There were individual cases of excessive self-torture even among these congregations of monks but we may say that ordinarily, organized monasticism was altogether less severe upon the individual than Anchoretic life.
"A Short History of Monks and Monasteries"
Alfred Wesley Wishart
I had no care upon my mind, for my small fortune, along with the rent of my field, was more than sufficient for my maintenance in the almost Anchoretic seclusion in which I intended to live, and hence I had every advantage for the more definite projection and prosecution of a work which had been gradually shaping itself in my mind for months past.
"Wilfrid Cumbermede"
George MacDonald
To wash down this Anchoretic fare M. Desmoulin and myself ordered Sauterne and Apollinaris; but the contents of the water bottle sufficed for M. Zola and the other gentleman.
"With Zola in England"
Ernest Alfred Vizetelly