{"id":430,"date":"2008-04-28T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2008\/04\/all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview.html"},"modified":"2008-04-28T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T10:42:00","slug":"all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2008\/04\/all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview.html","title":{"rendered":"All You Need to Know About Anchorites (Sainthood Preview)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s another dose of advance content <\/span>from Pocket Guide to Sainthood<\/span> (Jossey-Bass, 2009). There were lots of really interesting ways to be super spiritual back in the medieval days, from sitting on a pole your whole life (St. Simeon Stylites the Elder<\/a>) to a lifetime of stumbling around starkers in the wilderness (St. Mary of Egypt<\/a>), but none may have been more radical than becoming an anchorite. Here’s the entry on “Anchorites” from the glossary chapter.<\/p>\n

Anchorite<\/span>
\"\"<\/a>A special kind of hermit who dedicated himself or herself (in which case she was called an anchoress<\/span>) to a life of solitude, prayer, and asceticism. But instead of living in caves or the desert, anchorites preferred cozier confines: they walled themselves into a wee little room attached to a local church. Once the cell was ready, the anchorite would enter it in a somber ceremony \u2014 somber does seem like an accurate way to describe it \u2014 and the local bishop would then permanently brick up the door, sealing the man or woman inside. Afterwards, the anchorite\u2019s only exposure to the outside world would be through a small window for the passage of food and water.<\/p>\n

The renowned 14th-century devotional writer, Julian of Norwich<\/a>, was an anchoress. She was also quite pasty.<\/p>\n

Please use it in a sentence or two: <\/span>Known for their great spirituality and wisdom, anchorites often dispensed advice through their tiny windows. Because if there\u2019s anyone who ought to be telling you how to get along in the world, it\u2019s someone who has willingly reduced their world to a closet.<\/p>\n

Not to be confused with: <\/span>Hermits, otherwise known as free-range anchorites.<\/p>\n

Fun related fact: <\/span>The Ancren Riwle<\/a>, a 13th century manual for anchoresses, lists eight reasons to retire from the world. These include everything from security issues (\u201cIf a raging lion were running along the street, would not a wise person shut herself in?\u201d) to protecting one\u2019s virginity (\u201c\u2026this precious balsam in this brittle vessel is virginity\u2026more brittle than any glass; which, if ye were in the world\u2019s crowd, ye might\u2026lose entirely\u201d). It\u2019s quite convincing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s another dose of advance content from Pocket Guide to Sainthood (Jossey-Bass, 2009). There were lots of really interesting ways to be super spiritual back in the medieval days, from sitting on a pole your whole life (St. Simeon Stylites the Elder) to a lifetime of stumbling around starkers in the wilderness (St. Mary of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pocket-guide-to-sainthood","category-religion","category-shameless-self-promotion","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nAll You Need to Know About Anchorites (Sainthood Preview) - O Me of Little Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2008\/04\/all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All You Need to Know About Anchorites (Sainthood Preview) - O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s another dose of advance content from Pocket Guide to Sainthood (Jossey-Bass, 2009). There were lots of really interesting ways to be super spiritual back in the medieval days, from sitting on a pole your whole life (St. Simeon Stylites the Elder) to a lifetime of stumbling around starkers in the wilderness (St. Mary of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2008\/04\/all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-28T10:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.cwrl.utexas.edu\/%7Eulrich\/rww02\/margerykempe\/images\/jul1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Boyett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"All You Need to Know About Anchorites (Sainthood Preview) - O Me of Little Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2008\/04\/all-you-need-to-know-about-anchorites-sainthood-preview.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"All You Need to Know About Anchorites (Sainthood Preview) - O Me of Little Faith","og_description":"Here’s another dose of advance content from Pocket Guide to Sainthood (Jossey-Bass, 2009). 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