ASCETICS, a name given to certain fanatics in the primitive church, who pretended to purify the soul by severe penances and mortifications. They had their name from co-xero, " I exercise," and their origin, ac cording to Mosheim and Jortin, from an absurd attempt to rival the austerities of some of the Greek philoso phers; and began to make their appearance during the second century. This, however, appears to be but a very imperfect account of their origin, which can evi dently lay claim to much higher antiquity, as it seems to be coeval with superstition itself, and to be founded on a principle universally admitted in human nature. No maxim appears to have been more generally received than this, that some expiation was necessary to purify the soul from sin. This notion arose either from a consciousness of guilt, or from conceiving the Deity to be cruel and implacable, or from some obscure intima tion respecting an atonement, which has been represent ed by sacrifices and various other rites, ever since the world began. We need not be surprised then, that this notion, so universally received, should have given rise to the austerities and mortifications of the ascetic life, which, to the unenlightened mind, must appear more natural expiations of guilt than sacrifices themselves : for surely it seems much more reasonable, that the offender himself should suffer, than that the punishment of his guilt should be transferred to another. Sacrifices scarcely have a meaning, except when they are regarded as typical or emblematic : but men ignorant of any more effectual remedy, might naturally enough sup vessions.
According to this view of the subject, we must not look for Ascetics merely among the corrupters of Chris tianity, but may expect to find them in every nation, and under every denomination of religion. Christianity, in. deed, from the many excellent precepts which it incul cates, respecting self-denial, and the correcting of the sinful passions, may easily be perverted into a system of ascetic doctrines ; but its genius is so repugnant to this idea, that it is the only religion which expressly condemns all attempts to expiate sin by our own mor tifications. As this principle, however, is so deeply
rooted in human nature, it cannot be uninteresting to trace some exhibitions of it as it has actually appeared in practice ; and since wisdom is too rare to afford many edifying examples, we must make the most we can of the follies of the world. The prince of the Asce tics, was the renowned pillar saint, Simeon Stylites, a native of Syria. He lived thirty-seven years on the top of a pillar, at the imminent risk of his neck ; gradually increasing the height of his pillar as his soul became more sublimated, and his body more capable of existing in his aerial habitation. He rose gradually from six to forty cubits ; and when once he attained this grand cli macteric of columnar sanctity, he was regarded as an oracle, and almost worshipped as a deity, by the whole surrounding country. He gained so much reputation by this super-human excellence, that he became the head of a sect, which produced some disciples who ri valled the fame of their founder ; and which, to mark the stagnation of human intellect, continued in vogue for upwards of five centuries. (llksheim, vol. ii. ch. 3.) Thus, after men had no longer an opportunity of signal izing their zeal by suffering death in defence of their faith, they contrived a kind of voluntary martyrdom, and inflicted upon themselves more pains and penalties than pagan cruelty had ever invented.
The monks of Palestine, in the fifth century, arrived at the utmost refinement in mortification, as we are in formed by Evagrius. Some of them dwelt in little dens, just big enough to hold them: others repaired to the desert, and walking on all four, eat grass like the beasts ; and others, (but the English language cannot express their feats,) Balnea publica frequenter adeunt, et simut cum mulieribus diversantur et !avant. ?deo omni pertur batione animi svperiores, ut natur.e ipsi vim inferant, et nec as/zectu, nee tactu, nec amplexu ipso mulieris, ad ea qua ipsorum propria aunt, ltdlHara queant. Some of them also refused to catch or kill the vermin which devoured them, in which they far surpassed the Jews, who spared the marauders only on the Sabbath day.