As soon as he was able Jeremiah devoted himself to the eremitic life, living in silence and solitude in the high deserts of Syria. Like the man who found the pearl of great price, he sold all the pleasures and conveniences of this world, to buy the field in which he found it. In that field he endured all the deprivations of the ascetic life, counting them nothing compared to the treasures he received directly from the Lord’s hand, especially patience and endurance. He mounted up into the heavens using these two virtues as wings, and became a friend of God. Miracles and the power to cast out demons flowed from his continuous nearness to Christ, his only hope and consolation.