And since, on account of extreme old age, he was no longer able to perform the ministry, the providence of God called the aforesaid Alexander, who was bishop of another community, to the ministry together with Narcissus, by a revelation that appeared to him at night through a vision.
Accordingly, when, as if at some divine oracle, he had made the journey from the land of the Cappadocians, where he had first been counted worthy of the episcopate, to Jerusalem for the sake of prayer and of inquiry into the holy places, the people there received him most cordially and would no longer permit him to return home, according to another revelation that appeared to them also by night, and a single most clear voice given to those of them who were especially earnest; for it indicated that they should go forth outside the gates and receive the bishop foreordained for them by God. And having done this, with the common counsel of the bishops who governed the surrounding churches, they constrained him of necessity to remain.
Indeed Alexander himself, in his own letters to the Antinoites, still preserved among us to this day, makes mention of the joint presidency of Narcissus with himself, writing thus in these very words at the end of the letter: 「Narcissus salutes you, who before me administered the place of the episcopate here, and who now is associated with me through prayers, having completed a hundred and sixteen years, and who exhorts you, even as I do, to be of one mind.」
And these things were thus. But of the church at Antioch, when Serapion had rested from the episcopate, Asclepiades succeeded, he too having distinguished himself in the confessions during the persecution.
Alexander too makes mention of this man's appointment, writing thus to the Antiochenes: 「Alexander, a servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the blessed church of the Antiochenes, greeting in the Lord. Light and easy did the Lord make my bonds for me during the time of imprisonment, when I learned that, according to the divine providence, Asclepiades, the most fitting man in respect of his worthy faith, has been entrusted with the episcopate of your holy church of the Antiochenes.」
And he indicates that he sent this letter by the hand of Clement, writing thus near the end: 「These letters, my lords and brethren, I have sent to you by the hand of Clement, the blessed presbyter, a man virtuous and approved, whom you also know and will come to know more fully; who, being present here too according to the providence and oversight of the Master, both strengthened and increased the church of the Lord.」