Marcian was one of those desert-dwelling saints with some common sense. He went into the Syrian desert:

Here he shut himself up in a small enclosure, which he never went out of, in the midst of which he built himself a cell so narrow and low, that he could neither stand nor lie in it without bending his body.

Wait, where was the common sense? Now, just because we wouldn’t want to live in such confined spaces does not mean that his choice was irrational–for him, this enabled him to ensure that he slept only when his body needed sleep. He used his time to kneel in prayer and sing psalms and seek God. What shows “sense” in a more objective way is that Marcian steadfastly refused to ever fast more than one day at a time: he felt that he needed to maintain his strength to do the will of God–as revealed to him in solitude and prayer–and Marcian recognized that fasting overmuch would sap his strength.

As happens with these desert saints who flee the world to follow their god, the world finds them anyhow. Marcian did not seek to be a teacher, a mentor, or in any way a church leader. But when approached by a group of patriarchs, future saints, and other luminaries, he spoke out eloquently from his cell:

Alas! God speaks to us every day by his creatures, and this universe which we behold: he speaks to us by his gospel; he teaches us what we ought to do both for ourselves and others. He terrifies and he encourages us. Yet we make no advantage of all these lessons. What can Marcian say that can be of use, who does not improve himself by all these excellent instructions?

“Alas!” indicates that Marcian found those gathered to be, to put it mildly, obtuse, and that nothing he had to say was new or required traveling to the wilds of the Syrian desert for them to hear! God’s “gospel” in Marcian’s usage is not what is confined or even primarily found in a book, either–it is, literally, the good news that God has spread over the world like so many appleseeds spread by John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed). And he put it to these dignitaries: why are you coming here? If you don’t listen to the creatures around you every day, if you don’t look around and notice the good news that calls souls to it; if you don’t allow your emotions to be penetrated already by God–then there’s nothing whatsoever for me to say that will make any difference.

Hear, here!!