Hermit

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Eremites
)
For other uses, see Hermit (disambiguation).
"Eremitic" redirects here. For the album by Seirom, see Eremitic (album).
Saint Jerome, who lived as a hermit near Bethlehem, depicted in his study being visited by two angels (Cavarozzi, early-17th century)

A hermit, also known as an eremite (

adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion.[1][2][3] Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions
.

Description

In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament (i.e., the 40 years wandering in the desert that was meant to bring about a change of heart).

In the Christian tradition the eremitic life

Canon law (canon 603) recognizes also diocesan hermits under the direction of their bishop as members of the consecrated life. The same is true in many parts of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church
in the United States, although in the canon law of the Episcopal Church they are referred to as "solitaries" rather than "hermits".

Often, both in religious and secular literature, the term "hermit" is used loosely for any Christian living a

ascetic
way of life.

In modern colloquial usage, "hermit" denotes anyone living apart from the rest of society, or having entirely or in part withdrawn from society, for any reason.

Etymology

The word hermit comes from the

latinisation of the Greek ἐρημίτης (erēmitēs), "of the desert",[6] which in turn comes from ἔρημος (erēmos),[7]
signifying "desert", "uninhabited", hence "desert-dweller"; adjective: "eremitic".

History

Tradition

Eremitic cave in Spain

In the common Christian tradition the first known Christian hermit in Egypt was

Antony of Egypt (fl. 4th century), often referred to as "Antony the Great", is perhaps the most renowned of all the early Christian hermits owing to the biography by Athanasius of Alexandria. An antecedent for Egyptian eremiticism may have been the Syrian solitary or "son of the covenant" (Aramaic bar qəyāmā) who undertook special disciplines as a Christian.[8]

Christian hermits in the past have often lived in isolated

Desert Fathers
wove baskets to exchange for bread.

In medieval times, hermits were also found within or near cities where they might earn a living as gate keepers or ferrymen. In the 10th century, a rule for hermits living in a monastic community was written by Grimlaicus. In the 11th century, the life of the hermit gained recognition as a legitimate independent pathway to salvation. Many hermits in that century and the next came to be regarded as saints.[9] From the Middle Ages and down to modern times, eremitic monasticism has also been practiced within the context of religious institutes in the Christian West.

In the

cenobium
or community of the monastery, to move to a cell suitable as a hermitage on monastery grounds. There have also been many hermits who chose that vocation as an alternative to other forms of monastic life.

Anchorites

Main article: Anchorite

The term "anchorite" (from the

Holy Communion. Another window looked out into the street or cemetery, enabling charitable neighbors to deliver food and other necessities. Clients seeking the anchorite's advice might also use this window to consult them.[12]

Contemporary Christian life

Catholicism

Catholics who wish to live in eremitic monasticism may live that vocation as a hermit:

There are also lay people who informally follow an eremitic lifestyle and live mostly as solitaries.

Poustinik
, an Eastern Catholic expression of eremitic living that is finding adherents also in the West.

Eremitic members of religious institutes

Church of the hermitage "Our Lady of the Enclosed Garden" in Warfhuizen, Netherlands

In the

life in community to the eremitic life, and have the permission of their religious superior to do so. The Code of Canon Law contains no special provisions for them. They technically remain a member of their institute of consecrated life
and thus under obedience to their religious superior.

The

Carthusian and Camaldolese
orders of monks and nuns preserve their original way of life as essentially eremitic within a cenobitical context, that is, the monasteries of these orders are in fact clusters of individual hermitages where monks and nuns spend their days alone with relatively short periods of prayer in common.

Other orders that are essentially cenobitical, notably the Trappists, maintain a tradition under which individual monks or nuns who have reached a certain level of maturity within the community may pursue a hermit lifestyle on monastery grounds under the supervision of the abbot or abbess. Thomas Merton was among the Trappists who undertook this way of life.

Diocesan hermits

The earliest form of Christian eremitic or anchoritic living preceded that of being a member of a religious institute, since

monastic communities and religious institutes are later developments of the monastic life. Bearing in mind that the meaning of the eremitic vocation is the Desert Theology of the Old Testament, it may be said that the desert of the urban hermit is that of their heart, purged through kenosis
to be the dwelling place of God alone.

So as to provide for men and women who feel a vocation to the eremitic or anchoritic life without being or becoming a member of an institute of consecrated life, but desire its recognition by the Roman Catholic Church as a form of consecrated life nonetheless, the 1983 Code of Canon Law legislates in the Section on Consecrated Life (canon 603) as follows:

§1 Besides

institutes of consecrated life
the church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance.
§2 A hermit is recognized by law as one dedicated to God in consecrated life if he or she publicly professes in the hands of the diocesan bishop the three evangelical counsels, confirmed by vow or other sacred bond, and observes a proper program of living under his direction.

Canon 603 §2 lays down the requirements for diocesan hermits.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church of 11 October 1992 (§§918–921), comments on the eremitic life as follows:

From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved.

...

Hermits devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude, and assiduous prayer and penance. (Footnote: CIC, can. 603 §1) They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One.

Catholic Church norms for the consecrated eremitic and anchoritic life do not include corporal works of mercy. Nevertheless, every hermit, like every Christian, is bound by the law of charity and therefore ought to respond generously, as his or her own circumstances permit, when faced with a specific need for corporal works of mercy. Hermits are also bound by the law of work. If they are not financially independent, they may engage in cottage industries or be employed part-time in jobs that respect the call for them to live in solitude and silence with extremely limited or no contact with other persons. Such outside jobs may not keep them from observing their obligations of the eremitic vocation of stricter separation from the world and the silence of solitude in accordance with canon 603, under which they have made their vow. Although canon 603 makes no provision for associations of hermits, these do exist (for example the Hermits of Bethlehem in Chester, NJ, and the Hermits of Saint Bruno in the United States; see also lavra, skete).[14]

Anglicanism

Many of the recognised religious communities and orders in the

Society of St. John the Evangelist, now has only solitaries in its British congregation.[15] Anglicanism also makes provision for men and women who seek to live a single consecrated life, after taking vows before their local bishop; many who do so live as solitaries.[16] The Handbook of Religious Life, published by the Advisory Council of Relations between Bishops and Religious Communities, contains an appendix governing the selection, consecration, and management of solitaries living outside recognised religious communities.[17]

In the Canon Law of the Episcopal Church (United States), those who make application to their diocesan bishop and who persevere in whatever preparatory program the bishop requires, take vows that include lifelong celibacy. They are referred to as solitaries rather than hermits. Each selects a bishop other than their diocesan as an additional spiritual resource and, if necessary, an intermediary. At the start of the twenty-first century, the Church of England reported a notable increase in the number of applications from people seeking to live the single consecrated life as Anglican hermits or solitaries.[18] A religious community known as the Solitaries of DeKoven, who make Anglican prayer beads and Pater Noster cords to support themselves, are an example of an Anglican hermitage.[19]

St. Seraphim of Sarov sharing his meal with a bear

Eastern Orthodoxy

In the

Scetes, a place in the Egyptian desert, and continued in various sketes today, including several regions on Mount Athos
.

Notable Christian hermits

Early and Medieval Church

Modern times

Members of religious orders:

Diocesan hermits according to canon 603:

  • Sr Scholastica Egan, writer on the eremitic vocation
  • Sr Laurel M O'Neal, Er Dio, spiritual director, writer on eremitic life
  • Hermits of Bethlehem, Chester, NJ (modern lavra)
  • Fr Martin Suhartono, Er Dio, formerly Jesuit

Others:

Other religions

Two Sadhus, Hindu hermits

From a religious point of view, the solitary life is a form of asceticism, wherein the hermit renounces worldly concerns and pleasures. This can be done for many reasons, including: to come closer to the deity or deities they worship or revere, to devote one's energies to self-liberation from saṃsāra, etc. This practice appears also in ancient Śramaṇa traditions, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Kejawèn, and Sufism. Taoism also has a long history of ascetic and eremitic figures. In the ascetic eremitic life, the hermit seeks solitude for meditation, contemplation, prayer, self-awareness, and personal development on physical and mental levels, without the distractions of contact with human society, sex, or the need to maintain socially acceptable standards of cleanliness, dress, or communication. The ascetic discipline can also include a simplified diet and/or manual labor as a means of support.

Notable hermits in other religions

Hsu Yun
, a renowned Chan Buddhist hermit

In literature

In Orlando Furioso, Angelica meets a hermit

In media

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ "hermit definition - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary". www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  2. ^ "hermit Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  3. ^ "hermit - meaning of hermit in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - LDOCE". www.ldoceonline.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  4. ^ Marina Miladinov, Margins of Solitude: Eremitism in Central Europe between East and West (Zaghreb: Leykam International, 2008)
  5. ^ eremita, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus project
  6. ^ ἐρημίτης, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus project
  7. ^ ἔρημος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus project
  8. ^ "The Origins and Motivations of Monasticism". 3 October 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-10-03. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  9. ^ Tom Licence, Hermits and Recluses in English Society 950–1200, (Oxford, 2011), p. 36.
  10. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. "A person who has withdrawn or secluded themself from the world; usually one who has done so for religious reasons, a recluse, a hermit."
  11. ^ McAvoy, LA., Anchoritic Traditions of Medieval Europe, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2010, p. 2.
  12. ^ Dyas, E., Edden, V. and Ellis, R., Approaching Medieval English Anchoritic and Mystical Texts, DS Brewer, 2005, pp. 10–12.
  13. ^ Dubay, T., And You Are Christ's: The Charism of Virginity and the Celibate Life, Ignatius Press, 1987, Ch. 9.
  14. ^ See for instance Bamberg Anne, Ermite reconnu par l’Église. Le c. 603 du code de droit canonique et la haute responsabilité de l’évêque diocésain, in Vie consacrée, 74, 2002, p. 104–118 and Entre théologie et droit canonique : l’ermite catholique face à l’obéissance, in Nouvelle revue théologique, 125, 2003, p. 429–439 or Eremiten und geweihtes Leben. Zur kanonischen Typologie, in Geist und Leben, 78, 2005, p. 313–318.
  15. ^ "Society of St John the Evangelist". Fellowship of St John Trust Association. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Solitaries who are not members of a Religious community". Single Consecrated Life. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  17. ISBN 9781853116186
    .
  18. ^ "Britain's growing band of religious hermits". The Guardian. 8 January 2001. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  19. ISBN 978-0-8192-2276-3
    .
  20. ^ "Saint Paul of Thebes - Christian hermit". Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  21. ^ Villar, Ruairidh (17 April 2012). "Japanese island man lives as naked hermit". Reuters. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  22. Vice Magazine
    . Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  23. ISBN 978-0-939252-23-7
    .
  24. ^ "Ft. Leavenworth Series – the Six Secret Teachings of Jiang Ziya". YouTube.
  25. ISBN 978-0-14-197040-0
    .
  26. ISBN 978-0-14-190268-5
    .
  27. ISBN 978-0-7394-7809-7
    .
  28. ISBN 978-0-8248-3186-8
    .
  29. ISBN 0-8014-8000-0
  30. ^ Lewis, C. S., Spenser's Images of Life, p. 87, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1967
  31. ^ Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur 16.3
  32. ^ Phuong Le, "The Hermit of Treig review – a tender portrayal of a gentle Highlands recluse". The Guardian, 21 March 2022.

General and cited sources

Further reading

  • Jones, E. A. Hermits and Anchorites in England, 1200-1550 (Manchester University Press, 2019)
  • Jotischky, Andrew. A Hermit's Cookbook: Monks, Food and Fasting in the Middle Ages (Continuum, 2011)
  • Jotischky, Andrew. The Perfection of Solitude: Hermits and Monks in the Crusader States (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995)
  • Leyser, Henrietta. Hermits and the New Monasticism: A Study of Religious Communities in Western Europe, 1000-1150 (Palgrave Macmillan, 1984)
  • Riehle, Wolfgang. The Secret Within: Hermits, Recluses, and Spiritual Outsiders in Medieval England (Cornell University Press, 2014)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hermits.
Look up hermit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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