✙ my vocation and daily schedule

Christian vocations in general

All Christians are called to follow Christ as much as we can. We do this through fighting our old fallen-self and this old fallen-world, trying to become a better and more Christlike version of ourselves. How? Through prayer, self-observation, introspection, study, lots of practice, and with constant failures along the way.

Against that background the best division I can make between the vocations of a Christian in general, a priest, a monk or nun, and a hermit, is this: a Christian in general is called to live a life fully immersed in worldly affairs, a priest is called to live his life in between his flock, monks and nuns are called to live in between their other brothers or sisters, and a hermit is called to live as much as possible outside society in a deliberate seclusion, silence, and solitude.

None of these paths is easy. In fact: they all have their own battles, difficulties, and advantages. However, on this page I will only focus on a hermit’s vocation.

a hermit’s vocation

A hermit’s vocation is to live his or her life in deliberate seclusion, silence, and solitude.

Why? Because this leaves no room for distractions and escapes. This creates both a shield, and a battleground. A shield, because it limits extraneous distractions and temptations. And a battleground, because through this intentional lack of distractions and escapes the hermit becomes entangled in an unavoidable 24/7 continuous confrontation with his or her own innate sinful thoughts, selfish emotions, and fallen inclinations.

To explain this by way of an example: not many people can sustain to remain for a day or longer alone in a room without fleeing into any form of distractions or escapes like listening to some music, watching TV, talking on a phone, surfing the internet, etcetera. Why? Because deliberate seclusion, silence, and solitude turns one's attention from the outside to the inside world, thereby triggering an inevitable confrontation with oneself by unveiling one’s own psyche, thoughts, and personality as if looked at through a magnifying glass.

This quickly becomes unbearable for most. Therefore, one of the greatest temptations for a hermit is to remain a hermit outwardly, while slowly allowing the worldly distractions and escapes to enter his or her life again through the backdoor. And this, in its turn, explains why in the Christian tradition hospitality is seen as an elementary virtue that ought to be offered at all monasteries, while at the same time hospitality is traditionally considered a dangerous temptation for hermits.

 

“through this intentional lack of distractions and escapes the hermit becomes entangled in an unavoidable 24/7 continuous confrontation with his or her own innate sinful thoughts, selfish emotions, and fallen inclinations"

 

Placed in that perspective, a hermit does not so much spiritually grow in silence, seclusion, and solitude, but because of it. Or, to paraphrase and extend on how the hermit Abba Moses (one of the Desert Fathers) saw this: silence, seclusion, and solitude - just like fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly - are not in themselves perfection. They are tools. For perfection is not to be found in them, but it is acquired through them.

a hermit’s daily schedule

It follows, then, that being called to the hermit life is before all else being called to a life of de facto poverty and seclusion. Not as a measure of achieved saintliness or perfection (if anything: on the contrary). But as practical tools to achieve the for a successful hermit’s life necessary triple keystone of (1) protection from worldly distractions, (2) maintaining a high level of inner mental clarity, and (3) procuring the time and focus necessary to attain to that progress.

It would therefore not make much sense for a hermit, having achieved solitude, to make earning money a priority in life again. In other words: for a hermit, just enough will have to be enough. Doing otherwise would be a strong indicator (both in theory and in reality - for more information on this topic: see i.a. Saint John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent) that someone has made a wilful, worldly, and thus prematurely choice for the hermit life, instead of having a genuine calling, aptitude, and readiness. Why? To phrase the answer to that question with one of the more memorable citations of Saint Climacus (paraphrased for shortness and clarity): 'The preliminary task of solitude is the disengagement from all affairs, whether laudable or not. The second task of solitude is earnest prayer. And the third is inviolable activity of the heart. It is impossible for one who has not attained to the first to pass in the right way to these last two tasks. Only to overcome the midday need for sleep, especially in the summer time [note: Saint Climacus lived in the Egyptian dessert], is manual work permissible’.

 

“being called to the hermit life is before all else being called to a life of de facto poverty and seclusion. Not as a measure of achieved saintliness or perfection (if anything: on the contrary). But as practical tools to achieve the for a successful hermit’s life necessary triple keystone of (1) protection from worldly distractions, (2) maintaining a high level of inner mental clarity, and (3) procuring the time and focus necessary to attain to that progress"

 

my personal daily schedule

In line with this well-established hermit tradition, my daily schedule stays within the standard averages for a (traditional) hermit’s vocation shown below:

• prayer in its various forms - vocal, psalms, meditative, contemplative, intercessory: between 5 and 8 hours per day (for more information on how and why prayer works: see this answer)
• studying theology both in practice and theory: between 3 and 4 hours per day
• shower, cook, eat, and other daily household chores: between 1 and 2 hours per day
• sleeping: the necessary hours - around 8 hours per day
• working (handcraft, write, help, instruct, and counsel): the remaining hours
• leisure: only when needed, plus the Sunday's

On top of this daily schedule, the traditional hermit life also calls for both permanent and regular ascesis through fasting days, regular fasting periods, and other ascetic practices like keeping vigils, etcetera.

In sum, as a contemporary Maronite hermit phrased his own experiences with this lifestyle:

"The hermit should be occupied all day with prayer and spiritual reading. According to the Rule of St. Antony he is allowed only small breaks. Every day is difficult. It is the same for all hermits. As you get closer to God your enemy attacks you more. At first [hermits] feel lonely and depressed. But after that there is the indescribable joy of feeling the presence of the Lord.”

(shortened citation taken from William Dalrymple’s travelbook ‘From the Holy Mountain – a Journey in the Shadows of Byzantium’ - entry for ‘Bsharre, 5 October’).

 

"The hermit should be occupied all day with prayer and spiritual reading. According to the Rule of St. Antony he is allowed only small breaks. Every day is difficult."

 

why live like this?

The honest and most simple answer to that question is the same for all Christian vocations: God's calling.

But a more theoretical and theological comprehensive answer phrased in my own words is this:

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states in par. 405: “Baptism, (…) erases original sin and turns a man back toward God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.” This means that even though baptism can erase original sin, it cannot and will not restore in us the grace of original holiness that Adam and Eve lost as a consequence of their original sin and subsequent fall from paradise (see CCC par. 399 - 404). However, according to the Desert Father’s experiences and writings - and somewhat more recently: also according to the experience and writings of Doctor of the Church and Saint John of the Cross - the outcome of this spiritual battle that we are summoned to, can in some cases effect God to replace through His (+) grace our after baptism remaining self-centred inclination towards a guilty disobedience to His (+) will, with the original God-centred state of Adam and Eve’s innocent obedience to God’s will from before the Fall. This battled for (but eventually God-given) grace is often referred to as the - in the aptly chosen words of Saint John of the Cross: supernatural - favour of theosis. Against this backdrop - and very much like all other Christian vocations - a hermit’s calling is accepted by someone, and subsequently a hermit’s life is built, upon the hope and faith that by accepting and then following God’s calling out of obedience (the Desert Fathers sternly warn us against choosing the hermit life out of personal ambition) is for the hermit apparently the best individual way to fight this spiritual battle towards an (eventually only God-given) victory over his or her own after baptism remaining sinful inclinations. At best this battle will eventually lead to, first, a stable state of dispassion. And then - who knows - towards a stable state of theosis already during this lifetime. However, when we find ourselves placed before such a supernatural goal, we must in all humbleness look back on 2000 years of history and conclude that (seen from our small and individual human perspective) this spiritual battle appears to be very uneven, and also very asymmetric, and therefore its goal of theosis is not often attained - and then almost never perdured for any meaningful amount of time - during our lifetime here on earth. But is it possible? Yes, this is possible.

All we can and have to do, then, is follow the apostle Paul’s example (2 Timothy 4:7) of fighting the good fight, while we aim to finish the race and keep the faith, all the while striving to maintain a dynamic balance between doing our own very best while at the same time entrusting ourselves fully to God’s (+) divine will and providence.

Nothing more. Nothing less.