anchoret ism

[Eng. anchoret; -ism.] The state, condition, or mode of life of an anchoret. anch'-òr-ing, pr. par. [ANCHOR, v.] ănch-or-īte, anch'-or-ět, tan-ach'-orět, *ạn-ach-or-ite, *anch-òr, ănker, s . [A.S. ancer; Fr. a nacho rete; Sp. & Ital. anucoreta ; Port. & Lat. a nacho ret a; Gr. ἀναχωρητής ( anachōrētēs ), from aἀναχωρέω (απαchoro) = to go back, to retire: ava ( ana ) = backwards, and χωρέω ( chōreō )= to make room for another, to retire; χώρος ( chōros ) = space, room.] 1. Church History : Any person who, from religious motives, has renounced the world, and retired from it into seclusion. (For the distinctions between the various kind of AsÇETICS, see that word. See also EREMITES.) The peculiarity of the anchorites, properly so called, was, that though they had retired for solitude to the wilderne , yet they lived there in fixed abodes (generally caves or hovels) in place of wandering about. When they did travel they slept wherever night overtook them, so that visitors might not know where to find them. They were most numerous in the Egyptian desert, where they lived on roots and plants, believing that to afflict the body was the best method of spiritually benefiting the soul. Most of them were laymen; there were also female anchorites. They first arose, it is said, about the middle of the third century, and in the seventh the Church extended its control over thein, and ultimately threw difficulties in the way of any one who wished to adopt such a mode of life. [AsCETIC, EREMITE, MONASTICISM, MONK, .] ( Mosheim : Church Hist., Cent. iv., pt. ii., ch. iii., § 15.) 2. In a general sense: Any person of similar habits to those of the old anchorites now described. The mistaken desire to retreat from the "world" to the wilderne is not distinctively Christian it tends to manifest itself to a greater or le extent in all religions and in all ages. Anchorites of various Hindu ascetic sects are at present to be found among the jungles and hills of India, and they were much more numerous when the dominant faith in that land was Booddhism. "To desperation turn my trust and hope! An anchor's cheer in prison be my scope." Shakesp.: Hamlet , iii. 2 "Yet lies not love dead here, but here doth sit, Vow'd to this trench, like an a nacho rite .' Donne . 208