PART

11.

were called stylites by the Greeks, and sancti co- CENT. V. lumnares, or pillar saints, by the Latins. These were persons of a most singular and extravagant turn of mind, who stood motionless upon the tops of pillars, expressly raised for this exercise of their patience, and remained there for several years, amidst the admiration and applause of the stupid populace. The inventor of this strange and ridiculous discipline was Simeon, a Syrian, who began his follies by changing the agreeable employment of a shepherd, for the senseless austerities of the monkish life. But his enthusiasm carried him still greater lengths; for, in order to climb as near heaven as he could, he passed thirty seven years of his wretched life upon five pillars of six, twelve, twenty two, thirty six, and forty cubits high, and thus acquired a most shining reputation, and attracted the veneration of all about him. Many of the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, seduced by a false ambition, and an utter ignorance of truc religion, followed the example of this fanatic, though not with the same degree of austerity.a

See the Acta Sanctorum Mensis Januarii, tom. i. p. 261-277, where the reader will find the account we have given of this whimsical discipline. Theodoret, indeed, had before given several hints of it, alleging, among other things, that Simeon had gradually added to the height of his pillar, with a design to approach by this means nearer to heaven. See Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de l'Eglise, tom. xv. p. 347, edit. Paris. See also the Acts of Simeon the stylite, in Steph. Euodii Assemanni Actis Martyrum, Orient. et Occident. vol. ii. p. 227; published at Rome, in folio, in the year 1748.

The learned Frederic Spanheim, in his Ecclesiastical History, p. 1154, speaks of a second Simeon the stylite, mentioned by Evagrius, Hist. lib. vi. cap. xxiii. who lived in the sixth century. This second fanatic seems to have carried his austerities still further than the chief of the sect; for he remained upon his pillar sixty eight years, and from thence, like the first Simeon, he taught, or rather deluded the gazing multitude, declaimed against heresy, pretended to cast out devils, to heal diseases, and to foretel future events.

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CENT. V. And what is almost incredible, this superstitious practice continued in vogue until the twelfth century, when however, it was at length totally suppressed.

Further de fects of the public instructors, and

ters.

The Latins had too much wisdom and prudence to imitate the Syrians and orientals in this whimsical superstition. And when a certain fanatic or impostor, named Wulfilaicus, erected one of these pillars in the country of Treves, and proposed living upon it after the manner of Simeon; the neighbouring bishops ordered it to be pulled down, and thus nipped this species of superstition in the bud." XIII. The mystic rules of discipline and manners had a bad effect upon the moral writers, and those practical wr who were set apart for the instruction of christians. Thus, in instructing the catechumens and others, they were more diligent and zealous in inculcating a regard for the external parts of religion, and an attachment to bodily exercise, than in forming the heart and the affections to inward piety and solid virtue. Nay, they went so far as to prescribe rules of sanctity and virtue little different from the unnatural rigour and fanatical piety of the mystics. Salvian, and other celebrated writers, gave it as their opinion, that none were truly and perfectly holy, but those who abandoned all riches and honours, abstained from matrimony, banished all joy and cheerfulness from their hearts, and macerated their bodies with various sorts of torments and mortifications. And as all could not support such excessive degrees of severity, those madmen, or fanatics, whose robust constitutions and savage tempers were the best adapted to this kind of life,

See Urb. Godofr. Siberi Diss. de Sanctis Columnaribus. Caroli Majelli Diss. de stylitis, published in Assemanni Acta Martyr. Orient, et Occident. tom. ii. p. 246, where may be seen a copperplate print of Simeon's pillar.

• Gregor. Turonens. Histor. Francor. lib. viii. cap. xv. p. 387.

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were distinguished by the public applause, and saw ICENT. V their influence and authority increase daily. And thus saints started up like mushrooms in almost every place.

Jerome

and

versy between Vigilantias.

XIV. A small number of ecclesiastics, animated The controby the laudable spirit of reformation, boldly attempted to pluck up the roots of this growing superstition, and to bring back the deluded multitude from this vain and chimerical discipline to the practice of solid and genuine piety. But the votaries of superstition who were superior in number, reputation, and authority, reduced them soon to silence, and rendered their noble and pious efforts utterly ineffectual. We have an example of this in the case of Vigilantius, a man remarkable for his learning and eloquence, who was born in Gaul, and went from thence to Spain, where he performed the functions of a presbyter. This ecclesiastic, on his return from a voyage he had made into Palestine and Egypt, began, about the beginning of this century, to propagate several doctrines, and to publish repeated exhortations quite opposite to the opinions and manners of the times. Among other things, he denied that the tombs, and the bones of the martyrs were to be honoured with any sort of homage or worship; and therefore censured the pilgrimages that were made to places that were reputed holy. He turned into derision the prodigies which were said to be wrought in the temples consecrated to martyrs, and condemned the custom of performing vigils in them. He asserted, and indeed with reason, that the custom of burning tapers at the tombs of the martyrs in broad day, was imprudently borrowed from the ancient superstition of the pagans. He maintained moreover, that prayers addressed to departed saints were void of

119.

Augustin complains of this in his famous epistle to Januarius, No.

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CENT. V. all efficacy; and treated with contempt, fasting and mortifications, the celibacy of the clergy, and the various austerities of the monastic life. And final ly, he affirmed that the conduct of those who, dis. tributing their substance among the indigent, sub. mitted to the hardships of a voluntary poverty, or sent a part of their treasures to Jerusalem for devout purposes, had nothing in it acceptable to the Deity.

about origen

isin.

There were among the Gallic and Spanish bishops several that relished the opinions of Vigilantius. But Jerome, the great monk of the age, assailed this bold reformer of religion with sucla bitterness and fury, that the honest presbyter soon found that nothing but his silence could preserve his life from the intemperate rage of bigotry and superstition. This project then of reforming the corruptions, which a fanatical and superstitious zeal had introduced into the church, was choked in its birth." And the name of good Vigilantius remains still in the list of heretics, which is acknowledged as authentic by those who, without any regard to their own judgment or the declarations of scripture, followed blindly the decisions of antiquity.

Disputes xv. The controversies which had been raised in Egypt, concerning Origen and his doctrine, toward the conclusion of the preceding century, were now renewed at Constantinople, and carried on without either decency or prudence. The nitrian monks, banished from Egypt, on account of their attachment to Origen, took refuge at Constantinople, and were treated by John Chrysostom, the bishop of that city, with clemency and benignity. This no sooner came to the knowledge of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, than he formed a perfidious

Bayie's Dictionary, at the article Vigilantius. Barbeyrac, De la Morale des Peres, p. 252. Gerhar. Jo. Vossius, Thesibus Historico Theologicis, p. 170. Histoire Litteraire de la France, tom. ii. p. 57,

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project against the eloquent prelate; and sent the CENT. V. famous Epiphanius, with several other bishops, to Constantinople, to compass his fall, and deprive him of his episcopal dignity. No time could be more favourable for the execution of this project than that in which it was formed; for Chrysostom, by his austerity, and his vehement declamations against the vices of the people, and the corrupt manners of the ladies of the court, had incurred the displeasure of many, and had also excited, in a more particular manner, the resentment and indignation of the empress Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius. This violent princess sent for Theophilus and the Egyptian bishops, who, pursuant to her orders, repaired to Constantinople; and having called a council, inquired into the religious sentiments of Chrysostom, and examined his morals, and the whole course of his conduct and conversation, with the utmost severity. This council which was held in the suburbs of Chalcedon, in the year 403, with Theophilus at its head, declared Chrysostom unworthy of his high rank in the church, on account of the favourable manner in which he stood disposed toward Origen and his followers; and in consequence of this decree, condemned him to banishment. The people of Constantinople, who were tenderly attached to their pious and worthy bishop, rose in a tumultuous manner, and prevented the execution of this unrighteous sentence." When this tumult was entirely hushed, the same unrelenting judges, in order to satisfy their vindictive

w This is not quite exact. For it appears, by the accounts of the best historians, that this sentence was really executed, and that the emperor confirmed the decree of this first synod, by banishing Chrysostom into Bithynia; or, as others allege, by ordering him to retire to the country. A violent earthquake and a terrible shower of hail, which were looked upon by the multitude as judgments occasioned by the unrighteous persecution of their pious bishop, alarmed the court, and engaged them to recal Chrysostom to his office.