stylite

[stahy-lahyt]

noun

Ecclesiastical History.

1. one of a class of solitary ascetics who lived on the top of high pillars or columns.

stylite

/ staɪˈlɪtɪk, ˈstaɪlaɪt /

noun

1. Christianity one of a class of recluses who in ancient times lived on the top of high pillars

Other Word Forms

• stylitic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stylite¹

1630–40; < Late Greek stȳlī́tēs, equivalent to stŷl ( os ) pillar + -itēs -ite ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of stylite¹

C17: from Late Greek stulitēs, from Greek stulos a pillar

Example Sentences

A stylite was an ascetic who lived, usually for religious reasons, perched day in, day out on top of a pillar.

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Yet how could I shock the sweet filial heart of my cousin by a fierce lampoon or stylites against her father, had Latin even figured amongst her accomplishments?

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Holy people, anchorites, recluses, ascetics, stylites, hermits in deserts, are no match for me in fortitude of spirit—yet even they fell in the struggle with the temptation of the diabolical flesh.

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He highly approved of the extraordinary conduct of the stylite, and the heads of the Libyan Church followed, in the absence of Athanasius, the opinion of the Patriarch.

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Soon the report of this extraordinary existence spread from village to village, and the labourers of the valley came on Sundays, with their wives and children, to look at the stylite.

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Related Words

• recluse