Saint Simeon was a stylite, meaning that he sat on a pillar as part of his penance and life of prayer.
Prior to getting onto his pillar, he had been in a monastery where his mortification was so great that the rope of twisted palm leaves he had worn had eaten into his flesh.
St Simeon was not eating much, going as far as fainting from lack of nourishment on a few occasion. His Lent penance was such that he would start it standing (on his pillar), then sitting, then finally lying down as he would not be able to do anything else having grown so weak.
He died on the 1st of September (which is Saint Verene's day) and was worshipped in his living days, one of the few saints to have been so.
The Symbols of St Simeon are the column and the scurges.
Now my Simeon is Simeon Hunter. I met him when we were both going for uni interviews during clearing. Simeon is fond of food and a superb cook. He will sporadically restrict his eating and has been known to scoff packets (in the plural) of ginger nut biscuits whilst under stress. Exam time saw him go through bucket loads of it (although he did try once to blame the cat).
He is an art historian, so I had fun putting in loads of intertextual references in his icon.
Oil on gesso, 4 x 6 inches.
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