The locked-down anchoress: Beth Allen on Julian of Norwich

‘I’ve found that her way of life was very familiar.’

In these last two years many of us have lived shut away, enclosed in a few rooms, unable to go out because we are vulnerable to Covid infection. I haven’t been able to get to the library, so instead I’ve been re-reading the books I already have. This is how I’ve rediscovered the writings of Julian of Norwich, and I’ve found that her way of life was very familiar.

Julian lived in the fourteenth century, and she was an anchoress. She lived in one room, which she vowed never to leave. She could be visited at her window, and people came seeking a listening ear, advice and prayers. When she was just over thirty she had a series of visions which she pondered for twenty years before describing. Her reflections on them became the first book in English known to have been written by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love. The book has many virtues, but I have been struck in particular by her way of life, the reasons for it, and the possibilities it opens up for those of us whose lives are similarly restricted.

Julian’s single room was attached to a church in Norwich. Her leading was spiritual, a calling to a specific type of life and ministry. Anchoresses were supported financially by their local community, so she took her vow only after the local bishop had checked carefully that her leadings were genuine, sound and settled.

Julian chose her enclosure. Today, those of us who are tied to our houses can either rage miserably, or take a conscious decision to make something positive of our circumstances. And let’s remember: we too are not alone! Julian had her bishop; we have people in our Meeting, and friends or family, to test our leading and support us.

What does enclosure free us to do? We can read, and have the time to do that slowly and reflectively. We can call people who need some human contact, as we do ourselves. We can think of our friends, and write to them. We can lobby MPs and local councillors. We have space and time to write about the lessons we have learned in our lives. We can watch the news, and hold current affairs and all involved in the Light. We can practise prayer. I look forward to sorting out and listening to my piles of CDs, too.

Julian and her fellow anchorites saw their enclosure as a response to an interior call, a leading to ministry of a particular sort. They held their world in the Light, using inner silence as well as words. They had a ministry of presence, very like the ministry of those Friends who come faithfully to Meeting week after week, and who hold the stillness and peace that sustains us all.

This is a calling within the Christian tradition. What might we learn from the other world faiths? Is there a Buddhist or Hindu way of using solitude, limitation or enclosure to deepen and enrich our inner life? I’d love to hear what other Quakers are winning from all the negative things we are living with!

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