Chameunia (χαμευνία)

CHAMEUNIA (χαμευνία). - A penance familiar to Christian ascetics, consisting in sleeping on the bare ground (from χαμαι "on the ground" and εὐνή "bed").

The Greek Fathers formed the term, which then passed to the Latins. St. Athanasius (PG 27, 278), commenting on the first words of Ps. 62: "O God, my God, I watch and long for thee from the dawn," says: "It is not enough that we cultivate piety, but we must also please God with the body; that is, by means of fasting, frequent prayer, sleeping on the ground (διὰ χαμενίας), manual labor, so as to have the wherewithal to give alms." St. Jerome (Ep., 52, 3: PL 22, 528): "Almost all the virtues of the body are changed in old age, and, as wisdom alone increases, other things diminish: fastings, vigils and alms, sleeps taken on the floor (chaménuiae), running hither and thither frequently, etc." And St. John Damascene (De virtute et vitio: PG 95, 86 ff.): "These are the virtues of the body, or rather the instruments of the virtues:... drinking water, sleeping on the ground (χαμευνία), poverty, destitution, austerity, etc."