The pillar saint seen as a totally devoted emperor: the in-group around Symeon Stylites the elder
Most modern studies have treated Christian pillar saints as constituting one among many types of Christian sainthood that appeared in the first centuries of Christianity. In general, these studies have emphasized the similarities that connected pillar sainthood to other forms of Christian ascetic pr...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
2023
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| In: |
Religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 53, Issue: 1, Pages: 161-175 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Symeon Stylites, the Elder 390-459
/ Devotion
/ Radicalism
/ Visibility
/ Empire
/ Authority
/ Performativity (Cultural sciences)
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KBK Europe (East) KCD Hagiography; saints |
| Further subjects: | B
super-religiosity
B Symeon Stylites the Elder B Total devotion B mass conversion B indiction year B imperial ideology B pillar saints |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Most modern studies have treated Christian pillar saints as constituting one among many types of Christian sainthood that appeared in the first centuries of Christianity. In general, these studies have emphasized the similarities that connected pillar sainthood to other forms of Christian ascetic practice and performance, However, the ascetic practice of the stylites can also be seen as a form of total devotion characterized by an extreme and conspicuous visual performance. Taking the first and most famous of these, namely saint Symeon Stylites (the Elder, ca. 390–459 CE) as our case study, this contribution suggests that Symeon’s performance should be viewed as a new form of visible and competitive super-religiosity, with the saint performing within an intense in-group exchange and with obvious emulation of imperial practices, based primarily on the account of Theodoret of Cyrrhus. |
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| ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2022.2150403 |