Digging Holes and Building Pillars: Simeon Stylites and the “Geometry” of Ascetic Practice
In Constantine P. Cavafy's 1917 poem, “Simeon,” a young cultured aesthete (probably from Antioch), writes his friend Mebis about a recent chance encounter with the famous stylite that left him “shattered, unnerved, and aghast,” and entirely unfit to resume his sophistic career in belles lettres...
| Published in: | Harvard theological review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2010
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
Year: 2010, Volume: 103, Issue: 4, Pages: 447-470 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In Constantine P. Cavafy's 1917 poem, “Simeon,” a young cultured aesthete (probably from Antioch), writes his friend Mebis about a recent chance encounter with the famous stylite that left him “shattered, unnerved, and aghast,” and entirely unfit to resume his sophistic career in belles lettres: Ah, don—t smile; for thirty-five years, think of it—winter, summer, daytime, night, for thirty-fiveyears he's been living, martyring himself, atop a pillar.Before we were born—I—m twenty-nine years old,you are, I think, younger than I am—before we were born, imagine it,Simeon climbed up that pillar.And since that time he has stayed there facing God.1 |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816010000805 |