anchorite

thumb|An anchorite's cell in Holy Trinity Church, Skipton thumb|Christine Carpenter (anchoress)|Christine Carpenter was walled in to a cell in St James's Church in [[Shere, Surrey.]] thumb|The Anchorite (1881), by Teodor Axentowicz

In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress; ) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorites are frequently considered to be a type of hermit, but unlike hermits, they were required to take a vow of stability of place, opting for permanent enclosure in cells often attached to churches. Also unlike hermits, anchorites were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which they would be considered dead to the world and a type of living saint. Anchorites had a certain autonomy, as they did not answer to any ecclesiastical authority apart from bishops.