The pillar saint seen as a totally devoted emperor: the in-group around Symeon Stylites the elder

ABSTRACT Most modern studies have treated Christian pillar saints as constituting one among many types of Christian sainthood that appeared in the first centuries of Christianity. In general, these studies have emphasized the similarities that connected pillar sainthood to other forms of Christian ascetic practice and performance, However, the ascetic practice of the stylites can also be seen as a form of total devotion characterized by an extreme and conspicuous visual performance. Taking the first and most famous of these, namely saint Symeon Stylites (the Elder, ca. 390–459 CE) as our case study, this contribution suggests that Symeon’s performance should be viewed as a new form of visible and competitive super-religiosity, with the saint performing within an intense in-group exchange and with obvious emulation of imperial practices, based primarily on the account of Theodoret of Cyrrhus.