anchorite
Cell-dwelling contemplative
An anchorite is a religious recluse who withdraws from society to live in solitary prayer and contemplation.
Unlike hermits who might wander, anchorites were historically walled into small cells attached to churches, committed to permanent enclosure.
The practice was especially common in medieval Christianity: The anchorite received food through a small window.
One choosing isolation
- eremiteReligious hermit
- solitaryExisting alone, apart
- lonerOne who avoids company
- hermitageSecluded religious dwelling
cell · withdrawal · seclusion · isolation · cloistered · reclusive · self-sufficient · cenobite
Address to deity
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- pietySincere religious devotion
- faithTrust without proof
mysticism · holiness · sanctity · meditation · worship · reverence · divine union · silence
Religious seclusion dwelling
- abbeyMonastic house of worship
- conventReligious sisters' dwelling
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- nunHebrew alphabet's fourteenth
scriptorium · rule · patron saint · Julian of Norwich · confessor · bishop · ecclesiastical · enclosure
State of calm stillness
- seclusionVoluntary withdrawal from society
- retreatSanctuary or withdrawal
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- silenceTotal lack of sound
stillness · peace · privacy · loneliness · hermitage · wilderness · desert · cave
Enforced economic stringency
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
discipline · renunciation · simplicity · poverty · temperance · restraint · hair shirt · flagellation
recluse
One choosing isolation
hermitage · cell · withdrawal · seclusion · isolation · cloistered · reclusive · self-sufficient · cenobite · enclosed
prayer
Address to deity
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- pietySincere religious devotion
faith · mysticism · holiness · sanctity · meditation · worship · reverence · divine union · silence · vigil
monastery
Religious seclusion dwelling
nun · scriptorium · rule · patron saint · Julian of Norwich · confessor · bishop · ecclesiastical · enclosure · rite
quietude
State of calm stillness
- seclusionVoluntary withdrawal from society
- retreatSanctuary or withdrawal
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
silence · stillness · peace · privacy · loneliness · hermitage · wilderness · desert · cave · contemplative
austerity
Enforced economic stringency
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
chastity · discipline · renunciation · simplicity · poverty · temperance · restraint · hair shirt · flagellation · privation
- solitudesolitude, alone, isolation, aloneness, seclusion
- monastic lifecelibacy, cloister, habit, vespers, obedience
- monasticismabbeys, abbey, abbots, abbot, cloister
- asceticsascetic, ascetics, recluse, recluses, monastics
- hermitshermitage, recluse, eremite, solitary, solitary life
- holy peoplesaint, saints, prophet, holy men, martyr
anchoritesocialite
Prominent figure in fashionable circles
extrovert · social butterfly · man about town · woman about town · bon vivant
anchoritemissionary
Religious outreach worker
evangelist · itinerant preacher · pilgrim · wandering monk · circuit rider
- anchoring biasOverreliance on initial information
- anchoring effectJudgment skewed by initial information