Iohannes Moschus, Pratum Spirituale,1; It is the place called Sapsas. Close by to the left is the torrent of Chorath, where Elijah the Thesbite was sent at the time of the drought, in front of the Jordan.
Anonymus Placentinus, Itinerarium 9 (ca. 570 A.D.)
Then we came to the place where the Lord fed the five thousand people with the five loaves. It is a wide plain with olive and palm groves, and from there we arrived at the place where the Lord was baptized.This is the place where the children of Israel made their crossing, and also where the sons of the prophets lost their axe-head, and where Elijah was taken up. In that place is the "little hill of Hermon" mentioned in the psalm. At the foot of the mountain at seven o'clock in the morning, a cloud forms over the river, and it arrives over Jerusalem at sunrise, above the basilica on Sion and the basilica at Christ's tomb, the basilica of Saint Mary and Saint Sophia (once the Praetorium where Christ's case was heard). Above these places the dew comes down like showers, and sick people collect it. In the hospices all the dishes are cooked in it, and in the places where this dew falls many diseases are cured. For this is the dew of which the psalmist sings, "Like as the dew of Hermon, which fell upon the hill of Sion" (Ps 133,3). In that part of the Jordan is the spring where Saint John used to baptize, and which is two miles from the Jordan, and Elijah was in that valley when the raven brought him bread and meat. The whole valley is full of hermits.
Iohannes Moschus, Pratum Spirituale1 (7th cent. A.D.)
There was an old man, who lived in the monastery of Abba Eustoregius, whom the holy archbishop of Jerusalem [Elias] wanted to appoint hegumen of the monastery. But he did not accept, saying: "I want to go to Mount Sinai to pray." The archbishop pressed him to receive the appointment and then start out. But since the old man refused to submit, (the archbishop) dismissed him, after he had promised that on his return he would accept the abbacy. So (the old man) embraced the archbishop and started his journey to Mount Sinai, accompanied by his disciple. But, when he had crossed the river Jordan, at about one mile (thence), the old man began shivering and burning with fever. As he was unable to walk, they found a small cave and entered it, in order that the old man might rest. But he continued to be feverish and was almost unable to move: indeed, he had been in this cave for three days, when he saw in his sleep a figure, who asked him: "Say, old man, where do you want to go?" The old man answered the vision: " To Mount Sinai" and the vision said to him: No, please: do not go away." But, as he could not persuade the old man, the figure left him; and the fever lay on him more and more. Also the following night the same vision came to him, in the same habit, and said: "Why, good elder, do you want to be so sorely tried? Listen to me and never go away." The old man asked him: "Who would you be?" to which the vision answered: "I am John the Baptist, and the reason for my saying to you never to go away is that this little cave is greater than Mount Sinai, for often would our Lord Jesus Christ come in here to visit me. Give me your word, therefore, that you will abide here, and I shall restore you to health." The old man willingly accepted and promised to remain in that cave. And immediately he was cured, and he remained there all his life, having transformed the cave into a church and gathered a brotherhood (to live there). This is the place called Sapsas. At the left of it there is the 'brook Cherit, that is east of the Jordan'.
Epiphanius, Descriptio Terrae Sanctae 9 (8th cent. A.D.)
Beyond the Jordan, at a distance of about three miles, there is a cave, where the Precursor used to live. There is couch where he rested, a natural step, formed on the same rock, hewn in the cave, and a small vaulted chamber. And water bubbles out from within the cave; and inside the vault there is a fount, where saint John the Precursor, used to baptize.