ANACORETA. — From the Greek ἀναχωρέω, “to withdraw, to depart,” an anchorite is an ascetic who lives in isolation, in solitary places. In the historical development of monasticism, anchorites constituted an intermediate form between private asceticism and communal, that is, cenobitic, monastic life. The characteristics of anchoritic life are: a) isolation, sometimes absolute, but often relative, which permits the presence of several anchorites in the same locality, divided among a number of cells, with the possibility of gathering on Sundays to hear Mass and also to take food together; b) prayer; c) manual labor for their own sustenance; d) austerity, often exceedingly harsh; e) the absence of a religious superior and of a genuine rule, replaced by highly revered maxims and oral traditions.
This form of ascetic life originated in Egypt in the second half of the third century, and its rapid development is associated with the persecutions of Decius and Valerian. According to St. Girolamo, the first to inaugurate this way of life was St. Paolo di Tebe (234–347), around 250: « Huius vitae [anachoreticae] auctor Paulus, illustrator Antonius » (Epist. XXII ad Eustochium, 36, ed. I. Hilberg, CSEL, 54, p. 200); and it was certainly St. Antonio (251–356) who gave anchoritism its development and renown. The principal centers of anchoritic life in Egypt were: the Thebaid, with St. Antonio and his numerous followers; the valley of Nitria, with the disciples of Ammonio, who withdrew there around 325; and the solitude of Scetis, with the followers of Macario il Grande (300–91).
From Egypt the anchoritic movement spread to Palestine with Ilarione di Gaza (292–371), whose life was described by St. Girolamo (Vita b. Hilarionis: PL 23, 29 ff.). The Sinai desert was particularly renowned for St. Nilo (d. around 430). In Syria, two varieties of anchoritic life appeared: recluses (v.) and the stylites (v.).
This way of life also flourished greatly throughout the West from approximately the middle of the fourth century onward. The deeds of the Eastern anchorites, known through the writings of St. Girolamo and Rufino, had a considerable impact. Often the cell of a famous hermit became the center around which a coenobium was subsequently formed. Indeed, many monks, beginning with St. Benedetto himself, initiated their religious life in anchoritic isolation. Later, it was the monasteries themselves that supplied subjects for the eremitic life. St. Benedetto writes in the Rule, chapter I: « Secundum genus [monachorum] est anachoritarum, id est heremitarum... qui... monasterii probatione diuturna... singularem pugnam heremi... Deo auxiliante pugnare sufficiunt ».
In the eleventh century the institution of the anchorites entered a new phase, with the foundation of numerous congregations or Orders of an eremitic character. Famous among those based on the Rule of St. Benedetto were those of Fonteavellana, Camaldoli, and Vallombrosa. Other eremitic congregations were united by Alessandro IV in 1256 into a single Order that took the name Hermits of St. Agostino (v.).