Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. The Greek Menaeas and Menologies and Russian Kalendars on Dec. 11, but the Neapolitan marble Kalendar of the 9th cent on Dec. 12. Authority A Life written in the 6th cent., quoted by S. John Damascene. Theodore the Lector (fl. 527) in his Ecclesiastical History. A Life in Metaphrastes.] S. Daniel, “that admirable man,” as Theodore the Lector styles him, was one of the first imitators of the extraordinary life of S. Simeon the Stylite. He was bom at Maratha, near Samosata. His father's name was Elisha, and his mother's Martha. The latter had long been barren, and Daniel was given her after much praying, and a promise that he should be dedicated from infancy to God. Accordingly, when he was only five years old, the father and mother took him to a monastery, nameless, for he had not yet been baptized, and they wished him to receive his introduction to the Church and to Monachism simultaneously. The abbot bade the child go to the altar and bring from it one of the books that lay upon it The boy obeyed, and returned with the Prophet Daniel. “That, then,” said the abbot, “ shall be his name.”
As Daniel was too young to become a monk, he was sent back to his parents, and they brought him up till he was aged twelve, when he ran away from home, and presented himself at the gate of a monastery not far from Maratha. S. Daniel the Stylite.
He cast himself at the feet of the abbot, and said, “ I am come, my father, to live to Jesus Christ, and to die to the flesh. If my health fails under the process, I will gladly die rather than look back.” He was taken in, but not allowed for some time to wear the monastic habit His parents urged the abbot to expedite the day of his profession, and the abbot yielded to their urgency sooner than he would have otherwise thought of doing, and cut off the young monk's hair, and clothed him with the habit of religion, before his parents' eyes.
The superior was obliged after a time to make a journey to Antioch, and he took Daniel with him. They came to Talada, or Telanissa, not far from where S. Simeon was spending his life on the top of a pillar. Daniel was eager to see the saint, and the abbot took him to the spot. Daniel was allowed to ascend the pillar, and he was received with affection by the Stylite, who blessed him, and spoke to him of the love of God.
Daniel remained in the monastery till the death of his abbot, as a humble monk, but when he was elected by his brethren to be their superior, he ran away, and betook himself to S. Simeon, and spent fifteen days with him. He then set out to visit the holy places, but found that the Samaritans were in arms; and at the advice of an old man of sanctity, he did not risk his life in attempting to traverse their country, but went instead to Constantinople. This was apparently in 452, in the reign of Marcian, when Anatolius was patriarch [the title of the bishops of the great ancient sees: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem]. For the first seven days he remained in the out-buildings of the church of S. Michael, on the north of the city; and afterwards he took up his abode in an old temple at Philamporus, which was popularly supposed to be the haunt of evil spirits, but which was really tenanted by owls, jackals, and other wild creatures. These disturbed his rest for some nights by their noises, but Daniel shut himself up from assault by [Dec. xi.
wolves in a small apartment, the door of which he blocked at night with stones. Some of the clergy and laymen of the better classes in the neighbourhood complained to Anatolius of the ragged monk who was encouraging superstition among the people by his eccentricities and asceticism. Anatolius, instead of driving him away, visited him, and embraced him, wishing him Godspeed. Daniel spent nine years in the old heathen temple, and was believed to have wrought miracles. At the end of that time, the desire came upon him to follow the example of S. Simeon, and take up his abode on the top of a pillar. His desire was greatly enhanced by the following circumstance.
S. Simeon had bidden his disciple Sergius take his habit, or scapular, after his death to the emperor Leo. Sergius went to Constantinople with this valuable bequest. But Leo was either too much engaged with business, or too inappreciative of its value, to see Sergius, and the disciple of the great Stylite wandered about Constantinople with his inestimable and yet unvalued treasure, not knowing what to do with it. By chance he came to Philamporus, and made the acquaintance of Daniel, and they fell to talking of the merits of Simeon. Daniel then confided to Sergius his desire of humbly following the example of Simeon by also ascending a pillar, of which there were plenty to choose among in the old temple. Sergius, delighted to hear this, gave the scapular of the saint to Daniel, who received it with enthusiasm, and thought himself blessed as Elisha when the mantle of Elijah descended on him. Sergius then resolved to tarry at Constantinople, and attend on Daniel as he had on Simeon. None of the pillars of the old temple proved satisfactory, at least in their present situation, and consequently a pillar of a commodious height, and with a sufficiently broad capital, was set up by an admirer of Daniel on a hill in the S. Daniel the Stylite. 145 Anaplian quarter, on the side of the Bosphorus, towards the Black Sea.
Daniel issued from his cell at night, and before break of day mounted his pillar, where he soon became an object of curiosity and devotion to the sight-seers and pious of Byzantium. Crowds came to see him, and brought lunatics and sick people to be healed by him. Those who were afflicted were hoisted up to the top of the pillar, and then Daniel applied his hands to them, and was so successful as to cure many.
The patriarch Gennadius visited Daniel, ascended the column, and ordained the Stylite priest, after which Daniel celebrated the Divine Mysteries on the top of his pillar. The emperor Leo built him a taller, but more commodious pillar, composed, in fact, of two columns, with a little sentrybox on the top, into which he could retire in storms, and he finally roofed over the top of the column, as Daniel was exposed for a couple of nights to a severe snowstorm. At the request of Daniel, Leo sent to Antioch for the relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] of Simeon Stylites, and they were placed in a chapel at the foot of the column. Several houses were built near, to serve as the cells of the disciples of Daniel, and thence sprung up the afterwards important monastery of S. Daniel. The winter of 466 was very stormy, and, in the gales, the pillar of Daniel was shaken, and threatened to fall. The emperor Leo rode to see it, and was furious with the builder of the column for not having made the structure stronger; his rage, however, does not seem to have extended to the Almighty for having sent rain and tempest against it. He determined to wreak a terrible vengeance on the builder, whom he could reach, and put him to a miserable death. But Daniel interfered, and with difficulty obtained the life of the unfortunate man. On his way back to Constantinople, as Leo was descending the hill on which the column stood, his horse [Doc. xi.
tripped and fell, the emperor was flung on the road, and his crown was dashed with such force on the ground that the pearls started from their sockets. Leo escaped with only a scratch on his forehead, and attributed his deliverance from broken bones to the merits of S. Daniel. The groom of the stables, trembling for his life, and feeling pretty sure that the emperor would maim or kill him, because of the accident, fled to the pillar of Daniel as to a sanctuary. The groom was an Arian [followers of Arius, who taught that the Son is a created being, not fully God], but in the agony of his fear for his life, he assured the hermit on the pillar that he was quite prepared to believe and confess whatever was orthodox, if he would intercede for him. Daniel consented to these terms, and wrote to Leo to announce the conversion of the groom, and his desire that he might be pardoned for the accident which had befallen the emperor. Leo replied, “The danger in which I was placed was due to none but myself, and was my punishment for having dared get into my saddle in your august presence, instead of humbly walking till out of sight of your pillar. Far from being angry with Jordanus, the groom, I rejoice that the fall of my horse has raised him from his errors.”
Leo took all the distinguished personages who visited him to see Daniel, as one of the sights of Constantinople. Gobazes, king of Lazica, in Colchis, having come to the capital, was taken by Leo to see the saint. Gobazes prostrated himself before the pillar, which he adored along with the old man on the top of it, and cried out, “ I thank thee, King of Heaven, that in having come to see an earthly monarch, I should have been allowed to behold the celestial life of this man.”
Leo had been but a humble tribune in the army, an Illyrian by birth, but he had been raised to the throne by the influence of Aspar, the general of the forces in the East. When the emperor Marcian died, without issue, Aspar, coveted the throne for himself; but as he was an Alan by birth, and an Arian by profession, he did not venture to assume it, but nominated to it Leo, whom he hoped to rule, and who, he vainly expected, would be grateful to his patron after his elevation above him.
Leo was orthodox and pious, or superstitious. His wife, the empress Verina, veiled under a form of piety a character the infamy of which afterwards transpired. It was their united desire to have a son, to whom to bequeath the throne. For this they applied to Daniel, and he promised his most fervent prayers. A son was given them in 462, but the prayers of Daniel did not succeed in retaining him to his parents, for he died shortly after his birth. The empress Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius [name of Roman emperors; Theodosius I (379–395) made Christianity the state religion] II., and widow of Valentinian III., came to Constantinople in 462, and showed the saint no less veneration than did Leo. She begged him to come with her to one of her estates, and set up his pillar, and perch himself on the top of it, in the neighbourhood of her mansion, when she could consult him at leisure. But he declined the offer.
The brother of Verina was Basiliscus, a man avaricious, cruel, and crafty, who withheld his hand from no crime which was likely to advance himself. To him was confided the command of the imperial troops.
War broke out between the emperor and Genseric, king of the Vandals. Genseric plundered Italy, and cast longing eyes on Alexandria and Constantinople. Leo sent a fleet against the Vandals, and in this expedition the incompetence or untrustworthiness of Basiliscus appeared. His troops had already plundered the north coast of Africa, and were threatening Carthage, when Aspar, jealous of his success, advised Basiliscus to rest content with these results, and Basiliscus, bribed, it is said, by Genseric, betrayed his own fleet into the hands of the Vandals. The trusty Ad* [Dec. ii.
miral, John Dominicus, after a heroic defence, plunged into the sea to drown his grief and shame. Basiliscus returned to Constantinople, but instead of being punished, was pardoned at the petition of his sister, and one of the generals, Marcellinus, who murmured at the betrayal of the fleet, was put to death. Basiliscus was, however, obliged to retire from Constantinople, and Aspar was left supreme under the emperor whom he had made.
When the expedition had started, Leo went to the pillar of S. Daniel, to implore the prayers of the Stylite, in which he trusted, and not without reason, rather than in the talents and probity of Basiliscus. Daniel promised him that Alexandria should not be taken and burnt by the Vandals, and his words were fulfilled.
The feeble emperor, in order to obtain some support for his throne from outside, endeavoured to make an alliance with the Isaurians, a bold nomad horde of robbers, who had risen to great power. For this purpose he invited one of their chiefs to Constantinople, had him baptized, and given the name of Zeno, married him to his daughter Ariadne, and made him general of the troops in the East. Zeno's growing influence and fortune awoke the rivalry of Aspar, who sought his life. Zeno, warned in time, fled to Antioch, and Leo, to pacify Aspar, named Patricius, one of his sons, Caesar, and designated him his successor. He gave his daughter Leontia to Patricius, and hoped that he had secured thereby peace for himself.
But Leo had not taken into consideration the religious prejudices of the citizens of Byzantium. They saw with suspicion the elevation of an Arian, rose in tumult against Aspar, and he and his son fled to Chalcedon. Leo went obsequiously after him, trembling lest Aspar should take the head of the army and chastise the insolent citizens. He promised him his protection, and the security of his offices; Dec. iz.] S. Daniel the Stylite.
then secretly surrounded him with some assassins, who, by Leo’s orders, murdered him and his eldest son in the palace of Chalcedon. The two other sons succeeded in escaping, though severely wounded (a.d. 471). This act of treachery and cruelty created a tumult in Constantinople; the party of Aspar and the Arians threatened the emperor, who was thrown into great alarm, and hastily recalled Zeno and Basiliscus. Another tumult broke out, when Leo named his son-in-law, the Isaurian Zeno, as Caesar and his successor. Ariadne, ambitious and crafty, persuaded her father to invest her son Leo, aged four, with the title of Augustus. Zeno, like his father-in-law, held Daniel in high repute, and consulted him before undertaking anything of importance. He was sent into Thrace against the barbarians who ravaged that province. Before leaving, he sought S. Daniel, and the saint promised him, what was almost as much as could be promised to a general of the empire tottering to its fall, that his arms would meet with no disgraceful disaster. In January, 474, Leo lost his life in a riot. With the exception of a few laws, no traces remain of his seventeen years’ reign. Of feeble body, and purpose, and mind, his only redeeming quality was his orthodoxy, which was unimpeachable. He was greatly under the influence of S. Daniel, and galloped from his palace to the pillar whenever in perplexity, to seek from that oracle advice and enlightenment. He died at the age of seventy-three, and was surnamed by his flatterers “ the Great,” a title not ratified to him by posterity. Leo II., son of Zeno and Ariadne, was now emperor, surrounded by the triumvirate of his mother, grandmother, and father. The two ruling women, fearing lest the power should elude their grasp during the regency of a feeble child, carried the young emperor to the hippodrome, placed him on the imperial throne, and Zeno bowed before his son with much humility to receive from his infant hands the crown, and [Dec. zz.
from his lips the titles of Augustus and fellow-emperor. This was the first and only act of imperial authority exercised by the poor child, who soon after disappeared, apparently poisoned by his own father, who desired to reign as sole emperor. Zeno was vain, crafty, and revengeful. His stepmother Verina, his wife Ariadne, were women without womanhood; his son, by a first marriage, Zeno, was hated for his intolerable arrogance and excesses, but fortunately was not long-lived; his two brothers, who lived on his alms, and assisted him with their worthless counsel, were men with as little character and genius as the emperor. Thus the court of Byzantium became a nursery of intrigue and crimes. Verina, who found her son-in-law not wholly sub missive to her will, headed a plot against him, along with her paramour, Patricius, to obtain for herself and him the crown. But she carried on at the same time another intrigue with her brother Basiliscus. When this latter conspiracy was on the eve of breaking out, she divulged it to Zeno, pretended great alarm, and urged him to flight with his wife Ariadne. The cowardly emperor believed her assurances, and escaped from Constantinople, and took refuge in Isauria, his native land. Basiliscus was crowned by Verina: he gave his wife Zenoida the title of Augusta, and his son Marcus he created first Caesar, and then fellow-emperor. Zeno did not fly till he had consulted the oracle Daniel, who predicted to him a short exile, and then a return to his imperial throne. Daniel told him that like Nebuchadnezzai he would for a time be condemned to eat the herb of the field, but that after a while God would lift up his head again. Basiliscus and Zenoida were addicted to Eutychianism [followers of Eutyches, who said Christ had only a divine nature; condemned at Chalcedon in 451], and at their call, Timothy Ailourus, or “The Weasel,” bishop of Alexandria, who had been banished his see by the orthodox Leo, returned. Timothy the Weasel obtained from Basiliscus an encyclic letter which branded with anaDec. xx.] S. Daniel the Sty lit e.
thema the whole proceedings of the council of Chalcedon, and the Tome of S. Leo, as tainted with Nestorianism [Nestorius (d. c. 451), whose teaching split Christ into two persons; condemned at Ephesus in 431]. Everywhere the Eutychian bishops seized the sees, and expelled the orthodox prelates. Peter the Fuller was reinstalled at Antioch by Timothy himself, and Paul was given the see of Ephesus [a bishop’s “see” is his diocese, named from his seat (Latin sedes)], from which he had been cast out by Leo. Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, was a man of great ability. He beheld the unwelcome presence and increasing influence of the rival patriarch of Alexandria with jealous suspicion, and refused to admit him to the communion of the Church. Fierce struggles for power distracted Constantinople; questions on abstruse points of theology were argued out with cudgels and daggers, and reciprocal curses. On one side were the Eutychian, monks; on the other, Bishop Acacius and a large part of the populace and of the monks of Constantinople, for fierce bands of fanatic monks now appeared on each side. But the most powerful supporter of Acacius was S. Daniel. Each faction sought his aid or countenance. Acacius appealed to Daniel to defend with his tongue the truth of Chalcedon. Basiliscus complained to him of the violence of the patriarch, who was fomenting rebellion among his own soldiers. But Daniel sternly bade the emissary of Basiliscus withdraw. The tyrant had risen against God s truth proclaimed at Chalcedon, and God would revenge the defiance by hurling the upstart from his throne. The messenger, aghast, refused to bear such an answer by word of mouth. Daniel wrote it, sealed it, and bade the messenger convey it thus to the emperor.
But Acacius was not satisfied with such partisanship. He sent twice to implore Daniel to descend from that pillar up which more sober Christians would have been glad to escape to be away from the strife of party war. He consented, and went down; but he had lost the power of walk[Dec. xx.
in g, and had to be carried. His entry into Constantinople was one of triumph. Basiliscus trembled in his palace, and sent word that he would not meet him. He left the city in terror, and took refuge in his country palace at Hebdemon. Daniel, borne aloft in his chair, pursued the flying monarch to his place of refuge, and his attendant monks clamoured at the door for admission. Basiliscus barricaded himself against invasion. A Goth of his guard looking from the window, saw the hermit borne above the heads of the crowd, and said u Ha ! a new consul.” As he fell dead on the spot, probably struck by a stone from the rioters without, Basiliscus grew more frightened. Some of the officers of the emperor deserted him and swelled the crowd. One of the towers of the Hebdemon palace fell with a crash. Daniel bade his attendants take off their shoes and shake the dust from their feet against the anti-Christ, the second Diocletian [Roman emperor 284–305, who began the ‘Great Persecution’ of Christians in 303]. And he beat out the dust from his old habit towards the palace, as his defiance.
The mob returned to Constantinople without further violence, and Daniel was carried to the great church, where Acacius received him with demonstrations of lively joy. In the church a snake coiled itself round the feet of the hermit saint, but did him no harm.
Basiliscus, fearing for his throne, sent secretly to Daniel to implore him to visit him privately. The Stylite refused. Then the cowed emperor came himself to the hermit, grovelled at his feet, and implored his forgiveness and protection. Daniel poured forth upon him a torrent of denunciation, and predicted his speedy fall — a prediction certain of accomplishment. A coward, such as Basiliscus had proved himself to be, could not maintain himself long on the throne. Basiliscus, in abject terror at the strength and violence of orthodox zeal which he had provoked, issued a second encyclical letter, in favour of Chalcedon, and reversing what he Dec. xi.j.S'. Daniel the Stylite.
had declared in his first letter. But his guards were disgusted at his want of spirit There was not much choice between emperors— the stock seemed throughout rotten, and devoid of regenerative vigour; but Zeno, with all his faults, was not so dastardly as this Basiliscus. Moreover, Basiliscus had discovered, or suspected, the intrigues of his sister, and had executed her lover, Patricius, whom she had destined to dethrone him.
A fire broke out in Constantinople, and destroyed with the finest quarter of the city the magnificent library containing 120,000 manuscripts. Discontent was general. Zeno placed himself at the head of some provincial troops, and the Isaurian robbers. Basiliscus sent Illus against him, but the army and its commander went over to the enemy, and Constantinople yielded without a struggle to the combined army. Basiliscus fled for sanctuary to the church of S. Irene; but the refuge of Holy Peace was not for a heretic, said the patriarch, and cast him out, on the promise of Zeno that he would not shed the blood of the usurper. The wretched Basiliscus was taken, with his wife and children, to the castle of Limacus, near Cucusus, and shut up with them in a dungeon without food. They died of starvation, and were found, when the jailer opened the prison, locked in each other's arms (a.d. 477). The brief usurpation of Basiliscus had lasted but two years. Zeno was greeted by the orthodox as their deliverer and saviour. He reversed the decrees of Basiliscus, drove the Eutychians from their churches, and restored them to the Catholics.1 Zeno did nothing without consulting Daniel. He was under his influence as completely as was Leo. His want of firmness, his cunning and mistrust, filled his reign with distur1 Thnotheus Solofaciolus resumed the patriarchate of Alexandria, and endeavoured to reconcile the heretics by Christian gentleness. As he passed along the streets, the heretics cried, "Though we do not communicate with you, yet we love you." Thu great charity has cost him a place in the Martyrology and Menaca. [Dec. xx.
bances; and the fourteen years it lasted are as discreditable as any in the history of the Byzantine empire. Zeno, in his effort to pour oil on the troubled waters of religious controversy, issued his unfortunate Henoticon. It was composed, if not by Acacius, at all events under his direction, and almost certainly, also, with the sanction of S. Daniel, whose approval would assuredly have been solicited. The aim of this edict was not the reconciliation of conflicting parties, but the prevention of strife between them becoming more bitter, by requiring both to meet with outward conformity to Christian amity. The immediate effects of the Henoticon in the East seemed to encourage the fond hope of peace. The feud between the rival Churches of Constantinople and Alexandria was for a third time appeased. The three patriarchal sees of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople approved the edict; but it encountered deadly opposition from Rome. Pope Felix III. anathematized all the bishops who had subscribed the edict, and condemned the Henoticon as a seed-plot of impiety.
But our narrative has nothing more to do with the events of ecclesiastical history. Daniel was grown too old to descend again from his pillar; his heart, perhaps, too soft with the light of dawning eternity for him to detect the iniquity that lurked in an attempt to enforce mutual forbearance on controversial points. He lived several years after the restoration of Zeno, and then had a little exhortation written down as his last will, to be bequeathed to his disciples.
It ran thus: “My children and brothers, for you are both — my children, because I am your spiritual father; and my brethren, because God is our common Father — I go my way to our common Father. I love you too much to leave you orphans, grieving at the loss of a father. I leave the care of you to our Heavenly Father, Who created me and Dec. it.] •S’. Daniel the Stylite.
you; to Him Who made all things with wisdom; Who bowed the heavens, and came down; Who died, and rose again for us. He will dwell with you, and will keep you from evil. He is Master of all things, as He is Sovereign Wisdom, and He will preserve you according to His will. As a Father, He will correct you with love, if you stray; and He will extend to you the arms of His mercy to bring you back to Him. He will keep peace and union among you, and « make you as one before His Father, through that love which made Him die for us. Embrace humility, practise obedience, exercise hospitality, keep the fasts, observe the vigils, love poverty, and above all cherish charity, which is the first and greatest commandment. Keep yourselves firmly attached to all that concerns religion, avoid the tares of heresy, separate not yourselves from the Church — our mother. If you do all these things, you will be perfect.” There is a wonderful simplicity and beauty in this last touching instruction.
The saint, on the top of his pillar, when midnight was past, in the cold of a December morning, before the first streaks of dawn had lighted the south-east, by the glimmer of his lamps, celebrated the Eucharist, with the wintry stars shining crisply out of the dark sky. Three hours after, he was dying. Acacius of Constantinople was dead; his successor, Euphemius, hastened to receive his last sigh. A pious lady named Rhais came with expedition. The saint had promised her that she alone should lay out and prepare his body for burial. She placed it in a coffin of lead, and laid it in a tomb at the foot of the pillar. He died on December nth, about 489, when he was eighty years old. [Dec. xa
