Paragraph:
9
Translation:
<Sabas, wishing to have John ordained priest, brings him to the Patriarch Elias (September 497). John reveals to the Patriarch that he is already a bishop, but desires him to keep it secret: so Elias sends them away, telling Sabas that John cannot be ordained, without explaining the reason> … The blessed Sabas, grieved in his heart, retired to a place about 30 stadia away from his Great Laura, to the west of Castellion, in a cave where later he founded a coenobium … <Sabas prays to God to reveal to him the reason for the patriarch’s refusal. An angel appears to him and explains that John is a bishop and therefore cannot be ordained priest.>
(transl. Leah Di Segni)
Summary:
Sabas retires to a cave to the west of Castellion, 30 stadia away from his Great Laura, AD 497, where he would later found a coenobium.