Other Monks Famous in This Period

There were other men too in this period who sent out the bright rays of the philosophy of the solitary life. In the desert of Chalcis, Avitus, Marcianus and Abraham, and more besides whom I cannot easily count, strove, in bodies the senses can perceive, to live a life above the senses. In the district of Apamea, Agapetus, Simeon, Paul and others reaped the fruits of the highest wisdom. [a]

In the district of Zeugma were Publius and Paul. In the district of Cyrrhus the famous Acepsemas had been shut up in a cell for sixty years, without being either seen or spoken to. The admirable Zeumatius, though he had lost his sight, used to go about strengthening the sheep and fighting the wolves. So they burned his cell. But Trajan, a most faithful general, had another one built for him, and showed him other kindnesses besides. In the neighborhood of Antioch, Marianus, Eusebius, Ammianus, Palladius, Simeon, Abraham and others kept the divine image undamaged. But I have recorded the lives of all these. The mountain near the great city was adorned like a meadow. On it shone Peter the Galatian and his namesake Peter the Egyptian, Romanus, Severus, Zeno, Moses and Malchus, and many others whom the world does not know, but who are known to God. [f]