I of Hungary sent the royal army against him under the command of Csanád, who had previously been Ajtony's commander. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony whose domain was transformed into a county. Ajtony's seat was renamed for Csanád. After the conquest of Ajtony's territory, Stephen I summoned Gerard from his hermitage and made him bishop of the newly established Diocese of Csanád. László Mezey says that the king appointed Gerard to administer the diocese because Gerard's knowledge of the Greek language and the Eastern Orthodox theological ideas enabled him to preach in a territory where Greek priests had up to that time proselytized. The Annales Posonienses recorded that "Gerard was consecrated bishop" in 1030, but the reliability of this date was not accepted by all historians. The king appointed twelve monks from the Benedictine monasteries in Hungary to accompany Gerard to his see. Seven of the twelve monks who could speak Hungarian were tasked with interpreting for Gerard among Ajtony's former subjects. The Greek monks who had arrived during Ajtony's rule were transferred from Csanád to a monastery newly established at Oroszlámos (present-day Banatsko Aranđelovo in Serbia), and their former monastery was granted to the Benedictines. Gerard and the Benedictine monks shared a house and he forbade them to leave it without his authorization. The monks were required to be present for the morning service and to wear monastic costume. Gerard continued to wear the habits of a hermit (cilice or goat skins) and spent days in solitude in the forests near his see. His legend also writes that he often "took the axe" to cut woods to "mortify his flesh" and to help to "those who had to do this work". Gerard was a missionary bishop, tasked with the conversion of the pagan inhabitants of his diocese. His Long Life writes that people came to Gerard, "noblemen and commoners, rich and poor", asking him to baptize them "in the name of the Holy Trinity". They brought horses, cattle, sheep, carpets, rings and necklaces to give them to the bishop. The Long Life credits Gerard with the building of churches "for every city" in his diocese to serve the growing number of believers. Although the Long Life attributes the establishment of the archdeaconries of Gerard's diocese to him, most scholars regard this statement as a clear anachronism. Gerard regularly visited Stephen. During a travel from Csanád to the royal court