Stylite 5th century

Venerable Daniel the Stylite

c. 409 – 493

Also known as Daniel of Constantinople

A monk dedicated to God from birth who became a stylite near Constantinople and was sought by emperors and people for prayer and counsel.

Feast Day

December 11

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

Hymn / Apolytikion Icon gallery Video / Media

Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Daniel the Stylite of Constantinople

Life

Daniel the Stylite was a fifth-century ascetic who lived for some thirty-three years atop a pillar near Constantinople, becoming one of the most prominent stylite saints after Simeon the Stylite, whose example he is said to have followed. He was born around 409 in Mesopotamia, near Samosata, and entered monastic life as a boy.

Settling on a series of pillars in the vicinity of the imperial capital, he attracted crowds of the sick and troubled who sought healing and counsel, and he was visited and consulted by the emperors Leo I and Zeno. He opposed the monophysite party of his day and reposed in 493; his feast is kept on December 11.

Timeline 7 moments Read Hide

c. 409 Birth in Mesopotamia Born near Samosata in Mesopotamia. According to the tradition recorded in his life, his mother Martha had been childless and had vowed to dedicate a child to God, and the boy remained unnamed until about age five, when he received the name Daniel.
age 12 Enters monastic life He left home as a boy of about twelve to enter a monastery, where he was clothed in the monastic habit and, according to one account, eventually rose to the standing of abbot.
c. 451 Meeting with Simeon the Stylite On a journey passing near Telanissos he met Simeon the Stylite and received his blessing; sources relate that Simeon foretold Daniel would himself take up the life of a pillar-dweller. Around this period he is said to have withdrawn to ascetic seclusion.
after c. 451 Takes up the stylite life near Constantinople Daniel settled in the vicinity of Constantinople, near Anaplus, and erected a pillar on which he lived. He is reported to have remained for varying periods on one or another of three pillars over the course of about thirty-three years.
5th century Ordination by Patriarch Gennadius After a dispute with a local landowner over the pillar, Daniel appealed to Emperor Leo I and Patriarch Gennadius of Constantinople. Gennadius ordained him priest; according to his life, the patriarch administered communion to him by means of a ladder brought to the pillar.
475 Opposition to Basiliscus Sources relate that Daniel opposed the monophysite party and that during the usurpation of Basiliscus he descended from his pillar to confront the controversy over the orthodox faith at the capital, the one occasion on which he is said to have come down.
493 Repose He reposed in 493, reportedly in about his eightieth year. His feast is commemorated on December 11.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

Life on the Pillar

Daniel is remembered as a leading exemplar of the stylite ascetic life, in which a monk lived continuously exposed on the top of a column. His life records that crowds of the sick and the troubled came to his pillar and that many received help and healing, and that he performed exorcisms.

The sources describe the physical hardship of the discipline: his feet were said to be covered with sores and ulcers, and the winds sometimes stripped him of his scanty clothing. He is reported to have lived in this manner for roughly thirty-three years, near Anaplus and the church of the Archangel Michael outside Constantinople.

Relations with the Emperors

Because his pillar stood near the imperial capital, Daniel was sought out by the rulers of his time. His life records visits and consultations by the emperors Leo I and Zeno, and one account describes a visit by Leo I in the company of Gubazes, king of Lazica.

He is presented in the sources as a counselor whose intercessions the emperors sought, and he is said to have foretold a great fire in Constantinople.

Defense of the Faith

Daniel lived during the doctrinal controversies that followed the Council of Chalcedon. The sources record that he opposed monophysitism and that he stood against the usurper Basiliscus, who favored that party, descending from his pillar to take part in the dispute over orthodox doctrine at the capital.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints