in me the cause which was urging me to go forth from the desert.
Then afterwards he said unto me with a smile, “Wishest thou to become a bishop?” And I said unto him, “I have already been made one”; and he said unto me, “Where?” Then I answered and said unto him, “I am the bishop of the public eating-houses, and of the taverns, and of tables, and of wine-pots, for I am a visitor of them. And if the wine hath gone sour I know enough to observe it, and that which is fit [to drink] I drink. Similarly I visit the cooking pot and if it needeth salt, or any seasoning whatsoever, I season it with sauces and then I eat thereof. For this, that is to say, my visiting, is my episcopate, and it is the love of the belly and gluttony which hath made me the visitor of these.” And with a smile he said unto me further, “Quit these [words] of jesting, for a bishop thou must needs be, and thou wilt have to labour and to be troubled greatly; now if thou wishest to flee from tribulations and temptations go not forth from the desert, for in the desert no man will make thee a bishop.”
And when I had departed from him I came to the desert, that is, to my place wherein I dwelt, and having related these things unto the blessed fathers, who after two months went and held intercourse with him, I forgot his words. And three years afterwards I fell sick with a sore sickness which was caused by my kidneys and stomach, and I was sent to Alexandria by the brethren who believed that I was collecting water (i.e., becoming dropsical), and the physicians counselled me to leave Alexandria, and for the sake of the air (or climate) to go to Palestine, where the air (or climate) was temperate and light and would be beneficial to my body. From Palestine I went to Bithynia, where, for what reason I know not, whether by the care and solicitude of men, or whether by the Will of God, Who is exalted above all things, I was held to be worthy of the laying on of hands for the episcopacy, which was far above my deserts, and I became an associate in the temptation (or trial) which rose up against the blessed John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople. And having been secluded for a period of about eleven months in a dark cell I remembered that blessed man who had told me of the things which had happened to me before they came to pass. Now the blessed man John related the things unto me, according to my opinion, that by means of the narrative he might incite my mind and bring me to continue to dwell in the desert; and he said unto me, “Behold, I have passed eight and forty years in this cell, and I have never seen the face of a woman [during the whole time], and no man hath either seen me eat or drink.”
