The Protestant Anchorite

Protestants tend to think of any kind of monasticism as being a Roman Catholic thing, but there were monks long before the Roman Catholic Church existed.  The first monks were probably those who came out of first, second, and third century Jerusalem, Syria, and Egypt.  At first, they were not bound by any particular monastic order (like the Order of Saint Benedict), and the only vows they were bound by were the ones they made directly to God.  However, they tended to have certain things in common.  For example, they generally practiced some form of asceticism, such as fasting.  However, fasting does not necessarily involve only periodic abstinence from food or drink.  Your ears, and voice can fast if you seek silence.  You can fast in many ways if you practice solitude which is something that characterized most types of early monastic life.  Slowly, monks, and then nuns began to find that there were advantages to forming groups for things like corporate worship, and study, rather than remaining in solitude all of the time.  A monastic who attaches him or her self to a group of like-minded spirits is called a cenobite.  A monastic who remains in one place in rather strict solitude is called an anchorite.  Would it surprise you to know that the practice of the anchorite has not at all disappeared from the Body of Christ?