The medieval Christian anchorite tradition

HostI was thinking about how much we value our freedom today. The idea of going for a walk or just stepping outside is something we take for granted. But a few hundred years ago, there were people who gave all of that up on purpose. They would pick a room, walk inside, and let someone wall them in with bricks until the day they died. Why would anyone want to spend their whole life in a space no bigger than a small closet?

GuestIt sounds like a nightmare to us now, but for them, it was a high calling. They were called anchorites. The word itself means someone who has pulled back from the world. But they weren't just hiding. They were becoming a human anchor for their whole town. When they went into that room, they were having a funeral for their own life while they were still breathing.

HostWait, a funeral? You mean they actually did the church service for the dead?

GuestYeah, they really did. The bishop would come, the crowd would gather, and they would say the prayers for a dying person. Sometimes the anchorite would even lie down in a grave that was already dug into the floor of their cell. Then, they would walk in, and the door would be bricked over or locked forever. From that moment on, they were dead to the law. They couldn't own anything or leave. They stayed in that one spot until their actual death.

HostBut that feels like a prison. If you can't leave, how's that different from being a convict?

GuestThe big difference is who holds the key. They chose this. And while a prisoner is shut away because the world doesn't want them, the anchorite was shut away because the world needed them. The room was usually built right onto the side of the local church. It had two windows. One let them look inside the church to see the service. The other looked out onto the street. That street window is where things get interesting.

HostSo they could still see the neighbors?

GuestNot just see them. They talked to them. All day long, people from the village would come to that window. They brought food to keep the anchorite alive, but they also brought their troubles. If a child was sick or a crop failed, you went to the window. The person inside was seen as being closer to God because they had given up everything. People treated them like a direct line to heaven.

HostIt seems like a lot of pressure. You're trying to focus on your soul, but you've got a line of people outside asking for advice.

GuestYou're right, and the books written for them back then actually warn about that. There was a famous guide for the women doing this. It told them not to become a gossip. It said some of them spent so much time at the window that they knew more about the town drama than anyone else. They were told to keep a black cloth over the window so they could hear people but not be distracted by the view. They were supposed to be like a bird in a nest, staying quiet and still.

HostWhat did they do all day when they weren't talking to people? Twelve feet of space doesn't give you much room to move.

GuestThey prayed, they read, and they thought. But they also had to deal with their own minds. When you take away all the noise of the world, your own thoughts get very loud. They wrote about huge mental battles. They called it the noon day devil. It was that feeling of being totally bored, restless, and wondering if you made a huge mistake. To fight that, they had very strict routines. Every hour had a task. They were allowed some small comforts, though. One guide said they shouldn't keep a cow, because a cow is too much work. But they could keep a cat. So you have these holy people living in a tiny stone box with a pet cat for company.

HostI still struggle with the why of it. If you want to help people, why stay in the box?

GuestThey believed their main job was to fight a spiritual war. To them, the world was full of dark forces, and by staying in that room and praying, they were like a soldier standing on a wall. They were protecting the town by taking on all that spiritual weight. They also thought that by suffering a little bit in a cold, small room, they were sharing in the pain of Christ. It was a way to make their love for God feel real and physical.

HostSo they were the town's spiritual bodyguards.

GuestThey were a living sign of the next world. When they died, they were often buried right there in the cell where they had lived for decades. Their home and their grave were the exact same place.

GuestThe final stone was put in place to seal them in, turning the person into a literal part of the building until their body was found years later.

HostThat small closet at home feels a lot bigger when you realize it was once someone's whole world and their only window to the next.