Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (St.Jerome) is best known for his 5th-century translation of the Bible into Latin, but he spent much of his life as a monk. After studying in Roma he traveled throughout the empire, joining groups of ascetics in Trier, Aquileia, and Antioch. He continued his studies, under Apollinarius of Laodicea (who was later condemned as a heretic for teaching that Jesus had human flesh but not a human mind or will). In a dream he was found guilty of "being a follower of Cicero not of Christ" and stopped reading classical literature for a decade. Instead, he resumed his hermetic lifestyle in Chalcis "with none but scorpions and wild beasts for companions." He later confessed, "Though I was protected by the rampart of the lonely desert, I could not endure against the promptings of sin and the ardent heat of my nature. I tried to crush them by frequent fasting, but my mind was always in a turmoil of imagination." He returned to Roma to act as pope Damasus' secretary and possible successor but after 3 years was forced to flee after 1 of his female disciples died fasting. One of his wealth followers then set him up in a monastery in Bethlehem, where he spent 23 years translating the Bible.
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (St.Jerome) is best known for his 5th-century translation of the Bible into Latin, but he spent much of his life as a monk. After studying in Roma he traveled throughout the empire, joining groups of ascetics in Trier, Aquileia, and Antioch. He continued his studies, under Apollinarius of Laodicea (who was later condemned as a heretic for teaching that Jesus had human flesh but not a human mind or will). In a dream he was found guilty of "being a follower of Cicero not of Christ" and stopped reading classical literature for a decade. Instead, he resumed his hermetic lifestyle in Chalcis "with none but scorpions and wild beasts for companions." He later confessed, "Though I was protected by the rampart of the lonely desert, I could not endure against the promptings of sin and the ardent heat of my nature. I tried to crush them by frequent fasting, but my mind was always in a turmoil of imagination." He returned to Roma to act as pope Damasus' secretary and possible successor but after 3 years was forced to flee after 1 of his female disciples died fasting. One of his wealth followers then set him up in a monastery in Bethlehem, where he spent 23 years translating the Bible.
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