This man, who presided over the church of the Novatians[1] after Chrysanthus, was first a teacher of Latin literature, then leaving the toil of grammar-teaching he turned to the ascetic life and establishing monasteries of earnest men he persevered [in a life] not different from the monks in the desert. For he became such as Evagrius[2] says the monks in the desert spent their time: for he persevered in imitating them in all respects, in continual fasting, in speaking little, in abstinence from living things; for the most part he abstained also from wine and oil. But concerning the poor he became as serious as anyone else; he looked after those in prison without hesitation. In his time a certain Jew was caught pretending to be a Christian.[3]