Devay did not remain long at Buda. He was called to Cassovia (Kaschau) in Upper Hungary, then under the rule of Ferdinand, from which place he was able to bear the heavenly doctrine to the banks of the Hernath and the Tchenerl, into the whole comitat of Abaujvar, to Eperies on the north, and to Ujhely on the east. Everywhere he labored zealously. Ere long the inhabitants attached themselves with all their heart not only to him, but to the Word of God. The nobles of one of the market towns of the comitat of Zemplin, impressed by his powerful discourses, left the Romish Church and received with faith the divine promises. The inhabitants of several villages of the neighborhood were gained over by this example. These numerous conversions excited the wrath of the Roman clergy, and on all sides the priests called for the removal of a man so dangerous as Devay. Thomas Szalahazy, bishop of Eger (Erlau), denounced him to King Ferdinand. Agents of this prince made their way secretly to the places where the simple but powerful reformer might be found, and they seized and carried him off. A deed so daring could not be concealed. The report of it spread among the inhabitants of the town of Cassovia, and the people, who were warmly attached to the reformer, rose in revolt. But all was useless. The tools of the bishop dragged Devay into the mountains of the comitat of Liptau; but even there they did not think him safe enough. They feared the mountains, the forests, the defiles; they could not dispense with prisons, keepers, and thick walls. They conducted Devay, therefore, to Presburg, and thence to Vienna; and here he was very rigorously treated. Put in chains, supplied with scanty nourishment, subjected to all kinds of privations, he suffered cruelly in body, and his soul was often overwhelmed with sorrow. He wondered whether he was ever to escape from those gloomy walls. He sought after God from the depth of his soul, knowing that He is the only deliverer. At a later time he frequently used to speak of all the bodily and mental sufferings which he had undergone in the prison of Vienna.