The Gentle Art of Pole-Sitting
(Gen.15:5-12, 17-18; Phil.3:17 – 4:1; Lk.9:28-36)
In 1924, in a publicity stunt for a new movie, a man named Alvin ‘Shipwreck’ Kelly was hired to sit on a pole outside a Hollywood theatre for as long as he could. He lasted for 13 hours, 13 minutes.
Kelly made a career out of this, but he was an amateur compared to the hermits of the early church. St Simeon Stylites the Elder, for example, climbed a pillar near Aleppo in Syria in the year 423, and there he stayed for 37 years. (His pillar was reportedly destroyed by a Russian missile in 2016.)
It was said that St Simeon knew he could not escape from the world horizontally, so he decided to do so vertically.
Some years later, St Simeon Stylites the Younger (521-597 AD) lived high up another pillar for over 60 years. As a boy, he had learnt about pole-sitting from a hermit named John, and he spent most of his life in prayer and penance atop a pillar near Antioch, in Turkey. He lived on fruits and herbs and said Mass up there, on a raised platform.
God must have blessed these two Saints Simeon, because they performed many miracles, and people came from all over for spiritual advice and healing.
Of course, they weren’t the only hermits to live atop pillars. In the 5th Century, St Daniel the Stylite did so for 33 years in Constantinople, preaching, praying and giving spiritual advice.
They were called ‘Stylites’ because that’s the Greek word for ‘pillar-dweller’.
But what inspired them to live this way? It was the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration in today’s Gospel.
As Luke tells us, Peter, James and John go with Jesus to the top of Mt Tabor to pray and reflect, and for a brief moment they see Jesus’ clothes turn dazzlingly white, and his face shines like the sun.
On one side of Jesus stood Moses, the great lawgiver, on the other was Elijah, the greatest of the prophets. And out of a cloud, they could hear our heavenly Father say, ‘This is my Son, the chosen one. Listen to him.’
The disciples are utterly amazed. For but an instant, they get to see who Jesus really is – the Son of God – and they are given a taste of the mystical joy of heaven.
Peter wants them all to stay there, but this is an experience that’s not meant to last. Rather, its purpose is to encourage them in their faith, and to help them focus on God’s promise of eternal life.
Having received the endorsement of Moses and Elijah, Jesus then turns towards Jerusalem for his final journey, from Mount Tabor – the hill of light and joy, to Mount Calvary – the hill of sorrow and pain. But of course, his journey doesn’t end there, for it’s followed by the glory of Easter.
This is what drove saints like Simeon and Daniel to become pillar-dwellers. They wanted to go somewhere quiet where they could meditate on the life of Christ and the mystery of their faith.
Living high on a pillar lifted them above the ordinary concerns of everyday life. It symbolised their physical and spiritual elevation towards God. It was a form of penance for their sins. And it gave them a vision: as they looked down towards earth, they could see how empty and passing the things of this world really are.
Every Lent, we are all invited to do the same – to go somewhere quiet to pray, to reflect on our lives, and to strengthen our relationship with God.
And as we do this, it’s worth remembering that heaven awaits those with true faith. Too many of us tend to take heaven for granted, or we simply forget about it altogether. But heaven is something we all need to prepare for, for we will not get there without the mercy of God.
This is a good thing to think about during Lent, as are the traditional spiritual practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
We don’t have to retreat into a desert to do this, or even climb up a pillar or pole.
However, it is important that we find somewhere quiet, away from our day-to-day distractions, where we can reflect deeply on our lives, and think about what we need to do to live a holy, God-centred life.