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Stylite5th 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.

December 11New Calendar
Feast Day
December 24Old Calendar
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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.

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide
KontakionTone 8

You ascended your pillar like a brightly shining star, O blest One;
you illumined the world with your venerable deeds dispersing the darkness of error.
Therefore we pray you, Father Daniel,
now illumine the hearts of your servants with the never-setting light of wisdom.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 1

You were a pillar of patient endurance,
having imitated the forefathers, O Venerable One:
Job in suffering, and Joseph in temptations.
You lived like the bodiless ones while yet in the flesh, O Daniel, our Father.
Beseech Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline7 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 409Birth in MesopotamiaBorn 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.
  2. age 12Enters monastic lifeHe 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.
  3. c. 451Meeting with Simeon the StyliteOn 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.
  4. after c. 451Takes up the stylite life near ConstantinopleDaniel 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.
  5. 5th centuryOrdination by Patriarch GennadiusAfter 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.
  6. 475Opposition to BasiliscusSources 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.
  7. 493ReposeHe reposed in 493, reportedly in about his eightieth year. His feast is commemorated on December 11.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

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.

Companions2 figuresShowHide
The pioneering pillar-saint whose blessing Daniel received and whose example he is said to have followed.
Symeonthe Stylite
Who ordained him to the priesthood, performing the rite from the ground when he would not come down.
Saint GennadiusPatriarch of Constantinople
Related Saints3 saintsShowHide

Saints connected to his life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

A later pillar-dweller reckoned together with Symeon the Elder and Daniel among the foremost of the stylite ascetics.
Venerable Alypiusthe Stylite
A fellow pillar-ascetic of the stylite tradition.
Symeon Stylitesof Lesbos
A prince of Moscow named after him at birth.
Right-believing Prince Danielof Moscow

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