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ELEVATED WORSHIP. The Syrian ascetic Simeon the Stylite (390–459 CE) worshiped for 37 years on top of a 30-foot-tall pillar near Aleppo. One of the most notable Christian figures of late antiquity, Simeon started a new form of devotion—stylitism (from Greek stylos, “pillar”)—that was widely emulated and venerated. Around Simeon’s pillar, of which only a small rocky stub survives (shown here), grew a sprawling complex of monumental basilicas, churches, and pilgrims’ hostels, a site known today as Qal‘at Sim‘an.