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One other thing to note: permission to be a hermit is only granted to monks after many years of being part of the community of monks. To go off alone as a monk

One other thing to note: permission to be a hermit is only granted to monks after many years of being part of the community of monks. To go off alone as a monk is very spiritually perilous for the first few years. It takes a long time to gain the discernment necessary to be a hermit monk, and some monks are never given that permission by their spiritual father.

asymmetric 5y ago
Do you have more sources about this? I find it quite interesting
- prometheus76 5y ago
  Here's a brief article about being a hermit from an Orthodox Christian perspective: https://orthodoxwiki.org/Hermit https://orthodoxwiki.org/Hermit The first half of this book is a recollection of life as a monk on Mt Athos (the second half is a collection of the monk's teachings as an elder): Wounded by Love: The Life and Wisdom of Saint Porphyrios. Another good book is The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder Paisios by Dionysios Farasiotis. This one has a lot more detail about life on Mt Athos. Also, it's important to note that Elder Paisios has been venerated and is now Saint Paisios.
KWxIUElW8Xt0tD9 5y ago
A Benedictine once put it more or less this way to me: community life causes the monks to round off each other's sharp edges over time. A solitary life is generally not good for people. Check out "Into Great Silence" for a film about life in the Grand Chartreuse, the motherhouse of the Carthusian order. I recall reading some years ago that it is one of the few (only?) orders in the Catholic Church that has never needed reform. Carthusians only talk to each other once a week I believe -- interesting monastic order. There is also a relevant classic work on the Jesus Prayer so used by the East: The Way of a Pilgrim. It's about a man who is determined to find out how to pray without ceasing. He becomes a solitary mystic is how I would describe it.
- armenarmen 5y ago
  Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNj2Sf_mgo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNj2Sf_mgo

asymmetric 5y ago

Do you have more sources about this? I find it quite interesting

prometheus76 5y ago
Here's a brief article about being a hermit from an Orthodox Christian perspective: https://orthodoxwiki.org/Hermit https://orthodoxwiki.org/Hermit The first half of this book is a recollection of life as a monk on Mt Athos (the second half is a collection of the monk's teachings as an elder): Wounded by Love: The Life and Wisdom of Saint Porphyrios. Another good book is The Gurus, The Young Man, and Elder Paisios by Dionysios Farasiotis. This one has a lot more detail about life on Mt Athos. Also, it's important to note that Elder Paisios has been venerated and is now Saint Paisios.

KWxIUElW8Xt0tD9 5y ago

A Benedictine once put it more or less this way to me: community life causes the monks to round off each other's sharp edges over time. A solitary life is generally not good for people. Check out "Into Great Silence" for a film about life in the Grand Chartreuse, the motherhouse of the Carthusian order. I recall reading some years ago that it is one of the few (only?) orders in the Catholic Church that has never needed reform. Carthusians only talk to each other once a week I believe -- interesting monastic order. There is also a relevant classic work on the Jesus Prayer so used by the East: The Way of a Pilgrim. It's about a man who is determined to find out how to pray without ceasing. He becomes a solitary mystic is how I would describe it.

armenarmen 5y ago
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNj2Sf_mgo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNj2Sf_mgo