XENITEIA. - Greek term (ξενιτεία, "sojourn in a foreign land," hence "exile") indicating detachment from one's native land, and then the ascetic renunciation of one who transforms his life into a "pilgrimage."
Following the example of Abraham (Gen. 21:23; 23:4), of Moses (Ex. 2:22; Acts 7:29), of Israel drawn by God away from the pagan world (Wis. 18:3; Hab. 3:16: παρενία is a synonym of x.), every Christian is and must feel himself a "stranger" (ξένος) and a "foreigner" (παρενός): 1 Pt. 1:1; 2:11; Heb. 11:13; 13:14); his homeland is the city of God and of the saints (Eph. 2:19; Phil. 3:20). Many ascetics of antiquity practiced voluntary x., wandering ceaselessly. It was a burdensome penance, all the more so because in the ancient world the foreigner was usually considered an enemy, deprived of rights, "in misery" (egens = ex-gens according to Festus; cf. Plato, Leg., V, 729 e). St. John Climacus (Scala Par.: PG 88, 664) explains that x., the privation of all the comforts that make us forget "the homeland," is the mother of indifference, but he exhorts one to "avoid the wandering and pleasure-loving demon," to touch no more the world that has been abandoned. Ambrose Autpertus (d. 781) responds to those who assert, citing Mt. 13:57, that no one can sanctify himself in his own homeland (Conf. cit. et virt., 28: PL 40, 1104-1106); he thus documents the tendency of Benedictine monasticism toward "stabilitas loci," in contrast to Celtic monasticism, which favored emigrating far away. St. Nilus of Rossano (d. 1005) described his life as a continuous x., and, at his death, wished this to be remembered on his tomb (Vita s. Nili jun.: PG 120, 130 and 161).
Bibliography
Antonino Romeo