Jerome Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Conversion to Christianity === [[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 135r 1.jpg|thumb|St Jerome in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' ]] Although at first afraid of Christianity, he eventually [[religious conversion|converted]].{{sfn|Payne|1951|p=91}} [[File:Giovanni Bellini St Jerome Reading in the Countryside.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[St. Jerome in the Desert (Bellini, Washington)|St. Jerome in the Desert]]'', by [[Giovanni Bellini]] (1505)]] Seized with a desire for a life of [[ascetic]] [[Penance (Catholic Church)|penance]], Jerome went for a time to the desert of [[Chalcis, Syria|Chalcis]], to the southeast of [[Antioch]], known as the "Syrian [[Thebaid]]" from the number of [[eremites]] inhabiting it. During this period, he seems to have found time for studying and writing. He made his first attempt to learn [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] under the guidance of a converted [[Jew]]; and he seems to have been in correspondence with [[Jewish Christians]] in Antioch. Around this time he had copied for him a Hebrew Gospel, of which fragments are preserved in his notes. It is known today as the [[Gospel of the Hebrews]] which the [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarenes]] considered to be the true [[Gospel of Matthew]].{{sfn|Rebenich|2002|p=211|ps=: Further, he began to study Hebrew: 'I betook myself to a brother who before his conversion had been a Hebrew and...'}} Jerome translated parts of this Hebrew Gospel into Greek.<ref>{{Citation |first=Ray |last=Pritz |title=Nazarene Jewish Christianity: from the end of the New Testament |year=1988 |page=50 |quote=In his accounts of his desert sojourn, Jerome never mentions leaving Chalcis, and there is no pressing reason to think...}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page