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

athlete, the wise master-builder, the diligent servant, the watchful

sailor, the famous pilot, the trained scribe, the faithful stewardfasted 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 sounding. 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 body 233 which he in his

176

229
230
231

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

232
233

This last clause is missing in Assemani.

Ex 19:19. The two times mentioned are at Ex 24:18; 34:28.
1 Kings 19.
Daniel 10-12.
M: 'put on in the womb the garment of a body' .

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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
proved 234 ), 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 glorious 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-seven 236 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

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 surrendered 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 required 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 received 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

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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.

237
238
239

Ps 37:27.
Mt 7:7.
Jonah 2; Daniel 2.

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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 handiwork and there is no one who can fault the will of his lordship.
Whoever obeys and keeps and does his will is kept and magnified 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 inhabitants 245 and to have the name of his divinity praised
through his believers.246

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

180

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.

181

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
Band M add: 'I will tell you the affair as it really happened'.
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.
247
248