THE LIFE OF A STYLITE
The same Abba Athanasios said that he had heard Abba Athenogenes, Bishop of Petra, mention that in his territory there was a stylite. Everybody who came to him would stand down below to speak to him, for there was no ladder. Whenever a brother said to him, “I wish to tell you a private thought,” the stylite would reply in a gentle voice, “Come to the base of the column,” and he would himself move to the other side of the plinth. Thus placed, they would converse: the stylite on high, the brother down below. None of the others who were standing there could hear what was being said.
According to Abba Athanasios, the bishop also told how there were two grazers who were very attached to each other. They visited the aforementioned stylite over a period of many years, both together; one never came without the other. But one day, one of them came to visit the stylite without the other knowing about it. He knocked at the gate for a long time, but the elder would not allow it to be opened for him. He wearied of knocking and went away. On the return journey, he was met by his friend, who was himself going to see the stylite. So the first grazer returned with the second one so that they could both come to the elder at the same time.
When he knocked at the gate, the elder let it be known that the second grazer was to enter alone. When this one came in, he began begging the elder to let the other one enter too. The elder said he would not receive that one. When the first one continued pleading with him, the elder told him, “God rejects him, child, and I cannot receive him.” They went back to their own parts, and two days later, the first one died.