the present time six are functioning.
Greece – Kalambaka, Meteora Monasteries
Greece – Kalambaka, The Monastery of Roussano
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