Monty Python and Symeon the Stylite

Here is Terry Jones of Monty Python fame in one of the very best comedic moments in film IMHO — he’s performing as a desert hermit whose vows of silence and harsh lifestyle are broken after the man called Brian accidentally leads a crowd of people to the shallow pit he had been dwelling in for decades. The Python team were so funny in part because they knew their history so well. Hermits like the one in _The Life of Brian_ really existed in the Ancient Mediterranean, and their behaviors could be even more extreme than the ones featured in the film.

My favorite ones were the stylites: actual people who put their extreme holiness on display by climbing on top of narrow pillars and living on them for decades. The most famous of these was Symeon the Stylite (d. 459) – you can see his column and a groupie sending him supplies by rope in the second image. These people endured heat and cold, ate as minimally as they could, and prayed ceaselessly in public demonstrations of their detachment from thisworldly pleasures. Some referred to such ascetics as “athletes of Christ” because of how extra they were. Just one example of this — Symeon’s feet basically started to rot after the holy man had been still for so long, so much so that his left foot “oozed pus and worms down from the pillar to the ground.” His followers were unable to bear the foul smell and actually put cedar resin around their noses when they approached.

The Stylites ended up being super important local figures in Byzantium, because people considered them free from pettiness, bribery, or other selfish motives. There is irony to the fact that these holy men became super popular while they were seeking isolation and severance from anything having to do with this mortal coil. They did get very powerful — but they paid a very high price in exchange.