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KIM YOUNG TAE / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

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, as illustrated by this sixth-century silver votive plaque, which shows Simeon perched atop his pillar, confronted by a monstrous serpent.