Remoboth

Remoboth and SARABAITES, names given to associations of hermits in the early Church who refused to submit to monastic regulations. The Remoboth, whose name originated in Syria, are mentioned as belonging to this class by Jerome (Ep. 18 ad Eustochium, De Custodia Virginitatis). He says that they were more numerous than other monks in Svria and Palestine; that they lived in the towns in complete independence, and in companies of not more than two or three persons; that they supported themselves by labor, and often quarrelled among themselves. A similar class of hermits, living in Egypt, is mentioned in Cassian (Collatio, 18 c. 7) under the name Sarabaites, said to have been applied to them because they separated themselves from the monasteries and personally made provision for their needs. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v.