Venerable Alypius the Stylite of Adrianople

Venerable Alypius the Stylite was born around 522 in Adrianople, Paphlagonia (Asia Minor), to a devout Christian family. Left a widow early, his mother entrusted his upbringing to Bishop Theodore of Adrianople, who later ordained Alypius a deacon and made him steward of the diocese. During a pilgrimage to Constantinople, the Great Martyr Euphemia appeared to him, commanding that a church be built in her honor in Adrianople; with contributions from the townspeople, the church was raised on the site of a former pagan cemetery. Alypius settled in a cave beside the church, then ascended an open-air pillar, where he spent 53 years in fasting and unceasing prayer, enduring fierce demonic assaults. Ascetics of both sexes gathered near his pillar, forming two monastic communities, one of which his mother and sister joined. For his last 14 years, illness confined him to lying on one side, yet he did not abandon his ascetic labor. He reposed around 640, reportedly at age 118.