poustinia

Definitions

noun In Christian spirituality, a small sparsely furnished cabin or room where a person goes to fast and pray, but which is less austere than a hermitage.

From the Russian пустыня (pustýnja, "desert").

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word poustinia.

I have made my closet into a poustinia, which is the Russian word for "desert", but which here means "a quiet, lonely place away from the rest of my room and the world where I can pray and read and paint".

Sleepytime tea and other comforts youareokok 2004
A ‘poustinia’, for those who may not be familiar with the term is a Russian word, which literally translates, “desert”, but actually means many different things depending on how it is used.

Archive 2009-07-01 elena maria vidal 2009
A ‘poustinia’, for those who may not be familiar with the term is a Russian word, which literally translates, “desert”, but actually means many different things depending on how it is used.

Poustinia elena maria vidal 2009