The Fall of Ptolemy

Ἄλλος τις πάλιν Πτολεμαῖος ὀνόματι, δυσδιήγητον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνεκδιήγητον ἀρετῆς βιον ζήσας, τοκατκχὰς οἴκησεν ἐπέκεινα τῆς Σκήτεως τὴν καλουμένην Κλιμακα, Τοπος δέ ἐστιν οὔτω καλούμενος, εἴς ὄν οὐδεις ἠδυνήθη οἴκῆσαί ποτε τῶν μοναχῶν, τοῦ ἀπὸ δεκαοκτὼ σημείων εἰναι τὸ φρέαρ τοῦ ὑδατος. Βαστάσας οὖν ἐκεῖνος κεράμια Κιλικίσια πλείονα ἐκείσε ἀπήνεγκεν. Καὶ τῷ Δεκεμβρίῳ καὶ Ἰανουαρίῳ μηνὶ συναγαὼν τὴν δρόσον ἐκ τών πετρῶν, δροσίζει γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς μέρεσι τότε πολλὰ, και τὰ κεράμια πληρώσας τῆς δρόσου διήρκεσεν ἑαυτῷ ἐπὶ δεκαπέντε ἔτη οἰκήσας ἐκεῖ, πλείονα χρόνον μηδενὶ συντυγχὰνων. Ὅς ἀποξενωθεις διδασκαλίας πνευματικῆς, καὶ συντυχίας ἀνδρῶν ὁσιων, και ὠφελείας ἁγίων Πατέρων, καὶ συνεχοῦς κοινωνίας τὡν μυστηρίων τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἐμάνη, ἐκτραπεὶς τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ, ὡς τὸ παρά τισι τῶν ἐσεβῶν λεγόμενον, αὐτοματισμὸν και τοῦτον τὸν ἄθλιον ὁμολογειν. Πτολαῖος λεγεται φέρεσθαι μετέωπρος ἐξεστηκὼς τῶν κατὰ φυσιν φρενων μέχρι τῆς δευρο ἀλώμενος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ἐκδοτον ἑαυτον δεδωκὼς γαστριμαργίᾳ καὶ ὀινοφλυγιᾳ, μηδενὶ μηδὲν ὁμιλῶν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· Οἰς μὴ ὑπάρχει κυβέρνησις, οὖτοι πίπτουσιν ὥσπερ φύλλα.  Παλλαδιος, Ἡ Προς Λαυσον Ἱστορια

Again another monk named Ptolemy sought to live a life of virtue almost impossible to describe, dwelling beyond Scete in a place called Climax, this place being so called because no monk can live there since the well of the brethren is eighteen miles away. But he, carrying a number of pots, collected the dew with a sponge from the rocks during the months of December and January, for there is a plentiful fall of dew then in those parts, and made it suffice during the fifteen years he lived there. During this long time, however, he had no contact with anyone, and so he became a stranger to spiritual teaching and intercourse with holy men, and the benefit derived from the Holy Fathers, and the constant communion of the mysteries of Christ, on account of which he wandered from the straight way and spoke from his own mind that sacred things were nothing. It is said he, suspended aloft in his pride, is roaming about in Egypt up to the present day, and that he has given himself over to gluttony and drunkenness, speaking no edifying word to anyone, as it is written: 'They who have no guidance fall like leaves.' 1 Palladius of Galatia, Lausiac History  1 Prov 11.4 LXX