When the word “hermit” or “anchorite” is heard, many think of a strange person, a kind of extinct spiritual being in the history of the Church. Actually, at the beginning of the fourth century, the eremitical life was one of the standard ways, especially in the East. [1]
Today it is less common to come across a hermit let alone hear about someone pursuing an anchoritic vocation. Why would someone even consider this ancient and mystical vocation known for living in the desert and eating bugs? The answer is simple: God calls and the soul answers.
Many people are too busy to be able to listen to God and to physically and spiritually hear his voice. It is important to slow down, seek solitude, and pray to hear His call. We must first hear His call to heed His call. If a person doesn’t actively listen and seek God’s will they will not hear his voice. And thus, is the calling of a hermit.
To better understand the eremitic vocation, it might be helpful to understand its motivation. The needs of today’s hermits are the same as they were for the hermits of the early centuries – the pursuit of silence, solitude, and prayer – in a word, union with God.
A hermit is constantly striving to live in a state of grace. Being in a constant state of grace is living without sin. Grace is the ultimate spiritual state of union with God. Because of original sin we are at a loss of grace. We are unable to “walk with God as friends” like Adam did in the Garden of Eden before he ate the forbidden fruit. Being in a state of grace is nearly unobtainable when immersed within the distractions of the world. This is why hermits seek quiet and solitude. “Let Grace come and this world pass away.” These men and women naturally live in a way that frees them to wait in expectation, like the apostles and martyrs, for the full life of God. [2]
The idea of leaving everything behind to serve God and God alone was always the essence for Christianity. The invitation of Jesus to “go, sell all that you have, and come and follow Me” (Luke 18:22) was a central theme for Christianity in the first three centuries. Hermits desire to be without material possessions and so freed from self and capable of charity towards all. [3]
Hermits are, and have been, for a lack of a better word, “anchors” for the foundation of the Catholic faith. Being a hermit is like retreating to the desert. Even Jesus escaped to the desert for forty days and forty nights to seek solitude and communion with God. We can credit much of the traditions of Christianity to the “Desert Fathers” from the early centuries. The Faith literally grew out of the desert and solitude. The Desert Fathers shaped the theology that helped form the Church and traditions still found in every form of Christianity today. Their works and literature, which are now over 1500 years old, have had a continuing influence far beyond the period in which they were first created. [4]
Many called to the eremitic life have been declared saints by the Catholic Church. Saint John the Baptist was an anchorite who prepared the way for the coming of Christ. St. Anthony of Egypt, called the “Father of the Monks”, is considered the founder of organized Christian monasticism. He was mentored by St. Paul of Thebes – who has become known as the patron saint of hermits.
The eremitical life is also a vocation that can be seen as transitory and not permanent. Some hermits, such as St. Benedict and St. Francis of Assisi, found cenobitic religious communities. Other hermits, such as St. Pachomius of Tabenna, form communities of hermits. Some consecrated religious who have served as priests, monks, or nuns, choose to live out the end of their days in solitude and prayer in anticipation of their eventual union with God. Even widows can live an eremitical life. There is no set definition or time for how long a hermit is a hermit. Nor are there limitations to the greatness they can achieve.
There are different ways of living as a hermit within the Catholic Church. A hermit can live anonymously, without an official canonical status, or they can choose to make a commitment, either privately or publicly. If public, this would be done in the hands of the local diocesan bishop.
Canon Law (603) states [5]:
§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 in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels [i.e. chastity, poverty and obedience], confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.
[2] Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, Penguin Classics, Introduction, p. viii.
[3] Ibid., p. vii.
[4] Ibid., p. xxi.
[5] Code of Canon Law, Book II. The People of God. Part III. Section I. Title I. Cann. 573-606, https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann573-606_en.html#:~:text=603%20%C2%A71.,and%20assiduous%20prayer%20and%20penance.
[6] Alexius Hoffmann, A Benedictine Martyrology, January 13, p. 12.
[7] Ibid., January 14, p. 13.
[8] Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers, Introduction, p. xii.
[9] Archbishop Francis Zayek, Chorbishop Joseph Eid, The Call of the Desert, p. 8.
[10] Benedicta Ward, The Desert Fathers, Introduction, p. xi.
[11] Ibid., p. xviii.
Written by Mark Rose, founder of Heed
