A Power Point Presentation

on the Anchorite Order

by Sr. Meriam B. Litor, OP

Origin of the word Anchorite

Middle English, from Medieval Latin anchorite, alteration of LateLatin Anchoreta from Late Greek Anachoretes, from GreekAnachorein to withdraw, from ana + chorein to make room,from

choros place.

Several synonyms: RecluseEremiteHermitIsolateSolitary

Who are the Anchorites ?

- They are human beings as we are.- They eat, drink, and may get sick and suffer

pain and bodily ailments.- They are hermits who lead a life of great

corporal austerity.- They have lived in the inner wilderness

wandering about in unexplored regions. Many decades might have turned without their seeing a man’s face.

- Some of them were lost in the wilderness without being discovered.

Anchorites Way of Life Persons who have retired into solitude to live the

religious life.

In practice the latin words anachorita and eremite have been used synonymously, and the same holds for the modern language derivatives of these two words. If a slight nuance of distinction is discernible, however it is that HERMIT refers to one who has retired into a place far from human habitation, whereas anchorite refers to one living in a cell adjacent to a community.

Anchorites’ Cell

In both East and West, this latter kind of solitary has been more numerous than the former kind. With the Justinian reforms of the 6th century, the Eastern solitaries were gathered in to dwell near a community, although other and more dramatic forms of eremitical life continued to exist by way of exception.

In the eastern Christian tradition, all anchorites live adjacent upon it, although a few non- Canonical hermits continue to exist. In the West, the Medieval anchors and anchoresses, solitaries who lived usually in cells built against the walls of Churches, have ceased to exist; but the anchorite life has been preserved by congregations such as the Carthusians and the Camaldolese.

Carthusian Monasteries

Camaldolese Monasteries

Nevertheless, they are hermits who lead a life of great corporal austerity. They have lived in the inner wilderness wandering about in unexplored regions. Many decades might have turned without seeing a man’s face. Some of them were lost in the wilderness without being discovered.

The first Christian hermits appeared by the end of the 3rd century in Egypt, where one’s reaction to the persecution of Christian by the Roman emperor Decius.

The first Anchorite was Abba Paul

- He used to eat daily half a loaf of bread which a crow used to bring him. Most of the Achorites relied on whatever food was available in their dwelling and used to drink from the water of the available springs or wells of the mountains.

An ancient account of St. Paul the Anchorite by Saint Jerome

During the reign of Decius and Valerian, a fierce tempest made havoc of many churches in Egypt and the Thebaid. It was the Christians prayer in those days that he might, for Christ’s sake, die by the sword. Now at this very time, the death of both parents left Paul heir of great wealth in the Lower Thebaid: his sister was already married.

He was then about fifteen years of age, excellently versed alike in Greek and Egyptian letters, of a gentle spirit, and a strong lover of God. When the storm of persecution began its thunder, he betook himself to a farm in the country, for the sake of its remoteness and secrecy. Latter he flight to the mountain, while the persecution ran its course. What has been his necessity became his free choice

Little by little he made his way, sometimes turning back and again returning, till at length he came upon a rocky mountain, and its foot at no great distance, a huge cave, its mouth closed by a stone. He moved the stone and saw an open space to the sky, roofed by the wide spreading branches of an ancient palm, and with a spring of clear shining water.

In this beloved habitation of him, he lived his life inconstant prayer and solitude, the palm tree providedhim with food and clothing.

The experience of torment of the Anchorite in the dessert

Questions about Anchorites?

1. Are they liable to sin?

- Yes. Some of them committed sin. They were not able to overcome the temptations in the desert. But they repented.

2. Did the Anchorites wear clothes?

- Abba Paul had tailored for himself a dress of palm fibers or palm leaves.

- In the biography of Abba Makarius the Great, it is said that he saw two naked anchorites in the inner wilderness in the west towards Libya.

3. Are Anchorites restricted to a certain limited number, that if they miss one of them by departure they should choose someone else to replace him and to keep their number fixed?

- There is nothing that can justify the notion of the limited number especially because there was a probability that there were other unrevealed anchorites. Besides, the gathering of the Anchorites to choose one to complete the number means that they lead a community and not solitary life.

4. Are there more current anchorites?

- There are none among the monks, because all the monasteries monks are well known by name and location and their becoming.

So, if the Lord has allowed to have an anchorite nowadays, that will not be one of the monks, but he should be one who left for the inner wilderness to live in devoutness without joining a monastery. He could have started as a monk but kept away.

The amazing thing is the fact that some anchorites after journeying, they returned back to ministering.

The Most Famous Anchorites

1. Abba Paul the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 2nd day of Amsheer. 2. Abba Onophrius the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 16th day of Baona. 3. Abba Karas the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 8th day of Abib. 4. Abba Pigmi the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 11th day of Kiahk. 5. Abba Misael the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 13th day of Kiahk. 6. Abba Hermina the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 2nd day of Kiahk.

7. Abba Hedra the Anchorite of Aswan whose memory the Church celebrates on the 12th day of Kiahk. 8. Abba Olaghi the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 10th day of Abib. 9. Abba Elisa the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 17th day of Kiahk. 10. Abba Timothy the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 23rd day of Kiahk. 11. Abba Pasantaos the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 7th day of Mesra. 12. Abba Latson the Anchorite whose memory the Church celebrates on the 16th day of Baona.

Anchorites’ Domain