The American nun has lived in a small cell separate from the world for almost 50 years. You know?

For example, in 1945. In November, the American Julia Crotta entered the closed cell of a monastery in Rome and never left it. At Cell, he spent 45 years separating himself from the world and died there.

And it wasn’t some kind of severe punishment for life imprisonment, that’s what he did voluntarily. She decided to become an anaachorete. anchor) It is the name given to monks and nuns in the Catholic Church who withdraw completely from society by choosing the life of a hermit.

For many modern people, such an absolute separation from the world, when they cannot communicate with anyone, has 6 hours of prayer every day, and until the end of life, their world is confined in a cell of a few square meters, it sounds horrible.

But for Crotta, like other anachorets, this seemed to be the greatest divine blessing, as it provided the opportunity to dedicate his entire life to prayer and service only to God. And come closer to Jesus. Not by chance, the name of the nun he chose was Jesús María Nazareno.

In the modern world, anachorets and anachorets are an extremely rare phenomenon and the case of J. Crotta is exceptional. But in the medieval world there were many more. We invite you to learn more about their strange and surprising lives.

The life of the anacróteos: in what they differ from the simple hermits?

You may have heard of hermits: people who choose to spend their entire lives alone, separate from people. But an anachoret and a hermit are not the same.

Anachorets can be considered one of the hermit varieties, but they differed from other hermits in that they not only refused to communicate with other people, but also clung to a closed place for life. It was believed that in this way man could completely surrender to the service of God.

That place was a cell specially designed for them, usually built next to a monastery or church. People who decided to become anachronists had to spend the rest of their lives in the cell. Only a bishop could allow a person to become an anacondo or an anacondo, since he had previously been convinced that he was truly determined and had the conditions to do so.

When the anachoret or anachorete entered the cell, the bishop of his parish recited a funeral prayer. The cell was walled from outside. From an ecclesiastical point of view, a person who enters a cell would end his earthly life and die for the world.

However, it was believed that he was reborn into a spiritual life that other Christians could only achieve after death. He was considered a kind of “living saint”.

The anachronistic cells were mostly square, about 4-5 m in diameter. The cells generally lacked doors, which were closed when the anachoret entered the cell, but with three small windows.

Through one of them, in front of the interior of the church, the anacheros could see the altar, mass and receive communion. Sometimes they also shared lessons with people who came to them and answered these questions: Anachorists were highly valued for their spiritual wisdom.

Another window was for the monks who took care of the physical needs of the anachorists: carrying food and water, carrying garbage cans. But communication with them was strictly prohibited for anachorets.

The third window generally faced the street but was covered in cloth. Light could reach the cell through it.

In some cases, the living conditions were slightly better: the cell consisted of several rooms or there was a small garden next to it, where the anachoret could grow his own food. However, a person who chose this lifestyle could not leave the cells or interact with other people under any circumstances.

The anachoretes also could not change their minds and return to normal life. Those who attempted to escape were forcibly returned to the cell, and escape itself was considered an extremely serious sin for which the sinner had to burn forever in hell.

Anachorets spent his days praying, reading religious books, and sharing spiritual teachings with others. In some cases, the anachorets became a kind of center of the spiritual life of their people, and all the inhabitants came to them for advice and instruction.

Their lives were strictly planned, there were books for anaquereos and anachronists with detailed instructions on what schedule to follow each day. For example, praying anachorets was around 5-6 hours a day, the longest period without prayer in their daily routine was only 90 minutes. They slept for 3-4 hours.

The first anachorets already existed in the 3rd century. post. Kr. Most of the knowledge about anachorets reaches us from the 12th century to the 16th century, when there were at most 200 of them in England at the same time. However, ~ 16th century. their number has decreased, and in the modern world this way of life is almost extinct.

Modern Anachoret

Almost, but not completely. Crotta became an exception. It is the only one known in the 20th century. An anachorete lived.

She in 1907. She was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, USA, to a family of Italian immigrants. She was the youngest of seven children. For a long time, Crotta’s life was no different. She studied at the Hartford Conservatory, then at the Yale School of Music, and worked several different jobs, as a secretary in Manhattan. He attended church but was not particularly religious.

However, in 1934. Crotta experienced a religious vision that had a profound effect on her, hearing her cry for Jesus. This invited her to come to the desert, where he promised never to leave her.

She began to consider becoming a nun and began searching for that desert. For a time he wandered from one monastery to another, spending several months or years in each. But nowhere did he feel good, once he decided not to make vows just a day before they were given.

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This idea first came to his spirit guide and he really liked it. Although the Pope questioned whether such a life would not be too harsh, when she enthusiastically said that she wanted to live like this, he allowed it.

In December of the same year, she made vows to the nun. For his new life, he chose the name of Jesús María Nazareno.

Upon entering a closed cell in a monastery, Nazarena spent the rest of her life there. He could hear Mass through the cell grille, and the monastery elder and other nuns delivered food and, when necessary, information messages through the opening in the cell door.

The Nazarene’s life consisted of three things: sleep, prayer, and work. The nuns of the monastery where she stayed carried a cross for the Sunday procession of the Vatican Verbs, and she did the same, sometimes working up to 12 hours a day.

Nazarene did not communicate directly with anyone except a priest who was his confessor. And she spoke to this priest only once a year. It is true that the conversations were long, lasting hours.

1966 during Ash Wednesday, Nazarena received a special guest. The monastery was visited by Pope Paul VI. He blessed Nazarene through the bars of his cell. She wore a black veil that hid her face.

1990 February 7 Nazarene died at the age of 82. In his cell, he spent 45 years in complete solitude.

Are there still anachorets or anachorets in the world now? No further information could be found about the anachronists currently living on the Internet. It is true that this does not mean that they do not exist, they may not only talk about themselves.

Knowledge of “ordinary” hermits – people living alone, cut off from the world – is easier to find and exists in almost every country.

However, as already mentioned, not all hermits are anachorets: they are distinguished from others by the fact that they not only do not communicate with people, but also follow a strict regime and are completely physically separated from the rest of the world .

Incidentally, there is also a particularly ascetic monastery in Lithuania. This is the Fern Dawn Monastery. Read more about this in this text.