The Tourist
In this lecture His Holiness Pope Shenouda III clarifies two important realities about the anchorites: first, that the legends told about them — such as being spirits that fly or entering churches through closed places — are not the correct picture, and second, the necessity of distinguishing between a miracle and the natural condition of the monks’ life.
Humanity of the Anchorites
The anchorites are humans like other people: they eat and drink and may become sick and die. In the vitae there are miracles in which God healed them, but this does not mean that everything narrated is natural or general.
Life of Solitude and Spiritual Gradation
The anchorites were monks who progressed into the life of solitude, lived in the deep desert for long years and may not see a human face for ages. Some of them began the anchoritic life and lived short or long years according to the case.
Worship and Spiritual Work
Their only occupation became chanting, praising, prayer and contemplation; news and the world faded from their minds, so they became devoted to God alone. This occupation is the spiritual core of their life.
Clothing and Livelihood
Their clothing was very simple: fabrics of palm-fiber or palm-leaves or even branches and leaves, and in some accounts skins of dead animals or natural coverings were used. Sometimes divine care preserved them as a kind of miracle.
Documentation and Vitae
The lives of the anchorites were written in their late life or after their death by monks and writers such as Abba Macarius, Anba Isaac, and Anba Antonios and others. These vitae are our sources for knowing their states.
Error and Repentance
The anchorites could err sometimes out of ignorance or simplicity, but often they repented and returned to God; nevertheless the majority lived a life of blessing and holiness.
Spiritual Conclusion
The main lesson is that the anchorite is not a legend but a human who dedicates himself to God in a life of prayer and asceticism, and that distinguishing between folklore and miracle is necessary, and moreover that the life of solitude is a school for worship and for preserving spiritual heritage and chants.
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