The venerable Romanus was archimandrite and leader of the great monastery located near Thekoa, a village at a distance to the distance of about 15 miles to the south of Jerusalem, where at the time (of the council of Chalcedon) there were more than 600 monks, living in peace under the leadership of the holy man.
<When rumours reached Palestine about the decisions of the Chalcedonian fathers, and Juvenal’s defection to the Diphysite creed, a crowd of layman and monks came to Romanus and begged him to take up the leadership of the opposition. After prolonged meditation in the desert, Romanus received a divine revelation, according to which he left his monastery in order to lead the struggle against Juvenal. As a result of the Emperor Marcian’s support, Juvenal prevailed and Romanus was exiled to Antioch.>
(transl. Leah Di Segni)