An anchorite (female: anchoress) from "one who has retired from the world", is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-filled, ascetic life. Anchorites are often considered to be a type of religious hermit, unlike hermits, anchorites had to make a promise to God to stay in one place, which was a very small room, either attached to, or within the wall of, a local church. 