High above the bustle, hermit monks practice contemplation

A version of this story appeared in the Feb 13-26, 2015 print issue.

by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans

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In a hermitage overlooking Ohio's Jefferson County, five men spend the majority of their days in silence, solitude and fasting.

Members of a semi-eremitic religious community that came into being as Europe emerged from the Dark Ages, the Camaldolese Hermits of Montecorona are the product of a 16th-century reform movement. Unlike their Camaldolese Benedictine brothers, the Camaldolese Hermits do not have monasteries. The congregation of Montecorona has around 60 members living in nine hermitages around the world, according to its website.

On the Ohio property, which the three hermits who have taken final vows and two in temporary vows do not leave, their solitary cells form a ring around the church in the center. 

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