Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
A Canadian-Jewish version of the story of Agafya Lykov, Russian Siberian hermit familiar to Hermitary readers, is pursued by a group of young writers, reported in the Canadian Jewish News as “Letters From a Hermit Raised In The Siberian Wilderness.” The drama is presented as an exchange of correspondence.
URL: https://www.cjnews.com/culture/entertainment/letters-from-a-hermit-raised-in-the-siberian-wilderness
Hakai Magazine profiles the Catholic priest and hermit Charles Brandt, who lives on Vancouver Island. At 95, the naturalist reflects on nature, solitude, and spirituality in an article about him titled “The Oracle of Oyster River.” (Fr.Brandt has been cited in this blog several times.)
URL: https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-oracle-of-oyster-river/
A previous article about Charles Brandt – URL: http://islandcatholicnews.ca/news/2014/12/hermit-charles-brandt-life-conservation-and-contemplation
93-year old hermit-priest Charles Brandt, who lives on Vancouver Island, Canada, seeks lessons of nature in his avocation as avid photographer. Writes the Globe and Mail:
Father Brandt describes being a hermit priest as “a life of prayer, of meditation, of simple contemplation,” spent in search of a deeper connection with God through solitude.
“It’s actually trying to experience the ultimate reality, not just to think about it abstractly, or to read about it,” he said.
Operating out of the hermitage he built on a 15-hectare grove of old-growth forest situated on the banks of the Oyster River, Father Brandt lives alone, but not in isolation. Until he developed peripheral neuropathy recently, a nerve condition that causes numbness in his feet and hands, he regularly came out of his hermitage to help relieve local pastors. In the 1970s and 80s, he was engaged in environmental campaigns to protect the Oyster and Tsolum Rivers.
Twice a month, he plays host to meditations in his small cabin where he talks about inner peace and leads contemplative walks through the woods.
Short piece from the Vancouver, BC media site North Island Midweek, about Charles Brandt, a Catholic “hermit-priest.” Fr. Brandt is an 88-year old book conservator and photographer who lives in a hermitage off the Oyster River in a Vancouver wilderness. He was originally a Trappist.
Writer Stephen Hume, who features Brandt in a chapter of a book as “A Hermit of the Rivers,” writes of him:
“Brandt represents an ancient tradition of wise men and women withdrawing from the world, the better to reflect upon how best to serve God.”
URL: http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_north/northislandmidweek/news/118466114.html
Canadian poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis and filmmaker Andrea Dorfman created this reflective 4+ minute video titled “How To Be Alone.” At the YouTube site, click the caption to read the poem.