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Actopan wall mural

The research of Jeanette F. Peterson and others highlights the 16th-century Augustinian monastery at Actopan, Mexico, where a wall mural depicts the spiritual inspiration of the Augustinian friars to be the desert fathers and hermits. The mural inscription in Latin is “Hermits, Cenobites, Anchorites — St. Augustine radiates glory on St. Antony.” The image above, depicting desert hermits (upper left), is not from the Peterson article.

The Peterson article and others are especially interested in the depiction of the devil in these idealized paintings, but while a perennial concern to the friars and hermits themselves, the article demonstrates the didactic function of the devil in preaching to the indigenous population.

URL: http://whp.uoregon.edu/Lockhart/Peterson.pdf

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Vietnam recluses – update

In 2013, two men, father and son, were discovered living in reclusion in a Vietnam jungle. They were brought out of the forest and obliged to be rehabilitated. But the father has not been pleased with civilization and the many visiting gawkers at their village dwelling and longs to return to isolation.

URL: http://minisites.ninemsn.com.au/9stories/8968097/vietnamese-jungle-man-yearns-for-return-to-hermit-life;
original entry: https://hermitary.com/around/?p=1027

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Agafya benefactors

Ongoing news about 71-year old Agafya Lykov, the Siberian Old Believer and hermit: An American couple, reports the Siberian Times,

Emilia and Luchian Marcov, who are devoted Old Believers, felt they heard a ‘call for action’ to travel to the other side of the world to be with elderly recluse Agafya Lykov. They want to spend two months with her in her primitive forest retreat and chant prayers, collect firewood and build her a better way to keep her home warm.Emilia said: ‘We have offered our humble hands and hearts to visit for a period of two months initially. During this time we will chant prayers with her in Old Slavonic, help her with firewood, gardens and whatever other way we can assist. We also hope to raise enough funds to help build her an efficient wood heater.

The couple lived at an Old Believers monastery in Romania and presently reside off-grid near an Amish settlement in Tennessee.

URL: http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0141-plea-for-help-to-fund-trip-into-siberian-wilderness-to-aid-famous-hermit/

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French Louie, Adirondacks hermit

French Louie
Although the Adirondack Mountains (NY) hermit Noah John Rondeau (1883-1967) may be better known, his predecessor in wilderness hermits was Louie Seymour (1832-1915), called “French Louie.” French Louie survived as a guide, trapper, fisher, and log driver in a remote region of Hamilton County and the West Canada Lakes in New York State. Many anecdotes are collected about his congeniality and resourcefulness.

URLs: “Hermit French Louie” – http://www.adirondacklifemag.com/blogs/2012/02/13/hermit-french-louie-hard-as-granite-and-tough-as-spruce/; “Remembering French Louie” – http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/27628/20150227/remembering-hermit-french-louie-with-bear-grease-and-maple-syrup; and http://frenchlouie.com/

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Woman hermit near Chechnya

The BBC features an article about a woman inadvertently becoming a hermit, called by the report “hermit queen.” “The woman who swapped home for a hut near Chechnya” relates the life of Devi Asmadiredja, of Indonesian descent, who lived in Germany as a nondescript housewife until her husband, of Chechen descent, evicted her from her home and his life, though at first pretending that she could study the Chechen language and return to teach it to him and their three children. She first went to Tbilisi, Georgia, then to remoter villages southward, without contacts or money. She quickly learned Georgian and Chechen. She lived alone in mountain huts and caves. But the people she encountered were often welcoming, and she was given a camera and now can sell her photos, and was invited to serve as a tourist guide, so that she is able to maintain herself.

URL: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30796537