"Men and women hermits, belonging to ancient orders or new institutes, or being directly dependent on the bishop, bear witness to the passing nature of the present age by their inward and outward separation from the world. By fasting and penance, they show that man does not live by bread alone but by the word of God. (Mt. 4:4) "Such a life 'in the desert' is an invitation to their contemporaries and to the ecclesial community itself never to lose sight of the supreme vocation, which is to be always with the Lord." (VC 7 ¶ 2) Open to women or men, this vowed form of life, known as the eremitic form, is lived individually and under the direction of the diocesan bishop.