Editing Jerome (section)

=== Conversion to Christianity ===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 135r 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.17|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=1.2|''[[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]] (hermits) 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 himself 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>