The History of the Maiden Alexandra

Didymus tells of an Alexandrian maiden named Alexandra who "shut herself up in a tomb until the end of her life" (95). And "the blessed woman Melha" tells of once asking through a window why Alexandra had shut herself up. When she was young, Alexandra had devoted her live to God as a nun, and was grieved when a young man fell in love with her. So she chose to shut herself up rather "than to cause a man who was made in the form of the image of God to stumble." (96)

The History of Didymus

In Alexandria Palladius met an old blind man named Didymus who, though he had little formal education, was thoroughly versed in Scripture and in "the belief of the truth." Didymus asked Palladius to pray in his cell and when Palladius refused, the old man told him of a time when Abba Anthony had come to pray in his cell. "Thou also, if thou wishest to walk in his footsteps and [to imitate him] in [his] life and deeds... remove thyself from contention." (95)