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Crowds came to him to receive healing and to learn more about the Christian faith, but to avoid them, Symeon went up to a pillar and began to live there in a little cell, still devoted to [[prayer]] and fasting. He sat or stood in prayer for many weeks at a time, but he was hardly cut off from the world.
He wrote letters and even received visitors via a ladder. Many threatened and ridiculed him, but far more were inspired by his constant fasting and prayer. Those who were attentive to his teachings include the Emperor Theodosius II of Rome and his wife, Empress Aelia Eudocia, as well as the [[Righteous]] [[Genevieve of Paris]]. His letter to the Emperor Leo of Constantinople in favor of the [[Fourth Ecumenical Council|Council of Chalcedon]] was highly respected. Many people came to listen to him and even to be [[baptism|baptized]]:
:''"[[Theodoret of Cyrrhus|Theodoret]] says that he became so famous in Rome that the Nomadic Arabs by the thousands believed in [[Jesus|Christ]] and were baptized because of him; the King of Persia sent envoys to inquire into his way of life, and the Queen asked to be sent oil that he had blessed. He also was a great defender of sound doctrine, and confirmed the Orthodoxy of the Holy Council of Chalcedon for many who had been beguiled by the teachings of the [[Monophysites]], including the Empress Eudocia, widow of Theodosius the Younger. After a life of unheard-of achievements and struggles, he reposed in peace at the age of sixty-nine, in the year 459."'' ([http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=646 1])
