Of course, all people, no matter how knowledgeable in religious terms they are, have heard of hermitage. However, in what it is, how it differs from ordinary monasticism and, in principle, does the tonsure have a connection with the rite, the vast majority of ordinary people do not understand.
Is the hermit always a monk? A person who did not take tonsure, but who was removed from the world is a hermit? Or should it be called differently? Monks living away from the monastery, but not individually, but by settlements, are hermits? Or can they no longer be considered as such? Unfortunately, not even every modern clergyman is able to answer such questions.
What is hermitage?
Hermit is a voluntary renunciation of all worldly cares, duties and benefits of civilization, communication with anyone, with the accompanying removal to a permanent place of residence in desert places. The word "hermitism" has a synonym - "anachoreism."
This phenomenon itself is often endowed with compulsory deprivations, and the simplest amenities. However, this is not a completely correct understanding. Hermitism is accompanied by asceticism, not deprivation. This means that the hermit's home may well be cozy. A person who has retired from the world refuses the benefits and achievements of civilization, and not from the results of his own labor. That is, there is no contradiction to the canonical understanding of the term in that the hermit will assemble a loom and begin to produce curtains or bedding for himself. It does not contradict the understanding of seclusion and the cultivation of poultry, livestock, the arrangement of the hive and the practice of gardening or farming, however, like hunting. Of course, hygiene procedures are not prohibited.
Thus, hermitism is just a voluntary departure from civilization and a rejection of its benefits. All other restrictions that the hermits put into their lives are voluntary and not entirely binding.
Is Hermitism peculiar only to Christianity?
In the minds of many people, the hermit is a monk of the Orthodox faith, who retired somewhere to the northern forest jungle and spends his days in prayer and repentance. However, this is a rather narrow understanding of the phenomenon of hermitism. It is much older than Christianity and distributed almost universally.
Mass religious seclusion is characteristic of such religions:
- Taoism
- Buddhism;
- Gnosticism
- Judaism and others.
Mentions of ascetics leading the life of hermits and worshipers of the god Mithra are found in written sources compiled long before the birth of Christ. Mithra is an Iranian deity of light and good, if to understand its essence is simplified. Mention of the hermits of the Essenes massively fill the various written sources of the late III and early II centuries BC. The Essenes is a kind of sect, or rather a branch from the main branch of Judaism.
In Asia, especially in China, hermitage was perceived ambiguously. On the one hand, it was a hermit-monk who achieved the highest mastery in anything and was removed from his brethren so as not to cause embarrassment in them. Not only martial arts masters, but also artisans, winemakers, carvers and many others became hermits. The bottom line is that the hermit is a monk who has perfectly mastered his occupation.
Another option to enter the path of seclusion was the rejection of political activity or public service. That is, hermitage was a kind of alternative to serving the feudal lord or the emperor himself. For example, if a military commander, a clerk, a doctor or someone else did not want to serve a particular person or considered it impossible for him to serve in certain circumstances, they could move away from the world. That is, to become hermits. The emperor himself could indulge in hermitage. Could have done this and his family members.
Is hermitage characteristic only of Orthodoxy?
When it comes to Christian ascetics who left the world for religious reasons, most people recall the hermits of the holy Mount Athos and, of course, there are persistent associations with Orthodoxy.
Meanwhile, the phenomenon of seclusion is characteristic of Christianity as a whole, regardless of confession. The most famous Christian hermits lived long before the church was divided into confessions. That is, they lived in the time of early Christianity, and one of the motives for moving away from the world was probably the persecution of the authorities, because of which many believers accepted martyrdom.
Which hermits are most famous?
The clergy considers the most famous hermits of John the Baptist, the prophet Elijah and, of course, Jesus himself. It is about the Lord's stay in the wilderness for forty days and nights, during which Jesus was tempted by Satan himself. The Church considers this spiritual achievement to be the first religious Christian seclusion.
The prophet Elijah lived much earlier than Jesus. He belongs to the Old Testament saints and is probably revered by Christians more than the rest. A prophet was born in a town called Fiswa in the 9th century before the advent of our era.
The reclusion of Elijah was forced. After the prophet, revered by people for many miracles, entered into a dispute with the king over the divine essences of Yahweh and Baal, in which he won a landslide victory, a serious threat loomed over the life of the future saint. Elijah did not wait for imminent death and retired to the desert, to Mount Sinai.
John the Baptist (or the Baptist) was one of the first to predict the coming of the Messiah. According to the texts of the Gospels, nothing preceded his hermitism. He did not escape from imminent death and did not leave the world to atone for sins or philosophical thoughts. According to religious texts, John simply lived in the desert near the Jordan. He baptized those who came to him and preached to them. That is, his hermitage lasted a lifetime.
How did the hermits live?
Often at the mention of hermitage, people recall the hermitages. Many consider them the homes of Orthodox hermits. As a rule, when asked about what is a monastery, among the answers most often there is an opinion that it is a log house, standing in the middle of a thicket or somewhere on the shores of the northern seas.
This is true, except for the territorial location. So what is a monastery? This type of dwelling, characteristic of Orthodox monks, indulging in asceticism and located in a distance from lay populated areas.
However, everything is not so simple. Skeet is not necessarily a lonely house. This may be a whole group of buildings, that is, in fact, the community’s place of residence. For example, hermits Lykov. These are several families of Old Believers who, at the beginning of the last century, moved away from the world into the depths of taiga thickets near the Sayan Range. The community got its name from the light hand of one of the journalists who wrote about these people at the end of the last century. One of the families had the surname Lykov. The hermits began to be called.
In addition to communities, entire monasteries are also referred to as hermitages. For example, located on the Solovetsky Islands.
That is, the monastery is not so much an immediate dwelling as the name of the place where the hermits live.
Should the hermit be a monk?
In Orthodoxy, it so happened that asceticism and hermitage became the prerogative of people who took tonsure.
However, these concepts are not interrelated. That is, absolutely any person can withdraw from the world, abandon the benefits of civilization and contacts with it. In order to become a hermit, you don’t need to become a monk at all.