The Dendrite Discipline
David belongs to the rare ascetic current of the dendrites, whose name derives from the Greek word for "tree." Where the stylites mounted pillars to wage their struggle apart from the world, the dendrites took up their abode among the branches of a tree. The OCA synaxarion records that David, "inspired by the example of the holy stylites," lived in an almond tree in constant prayer, keeping strict fast and enduring heat and cold, and that he remained there for three years until an angel told him to come down.
By the account preserved in his life, David attained a state of dispassion so complete that he was "like an angel in the flesh," and was able to take hot coals into his hands without harm. Such details are transmitted as part of the saint's vita and tradition rather than as documented history.