E05721: John Malalas in his Chronographia mentions the death of *Symeon the Stylite (the Elder, S00343) in 459; the people of Antioch demand that his body be buried in their city, and build a great church for it. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid-6th c.

John Malalas, Chronographia, 14.37

Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας ἐτελεύτα ὁ ἅγιος Συμεὼν ὁ μέγας ὁ στυλίτης, ὄντος τότε Ἀρδαβουρίου τοῦ πατρικίου, τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἄσπαρος, στρατηλάτου ἀνατολῆς. καὶ κραξάντων τῶν Ἀντιοχέων καὶ αἰτησάντων τὸ σῶμα τοῦ δικαίου ἔπεμψεν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀρδαβούριος Γοτθικὴν βοήθειαν καὶ ἤνεγκε τὸ λείψανον τοῦ ἁγίου Συμεῶνος ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ· καὶ ἐκτίσθη αὐτῷ μαρτύριον οἶκος μέγας καὶ ἐτέθη ἐν αὐτῷ εἰς σορόν.

‘During his reign [Leo I] Saint Symeon the Elder, the Stylite, died, while Ardabourios the patrician, the son of Aspar, was magister militum per Orientem. As the Antiochenes cried out and requested the body of the righteous man, the same Ardabourios sent a regiment of Goths and brought the remains of Saint Symeon to Antioch the Great. A great church was built for him as a shrine (martyrion) and he was buried there in a sarcophagus.’

Text: Thurn 2000. Translation: E. Rizos.