After her brother <Pinian>, whom we have mentioned, fell asleep in the Lord <late 431 or 432>, Melania remained in the Aposteleion that she had constructed a short time before and in which she had also deposited the remains of the blessed man. She remained here for about four years, very much wearing herself out in fasting, vigils, and constant sorrow. After these things occurred, aroused by divine zeal, (Melania) wished to build a monastery for holy men that they might carry out their nightly and daily psalmody without interruption at the place of the Ascension of the Lord and in the grotto where the Savior talked with his holy disciples about the end of time. - - - And when, under God, she began this project, the Lord who worked with her in all things completed the vast undertaking in one year, so that everyone was astounded to learn that truly it was by a heavenly influence that the work had been accomplished. She lodged there holy men, lovers of God, who cheerfully performed the divine service in the Church of Christ's Ascension and in that of the Apostles, where the blessed ones were also buried.
(transl. Clark)
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