Anachorets or Anchorets (avaxopew, *° sepa- rate, to retire, to withdrmc), monks, so called from their retiring from society, and living privately in cells. AVhen the ascetics withdrew to the lonely and remote districts of the Egyptian desert, they assumed particular appellations, expressive of their solitary
I mode of life : monks, from the Greek fiovoc, alone, one who dwells alone; eremites, corrupted into hermit*, from ipiifioc, a desert; and anchorets, those who with- draw from society. These terms were afterward em- ployed to define more accurately the various shades of austerity by which these ascetics were distinguished. Thus, monks denoted those who adopted a secluded habit of life, but were still disposed occasionally to hold intercourse with society, and later, as canohites, to dwell in communities; the hermits were those who withdrew to sequestered places, but who did not deny themselves a fixed place of shelter, or that supply of food which might be obtained from cultivating the ground; the anchorets were most excessive in their austerities, and chose the wildest localities as their re- treats. Many of the anchorets voluntarily subjected themselves to the vicissitudes of the weather, without proper habitation or clothing, restricted themselves to coarse and scanty fare, wore chains and iron rings, and even throughout many years maintained painful postures, such as standing on the top of a pillar [see Stylites], thus displaying an earnestness which greater enlightenment might have directed to the good of mankind. Paul (q. v.) the Hermit, and Antony (q. v.), were among the first and most celebrated an- chorets. The anchorets were not able always to pre- serve their solitude unbroken. The fame of their sanc- tity drew many to visit them ; their advice was often sought ; and the number of their visitors was much in- creased by the belief that maladies, particularly men- tal diseases, were cured by their blessing. Sometimes, also, they returned for a short time to the midst of their fellow-men to deliver warnings, instructions, or encouragements, and were received as if the}- had been inspired prophets or angels from heaven. The num- ber of anchorets, however, gradually diminished, and the religious life of convents was preferred to that of the hermitage. The Western Churn, indeed, at no time abounded in anchorets like the Eastern, and per- haps the reason may in part be found in the difference of climate, which renders a manner of life impossible in most parts of Europe that could be pursued for many years in Egypt or Syria. — Helyot, Ordres Relig. t. i. See Ccenobite ; Monachism; Asceticism.
Anacletus or Cletus, bishop of Rome, said to have been elected in A.D. 83, and to have died A.D. 86. The Roman Church honors him as a martyr, as she does the other popes who lived during this period, upon the ground that those among them who were not actually put to death by the sword did not suffer less for the faith. — Baillet, July 13 ; Eusebius, lib. iii, cap. 13, 15.
Anacletus II, Antipope. His name was Peter of Leon, cardinal of Santa Maria beyond the Tiber, and upon the death of Honorius II he was elected in op- position to Innocent II. A part of the cardinals at the same time seceded and elected Innocent. Anacletus kept Innocent besieged in the palace of the Lateran, and obtained possession of the city of Rome and the en- tire papal dominions. He wrote to all the princes of Europe in order to be recognised, but in this he met with no success. He was condemned by the Councils of Rheims and Pisa, rejected by the larger portion of the clergy of the Roman Catholic world, not recognised by any sovereign except Roger of Sicily, to whom he had given his sister in marriage, and the duke of Aqui- tania ; but in Rome he maintained himself, notwith- standing the arms of the Emperor Lothaire, who pro- tected Innocent. This schism lasted eight years, un- til the death of Anacletus in 1138. Voltaire calls him, ironically, the Jewish pope, because he descended from a Jewish family which had grown rich at the expense of the church. Anacletus was a disciple of Arnold of Brescia (q. v.), and found implacable enemies in St. Bernard and Arnoul, archdeacon of Seez. — Hoefer, Biog. Ginirale, ii, 408 ; Riddle, Hist, of Papacy, ii, 169.
AlVAEL
212
ANAKIM
An'ael ('AiW/X, prob. contracted for Anaiiief), the "brother of Tobit, and father of Achiacharus (Tob. i, 21).
AnagllOStes (avayv(i)aTi]c), reader, the name of a class of officers in the early church. In the Greek Church they held the first rank in the lower order of Officers ; in the Roman Church they were next to the Bab-deacons. The)' have sometimes been regarded as an order instituted by the apostles, and by them de- rived from the Jewish synagogue. Compare Luke iv, 16 ; Acts xiii, 15, 27 ; 2 Cor. iii. There were among the Jews persons who performed the same office as readers among the Christians. There is not, how- ever, any proof of the early appointment of a special minister in the capacity of reader: the office was prob- ably instituted in the third century. Tertnllian distin- guishes the lector from the episcopus, presbyter, and dia- conus; and the church observed a fixed rule respecting the office and duty of these respective ministers. Both in the synagogue and in the early Christian Church, any person who was able to discharge the duty was allowed to hold the office of reader, without reference to age. Boys of twelve, ten, and eight years of age, were frequently employed in this manner. The office was a favorite one with youths in the higher classes of society. Julian, afterward the apostate, in his younger years was reader in a church in Nicomedia. — Bingham, On'//. Eccles. bk. iii, ch. v.