A religious service was held at the restored site of Saint Simeon the Stylite’s pillar at the Monastery of Saint Simeon on Mount Simeon, about 30 kilometers northwest of Aleppo, Syria, following the reinstallation of a large stone block atop the monument’s surviving archaeological base.

The ceremony took place on August 11 as part of commemorations marking the feast of Saint Simeon and the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year, according to the press service of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

The project does not constitute a full reconstruction of the ancient pillar, which originally stood approximately 16 meters high. Instead, a large stone block was placed on the surviving base, restoring the monument’s vertical appearance. The ancient foundation had been damaged by armed conflict and earthquakes, and the work forms part of broader efforts to preserve the historic monastery complex.

The ceremony was attended by Ephraim, Metropolitan of Aleppo and Alexandretta, representatives of Christian denominations in the city, clergy and monks, as well as officials from Syria’s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums and local authorities. Following the installation, a prayer service was held before the pillar.

Saint Simeon the Stylite the Elder, one of the best-known Syrian ascetics, lived approximately from 390 to 459. Stylitism, a distinctive form of Christian asceticism that became widespread in the Antioch region during the fifth century, involved monks living in prayer and seclusion atop stone columns.

According to church tradition and historical accounts, Simeon successively moved to increasingly taller columns and spent roughly four decades practicing this form of asceticism.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the original pillar at the monastery was about 16 meters tall and approximately 1.1 meters in diameter. Only its lower section survives today. A monastery was established around the site in the late fifth century, turning the pillar into the focal point of a major Christian pilgrimage center.

The Monastery of Saint Simeon is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2011.

The archaeological complex suffered significant damage during Syria’s armed conflict, including damage to the pillar’s base in 2016. The region’s ancient monuments also remain vulnerable to earthquakes. In 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.4 caused damage to historic structures in the Aleppo area.

The reinstallation of the stone element therefore represents not only a symbolic restoration of one of Syria’s most important Christian landmarks, but also an effort to preserve what remains of a monument closely associated with the early history of Christian monasticism.