stylites

There have been many hermits to compare him with but my favourite is Simeon Stylites who spent 47 years on a pillar.

The author's recommendation would lead to a radical disengagement that would be suitable only for those aspiring to be hermits or stylites.

For what it's worth, anchorites would wall themselves into a small room -- the folks who lived atop a pillar were called stylites.

As the text you are quoting (!) says, the first monks were solo: stylites on pillars, hermits in caves, etc.

In medieval Christianity there were stylites dwelling up their pillars and (some thousand years later) anchorites sealed in their cells, and all this stuff about life-denying rings true except that Catholics, in the modern era at least, are mostly pro-life and anti-contraception and breed like rabbits.

The Stylites[2] are principled idealists, if Linus Torvalds can have no interest in GUI distributions, or Richard Stallman can use a Holy text-only system for years, that's what we should aspire to.

Tom Cahill, in his book "Mysteries of the Middle Ages" [1] explains explains how in ancient times, people had very different attitudes towards hermits, stylites, and anchorites: "Though often represented as a period of repression...

Tom Cahill, in his book "Mysteries of the Middle Ages" [1] explains explains how in ancient times, people had very different attitudes towards hermits, stylites, and anchorites: "Though often represented as a period of repression...

The Stylites[2] are principled idealists, if Linus Torvalds can have no interest in GUI distributions, or Richard Stallman can use a Holy text-only system for years, that's what we should aspire to.