n.
or eremite
Individual who shuns society to live in solitude, often for religious reasons.
The first Christian hermits appeared in Egypt in the 3rd century AD, escaping persecution by withdrawing to the desert and leading a life of prayer and penance. The first hermit was probably Paul of Thebes 0441; AD 250. Other famous hermits included St. Anthony of Egypt , who established an early form of Christian monasticism in the 4th century, and the pillar hermit Simeon Stylites . The communal life of monasteries eventually tempered the austerities of the hermit's life. In Western Christianity the eremitic life died out, but it has persisted in Eastern Christianity.