Rachel Denton, UK hermit

Rachel Denton, UK hermit

A BBC “Religion and Ethics” item updates the hermit life of Rachel Denton, first mentioned in this blog in a Guardian article from 2009. Rachel Denton lives in Lincolnshire, UK. “A teacher for 15 years, culminating in a deputy headship in Cambridgeshire, Rachel gave it all up 12 years ago for a life of contemplative silence as a Roman Catholic hermit.” She is a canonical hermit in the diocese of Nottingham. The article highlights her life and interests, including her use of social media.

She has three rules for her life as a hermit.

One is to live simply in solitude and silence, staying and returning there in so far as duties permit.

The second is to earn a sufficient living, trying to maintain that solitude and silence. And the third is to pray every day.

Much of her work and contact with family and friends can be carried out online.

While practical reasons take her out and about, normally at least once a week, she can also go for days without speaking and says solitude gives her energy and happiness.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24367826

Georgian stylite Fr. Maxime

Father Maxime

A Daily Mail article for Sept. 5, 2013 summarizes the efforts of Father Maxime to become a stylite atop a 100-foot rock outcrop in the Republic of  Georgia, the first since the end of Turkish occupation 600 years ago.  (This article updates two previous entries on this blog: https://hermitary.com/around/?cat=33.

Article headline and byline:

“Getting closer to God: Meet the monk who lives a life of virtual solitude on top of a 131ft pillar and has to have food winched up to him by his followers”

  • Maxime, a 59-year-old monk, lives on top of Katshki Pillar in Georgia
  • He has to scale a 131ft ladder if he wants to come down
  • Followers winch supplies up to him because he only leaves the pillar twice a week
  • Maxime decided to make a change in his life after a stint in prison

Spectacular photos and a link to the trailer of a documentary film, “Upon This Rock.”

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2384040/Maxime-Meet-monk-lives-life-virtual-solitude-131ft-pillar.html

Siberian wilderness hermit

The Itar-Tass news agency reports on discovery of a “wild child” (now 20 years old) identified in Siberia. The Sept. 2013 article is titled: “Hermit found in Altai Krai, Siberia: 20-year-old lived all his life in forest.” The hut image below is presumably one of the dwellings mentioned in the article. The text of the article is printed below.

Siberian hermit hut

Citizens of a resort town Belokurikha found a young man living in the forest who apparently lived there from his birth and never had contact with the outside world, said the city’s Prosecutor Roman Fomin

The prosecution have looked into the citizens’ report. It was determined that the young man, whose name has not been made public, “was born in 1993 without obstetric care near Kaytanak village located in Ust-Koksinsk region of Altai Republic. He was not educated, he was no social skills or any idea of the world outside of the forest,” the prosecutor explained.

Young man’s parents are also hermits. Since 1997 they have moved into a mud hut located in the forest approximately three kilometers from Ulyanovsk village of Altai Krai. In spring of 2013 they have moved, leaving their son fend for himself.

Fomin emphasized that the young hermit “has no official papers proving his birth; this prevents him from receiving identification documents in order to benefiting from rights and support guaranteed by the government.”

The prosecution has contacted the court in order to establish his birth; social protection services were contacted as well.

URL: http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c467/871756.html

Welsh hermit Emma Orbach

A December 2012 Daily Mail (UK) article describes the hermit life of Emma Orbach. The title and bylines:

Meet Mrs Bilbo Baggins: Oxford graduate quits society to live a hobbit-style existence in a mud roundhouse in Welsh hills.

  • Emma Orbach, 58, has shunned society, living in a mudhut she built herself
  • The Oxford graduate named her home Tir Ysbrydol, which means ‘spirit land’ in Welsh, where she has banned technology
  • She fetches water from a stream and keeps three goats, seven chickens and two horses

Emma Orbach's hobbit house

More from the article:

Nestled in the mountains of West Wales, she named her home Tir Ysbrydol, which means ‘spirit land’ in Welsh.

When her children, who are in their 20s and 30s and live in London, Bristol and Brighton, visit, they, like all guests at the roundhouse, are banned from bringing technology such as phones or laptops with them.

It is all a far cry from the conventional trappings of Mrs Orbach’s background. Her father was a violinist and her mother a librarian.

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Chinese, she married architectural historian Julian Orbach.

The article includes video and photos.

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254397/Oxford-graduate-quit-mainstream-society-live-hobbit-style-existence-mud-hut-Welsh-hills.html

Cave-dwelling Chinese hermit

From the Mirror (UK): “Chinese hermit found living in cave for 20 years – which is 50ft climb up a cliff face,” published August 22, 2013. (The article is reprinted here because so many such articles on the web tend to disappear too soon.)

Authorities have tried to place Feng Mingshan, 54, in a nursing home but he keeps escaping and heading back to his cave home high above a ravine

Some people like to have their own chair or their own room in the house to get a slice of the quiet life, but one Chinese man has chosen a cave 50ft high to get away from the neighbours.

Feng Mingshan, 54, has lived in a cave high above a ravine, which is only accessible by a vertical climb, in the southern Shaanxi Province and two-hours away from his native Gaobadian for 20 years.

The hermit, who claimed to have found the cave when was a boy, has made some home improvements to his cosy dwelling, but failed to say why he chose this life.

“It was a small cave when I found it, and I expanded it to its current size using a hammer,” he said, shouting to a reporter outside the cave.

“I also cleared the path through the ravine. Summer is cool here and it’s good.”

The cave entrance has a curtain hanging at the entrance, and his family revealed they do keep in contact Feng – though none of his brothers have made it up the steep climb.

“My brother seldom talks to others and has never been engaged. But he’s lived in there for over 20 years,” said his younger brother.

Residents say Feng is often seen in the village looking for supplies and are amazed by what he does to get in and out of his cave.

One resident said: “He usually comes out at night and climbs in and out the cave with ease. It’s really amazing.”

However, local government officials are wanting to persuade Feng to move from his home, even trying to put Feng in a nursing home several times, but he eventually escaped after failing to get along with other residents.

According to town mayor Xu Min, Feng was diagnosed with intermittent psychosis in 2011, and moved back into his cave after briefly receiving treatment.

“Some local officials went to visit Feng a few days ago and waited for two hours with no sight of him,” said Xu. who said the local government will continue to support Feng and persuade him to move from the cave.

URL: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-hermit-found-living-cave-2206085