As a sequel to these discussions a Council was held in the church of St. Thekla at Seleucia in September of the year 359 by order of the emperor Constantius, at which there were present a hundred and sixty bishops, about two-thirds of whom were semi-Arians. Theoctistes, bishop of Ostracine, was among them.[157] He was therefore deposed by Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria († 371), who appointed, in his stead, Serapion.[158] But the representatives of the neighbouring see of Rhinocorura firmly held by Athanasius, and Sozomenus († 443), after praising the hermits of Nitria, wrote of Rhinocorura, “celebrated at this period for its holy men, who were not from abroad, but natives of the place. Among the most eminent philosophers were Melas, who then administered the church in the country; Dionysius, who presided over a monastery to the north of the city; and Solon, the brother and successor of Melas in the bishopric.” When, owing to a decision of Valens (_c._ A.D. 364), there was a reaction in favour of Arius, officers appeared at Rhinocorura who were charged with orders to eject those opposed to Arianism. Melas, who did the lowliest work, offered a meal to the officers, waiting on them himself, and declared his willingness to go into exile. His brother Solon gave up commerce in order to embrace the monastic life. “The church of Rhinocorura having been thus from the beginning under the guidance of exemplary bishops, never afterwards swerved from their precepts and produced good men. The clergy of this church dwell in one house, sit at the same table, and have everything in common.”[159] Among these bishops was Polybius, a disciple of Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus († 403), who wrote a supplement to the _Life of Epiphanius_. The religious difficulties, combined with the general unrest which followed the conjoint rule of the imperial brothers, Valentinian and Valens (364-367), are reflected in the account told by the Egyptian monk Ammonius of what happened at the time when he was on a visit to Sinai with the hermits at the Bush. The account which he wrote in Coptic is preserved in Greek, in Syriac, and in Latin.[160] It is a composition of considerable merit, to which the condensed account, which follows, can do but scant justice.