The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

(b) eremitism and anchoriticism are treated as synonymous, referring to an ascetic
who desires to retreat from society and live in solitude. 9 This could be either for a limited
period of time or for longer, substantial periods; the ninth-century monk Habentius, for
example, lived in isolation within the monastic community of St. Christopher, near
Cordoba; 10
(c) cenobiticism refers simply to a group of ascetics who live amongst each other in a
single community, although this need not imply any formal hierarchical or legislative
structures. Palladius, for example, describes the community at Lake Maria, near Mount
Nitria where he lived, as one of “5,000 men with different modes of life, each in accordance
with his own powers and wishes, so that he is allowed to live alone or with another or with a
number of others”. 11 A similar picture is painted by Sulpicius Severus, who describes a
group of eighty monks who lived in proximity to Saint Martin in his imitation; 12
9 This synonymy is not without its basis. As Díaz y Díaz (1970: 50) noted: “anacoretas son los que se
retiran al desierto después de haber llevado vida cenobítica para mejor vacar a la contemplación una
vez que su espíritu ha sido debidamente formado en la escuela impar de la vida en común, mientras
que los eremitas son aquellos que lejos de la mirada de los hombres buscan el yermo y las soledades
del desierto. Diferencia, como vemos, puramente circunstancial que nos mueve a considerar
indistíntamente en las fuentes visigodas los términos anachorita y eremita, casi totalmente ausente
este último de la literatura monástica de este periodo”.
10 Eulogius Memoriale sanctorum 2.4.3.
11 Lausiac History 7.2.
12 Life of Martin 10.
xi