A Modern-Day Hermit
Brigitte Williams
A hermit (adjectival form eremitic or hermitic) is a person who lives in
seclusion from society, usually for religious reasons like a prayer-focused
life.
Other religions other than Christians also practice eremitic life, e.g.
Buddhists or Hindus. Early Christian hermits are called Desert Fathers. The
name comes from Greek ‘eremites’=of the desert. There is a Jewish-
Christian tradition that God keeps His people in the desert as a testing
ground, like the wanderings of the Jews for 40 years, or Jesus at the
beginning of his ministry.
The first known Christian hermit was Paul of Thebes, whose disciple
Anthony of Egypt (251-356) is one of the best-known hermits, so is St
Jerome (4th century), who lived as a hermit near Bethlehem. Early Christian
hermits wove baskets in exchange for bread and could often be found within
or near a city where they might earn a living as a gate keeper or ferryman.
Christian hermits in the past lived in isolated cells or hermitages, whether a
natural cave or a constructed dwelling, situated in the desert or in forests.
They tended to be sought for spiritual advice, some eventually
acquired so many disciples that they had no solitude at all.
This seems to have the fate of St Benedict, who, having been celebrated as
a wonder-healer, around 500 AD moved away to a wild country and lived in
a cave for some three years, until he was asked by disciples to be their
abbot. ’Eremitical monasticism’ has always been practised within the
context of religious institutes in the Christian West, so that hermits
could join in at services and at festivals in community meals. The
Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church today have their own
regulations in Canon Law concerning those who feel called by God to move
from the life in the community to an eremitic life, and have permission of
their religious superiors to do so.
As to modern day hermits, a curious newspaper item from 20 April 2017
reported that an Austrian Hermitage had been looking via the Internet for an
occupant for the hermitage in Saalfelden south of Salzburg. Near this town,
a mountain cave at the height of 1000 meters contains a statue of St
George, that has been the destination of pilgrims since the 16th century.
Next to the cave is a built hermitage, whose first occupant was one Thomas
Pichler in 1664, whose job it was to look after the site and the pilgrims, who
came to this place in great numbers.
Traditionally, the last occupant of the hermitage would recommend his
successor and hand over his staff to him during a special service on St
Georges Day. The last occupant had been a priest from Vienna, who had
only lasted for a year, but for the first time in 350 years the parsonage of
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