A hermit (from the Greek erēmos, signifying "desert", "uninhabited", hence "desert-dweller") is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion from society.

Originally the term was 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).

Often – both in religious and secular literature – the term is used loosely for anyone living a solitary life-style – including the misanthropist – and in religious contexts is sometimes assumed to be interchangeable with anchorite/anchoress (from the Greek anachōreō, signifying "to withdraw", "to depart into the country outside the circumvallated city"), recluse and solitary. However, it is important to retain a clear distinction. A recluse is someone who hides away from attention of the public, a person who lives in seclusion from intercourse with the world; from the Latin recludere, to shut up or sequester. ...

Christian hermits in the past have most often lived in caves, forests, or deserts, but some of them preferred an isolated cell in a monastery or even a city. From what we know from their contribution to our Christian heritage, male hermits were more common than female. As regards the anchorites, one that has left a lasting impression on Christian spirituality is the English anchoress Julian of Norwich. A Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (better known by the recursive acronym CAVE) is an immersive virtual reality environment where projectors are directed to four, five or six of the walls of a room-sized cube. ... A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, an area set aside for hunting). ... A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Julian of Norwich (c. ...

Hermits in religion

Hermitage "Our Lady the Garden Enclosed" in Warfhuizen, the Netherlands.

From a religious point of view, the solitary life is a form of asceticism, wherein the hermit renounces wordly concerns and pleasures in order to come closer to the deity or deities they worship or revere. This practice appears in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. In ascetic hermitism, the hermit seeks solitude for meditation, contemplation, and prayer without the distractions of contact with human society, sex, or the need to maintain socially acceptable standards of cleanliness or dress. The ascetic discipline can also include a simplified diet and/or manual labor as a means of support; for example, the early Christian Desert Fathers often wove baskets to exchange for bread. made it myself This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... made it myself This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Warfhuizen is a village in Groningen, a province in the extreme North of the Netherlands. ... Religion—sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system— is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices and institutions associated with such belief. ... An ascetic is one who practices a renunciation of worldly pursuits to achieve spiritual attainment. ... A deity or a god, is a postulated preternatural being, usually, but not always, of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings. ... Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. ... This article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation). ... Islam (Arabic al-islām الإسلام,  listen) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. ... Prayer is an effort to communicate with God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express ones thoughts and emotions to the deity. ... Prayer is an effort to communicate with God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express ones thoughts and emotions to the deity. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Sex The members of many species of living things are divided into two or more categories called sexes (or loosely speaking, genders). ... Cleanliness is the absence of dirt, including dust, stains and a bad smell. ... The term dress may refer to either clothing or attire in general a specific type of garment, discussed in the article on skirt and dress This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Discipline is any training intended to produce a specific character or pattern of behaviour, especially training that produces moral or mental development in a particular direction. ... In nutrition, the diet is the sum of the food consumed by a body. ... Manual labor is a term used for hard physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled manual job such as fruit and vegetable picking, et cetera. ...

Ironically, religious hermits are often sought out for spiritual advice and counsel and may eventually acquire so many disciples that they have no solitude at all. Examples include Anthony the Great, who attracted such a large body of followers in the Egyptian desert that he is considered by both Catholics and the Orthodox to be the "Founder of Monasticism", and Gautama Buddha, who, having abandoned his family for a solitary quest for spiritual enlightenment, ended up as the founder of Buddhism. DISCiPLE, Miles Gordon Technologys first product, was a floppy disk interface for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer. ... Saint Anthony the Great, Father of all Monks Saint Anthony the Great (251 - 356), Christian saint, also known as Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Anthony the Anchorite, and The Father of All Monks was a leader among the Desert Fathers, who were Christian monks in... ... Monasticism (from Greek: monachos—a solitary person) is the religious practice of renouncing all worldly pursuits in order to fully devote ones life to spiritual work. ... Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE. Siddharta and Siddhartha redirect here. ...

One interesting variation of the eremitic life is the Carthusian order of Roman Catholic monks and nuns. Carthusians live in what are essentially "communities of hermits", each monastic having their own cell (with sleeping chamber, study, and workshop) where they spend most of their time alone, except when they meet in church for worship, and on other occasions. A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusians are a Christian religious order founded by St Bruno in 1084. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... In general, a nun is a female ascetic who chooses to voluntarily leave the world and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent. ... A community is a set of people (or agents in a more abstract sense) with some shared element — in particular a group of people who live in the same area is a community. ... A church building is a building used in Christian worship. ... Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as a god or goddess. ...

Other religious hermits include Simeon Stylites, Herman of Alaska, Thomas Merton, Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sarov, and Charles de Foucauld. St. ... Saint Herman of Alaska is the first saint to be canonized by the Orthodox Church in America. ... Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 - December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk and author, born in Prades in the Pyrénées-Orientales departement of France to an American mother and an artist father from New Zealand. ... Venerable Sergii Radonezhsky (Сергий Радонежский) (born Varfolomei – Варфоломей, corresponds to Bartholomew), also translated as Sergey Radonezhsky and Sergius of Radonezh (1322 – 1392), was the greatest spiritual leader and monastic reformer of medieval Russia. ...

Non-religious hermits

It is also possible for people to forsake human society for reasons other than religious. For example, Henry David Thoreau spent two years living an essentially solitary life near Walden Pond in pursuit of a simple, environmentally-friendly life. In a more notorious case, Theodore Kaczynski, known as the "Unabomber", lived in a remote cabin in Montana which gave him both refuge from what he viewed as a society corrupted by technology and privacy to build mailbombs. Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was a noted American author and philosopher who is most famous for Walden, his essay on civil disobedience, and his call for the preservation of wilderness. ... Walden Pond is a 102-foot deep pond located in Concord, Massachusetts, formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 - 12,000 years ago. ... Environmentalism is activism aimed at improving the environment, particularly nature. ... Theodore Kaczynski Theodore John Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber (born May 22, 1942) is an American terrorist who attempted to fight against what he perceived as the evils of technological progress by engaging in an almost eighteen-year-long campaign of sending mail bombs to various people, killing three... State nickname: Treasure State Other U.S. States Capital Helena Largest city Billings Governor Brian Schweitzer Official languages English Area 381,156 km² (4th)  - Land 377,295 km²  - Water 3,862 km² (1%) Population (2000)  - Population 902,194 (44th)  - Density 2. ... Technology (Gr. ... A mailbomb (or mail bomb), also called parcel bomb or letter bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed to explode when opened, injuring or killing the recipient, usually someone the sender has a personal grudge against, or more indiscriminately as part of a terrorist campaign. ...

Hermits in philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche, in his influential work Thus Spoke Zarathustra, created the character of the hermit Zarathustra (named after the Zoroastrian prophet Zarathushtra), who emerges from seclusion to extol his philosophy to the rest of humanity. Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher, philologist, and psychologist. ... Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a book started in 1885 by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; it is arguably one of the most famous books in philosophy. ... Zarathustra is a fictional character in Nietzsches book Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). ... Faravahar, The depiction of the human soul before birth and after death. ... In numerous religions, including Abrahamic religions, Jah religions, Sikhism, and many forms of Paganism, a prophet is an intermediary with a deity, particularly someone who speaks for the deity or interprets the deitys will or mind. ... Zartosht, as popularly depicted by Iranian artists. ...

Diogenes the Cynic, an ancient Greek philosopher, led an ascetic life in a barrel. According to legend, when Alexander the Great came to him one day and offered to grant him a wish, Diogenes asked Alexander to step out of his sunlight. Diogenes, the Cynic, Greek philosopher, was born at Sinope about 412 BC, and died in 323 at Corinth, according to Diogenes Laërtius, on the day on which Alexander the Great died at Babylon. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... Bust of Alexander III in the British Museum. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1913 Webster's Dictionary. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ...

See also

• Monasticism
• Solitude
• Silence