Ascetic Life and Ministry to Children
After giving away his material wealth, Stylianos joined desert hermits at a young age and pursued a rigorous life of prayer and fasting. Tradition relates that, experiencing jealousy from fellow monks, he relocated to a cave in the wilderness where, by some accounts, he was sustained by food miraculously delivered by an angel.
He held a particular affinity for children, believing that spiritual salvation required, in his words, "a soul like that of a little child." Parents would entrust their children to him for spiritual guidance, and according to tradition he established what has been described as one of the earliest known day-care arrangements, where mothers could safely leave their children in his care.
He came to be sought after as a healer of both physical and spiritual afflictions, his cave becoming a gathering place for the sick and suffering. By tradition his healing ministry began after a night of prayer in which he was overcome by a sense of the glory of the Holy Spirit; the following day he laid his hand on a sick child who immediately recovered. He was said to refuse offers to commercialize his gifts, holding that he had already "been paid in advance" through spiritual serenity.
Repose and Legacy
The date of his death is unknown. The synaxarion relates that at his repose his face shone like the sun and an angel appeared to take his soul to heavenly glory.
After his death the people of Paphlagonia continued to invoke his intercession, and it became a custom to paint icons of Saint Stylianos above the beds of sick children. His veneration was incorporated into Greek and Vlach household practices and into customs for the naming of children. He is venerated in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
Scholars generally accept his historical existence, though some discussion has existed regarding whether he should be distinguished from Saint Alypios the Stylite.
Relics & Shrines
His most significant relic is his skull, housed at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Saika, in the Municipality of Agrafa within the Metropolis of Thessaly (Thessaliotidos). Additional relics are distributed among several monasteries in central Greece, including locations in Fthiotida, Lesvos, and Magnesia.
In 2011 the skull was stolen and later discovered openly displayed for sale at an antique shop in the Monastiraki district of Athens. Police arrested a 51-year-old man responsible for numerous church thefts in the Karditsa region, along with a 76-year-old shopkeeper for receiving stolen goods, and the relic was returned to its monastery.
Miracles & Traditions
Traditional Accounts: He was renowned for healing children through prayer and for helping childless couples to conceive. Tradition holds that he became a patron of unborn children after his intercession aided a barren woman who had assisted him; when she conceived, other women unable to bear children sought his help. Mothers who invoked him with faith and displayed his holy icon were believed to conceive, while sick infants were believed to receive healing through his intercession.
