CHAMÉUNIA (χαμενία). - A customary penitential practice among Christian ascetics, consisting in sleeping on the bare ground (from χαμαι “on the ground” and εὐνή “bed”).
The Greek Fathers coined the term, which passed into Latin. S. Atanasio (PG 27, 278), commenting on the opening words of Ps. 62: “O God, my God, I watch and long for you from dawn,” says: “It is not enough for us to cultivate piety; we must also please God with the body; that is, by fasting, frequent prayer, sleeping on the ground (διὰ χαμενίας), manual labor, so as to have something with which to give alms.” S. Girolamo (Ep., 52, 3: PL 22, 528): “Almost all the virtues of the body change in the old, and, while wisdom alone increases, the other things diminish: fasts, vigils, and almsgiving, sleep taken on the floor (chaménuiae), frequent running to and fro, etc.” And s. Giovanni Damasceno (De virtute et vitio: PG 95, 86 ff.): “These are the virtues of the body, or rather the instruments of virtues: ... drinking water, sleeping on the ground (χαμευνία), poverty, indigence, austerity, etc.”