<Sixty rebellious monks leave the Great Laura of Sabas in late September, 506. They ask to be admitted to the Laura of Souka, but are turned down by the hegumen, Aquilinus.> These (monks), having been refused admission, withdrew to the ravine which is south of Thecoa and settled there, having found water and remains of cells once built by the Schismatics; they constructed cells for themselves and called the site the New Laura. After their secession from the Laura of the Elder, the other (monks) were free to offer to God the fruits of their pure hearts, like wheat that grows after the weeds are rooted out. A little time having elapsed, holy Sabas learned where his deserting disciples had gone; he took the pack-animals of the Laura and of the Castellion, loaded with supplies, and went out to (seek) them there. Some of them, seeing him come, said to each other: “Lo and behold! here he comes, the cross-eyed!”. But the holy Elder observed their grievous state of distress - for they had neither a church nor a chief, but would take Communion on Sundays in the memorial of the holy prophet Amos in Thecoa, and besides, they were plunged in the disorder of anarchy, quarrelling and divided among themselves. (Sabas) pitied them and related their situation to the patriarch, asking him to organise them (in an orderly community). The patriarch gave him off hand a pound of gold, and also entrusted him with authority over that place and its inhabitants, as they belonged to his own community. The godly Elder went down to their place, bringing masons and all that was required, and after five months spent there with them he built them a bakery and a church, which he decorated and consecrated in the 69th year of his life <AD 507>. Then he sent to his own Laura for the above-mentioned John the anchorite, a Greek by birth, - who was endowed with the grace of prophecy, and appointed him as hegumen of the New Laura. This same John, inspired by God, prophesied what was going to happen to the New Laura in the present time. For, when he was at the point of going to rest in the Lord, while the leading monks of the community were sitting near his deathbed, he burst into tears and said: “Behold, days will come and the inhabitants of this place will be mightily exalted (with pride) and will depart from the true faith, but ‘their haughtiness will be humbled’ <Is. 2:11> and in their rashness they will be driven away”. And saying these last words, he touched the port of rest. He had directed the Laura for seven years in a manner agreeable to God and had shown himself a miracle-worker. The fathers (who dwelt) there, following our father Sabas’ advice, chose (as hegumen) a Roman called Paul, a very simple and unworldly man. shining in the virtues that please God. But Abba Paul governed the New Laura for only six months, against his will, then fled to (Provincia) Arabia; later he went to Capharbaricha and ended his life in the above-mentioned coenobium of Severianus, which was being built at that time <after 514>. The fathers of the New Laura informed the godly Elder of Paul’s flight, and after many entreaties received as hegumen the above-mentioned Agapetus, Sabas’ disciple. When he received the abbacy of the New Laura, Agapetus found four monks in the community, who had been admitted there by Paul in his great simplicity, ignorant as he was of their background, namely, that they secretly whispered Origen’s doctrines. The foremost of them was a Palestinian, Nonnus by name, who pretended Christianity and feigned piety, but entertained the doctrines of the atheistic pagans, Jews and Manicheans, those mythic (ideas) imagined by Origen, Evagrius and Dydimus, about the pre-existence (of the soul). The blessed Agapetus, fearing that the plague of heresy would spread to others, after having taken counsel with the holy archbishop Elias and with his consent, expelled them from the New Laura. The expelled monks retired to the lowlands and went on sowing there their noxious seeds. Time elapsed, and the archbishop was deposed, as I shall recount in a little while; then Nonnus and his friends returned to the holy city and begged permission from Elias’ successor in the patriarchate to go back and live in the New Laura. The patriarch, who was endowed with godly perception, sent for holy Sabas and blessed Agapetus and asked if it was possible to admit them. Agapetus’ answer was such: “They push the Origenistic creed, to the corruption of our community, and I would rather be out of the place than let them mix with the community entrusted to me”. To which the archbishop replied: “Your deliberation is good and agreeable to God”. Therefore those people, understanding that the archbishop was hostile to them, retired again to the lowlands. Blessed Agapetus died, after having worthily governed the New Laura for five years, and the Neolaurites chose as hegumen one Mamas. Then Nonnus and his friends, having heard of Agapetus’ death and Mamas’ election, came and were secretly admitted to the New Laura by Mamas, still guarding in their breasts their noxious intent, not to be brought to the brothers ears at any price, for fear of our holy father Sabas. For while he was alive, one confession of faith was in force among all the monks of the desert. But this is all for new about the Neolaurites.
(transl. Leah di Segni)