Theophilos begets Leon, and Leon the great protostrator Nikephoros and Georgios. And the great protostrator Nikephoros begets Nikolaos. The reason for such a trusteeship was thus. The aforementioned Nikolaos was received through holy baptism by the Despot Kyr Theodoros. And in the past spring, this great protostrator, being about to die, and his son Nikolaos being three years old, having made a will, he left the Despot Kyr Theodoros as trustee and governor of his spiritual son Nikolaos and of all his own possessions. And if the son and heir should die immediately, all the places and lands of his lordship and authority, outside and inside the Peloponnese, shall belong to the Despot Kyr Theodoros. For outside were: great Ainos, Peritheorion and Xanthi and the regions around it and all 278 the Chersonese of the Hellespont. And those within the Peloponnese in the Messenian gulf, where that river Pamisos also flows through the middle: Androusa I say and Kalamata, Mantinia, Ianitza, Pedima and Mani and Nisi and Spitalin and Grempeni and Karantza and Aetos and Eloi and Neokastron and Ithome, now called Messene, and Archangelos and Sablauros and Ioannina and Ligoudista and Philatria and Pylos and the regions around them and those at the foot of the mountain peak of Nike of Simos, as it is called, as far as the plain of Steniklaros and the stream of Velira, and I, being sent, took them over, as many as were not found under the authority of the Agarenes, being very few. For the most part, some from this family of the Melissenoi they also named Strategopouloi and in the chronicles they wrote thus for such a reason: for they surnamed Alexios Caesar, the Melissenos, Strategopoulos, and from then on this surname prevailed for some of this family. And the protostrator Leon Phrangopoulos also administered the aforementioned trusteeship and administration for a certain time, by order of the Despot Kyr Theodoros, then he gave it to his brother Kyr Konstantinos. 448 and he inquired much about the faith of Christ, which we will narrate in detail, how the patriarch in summary clarified for him the confession of faith in chapters; that is, the epigram is thus: Discourse of the most wise and most learned Kyr Gennadios Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, New Rome, delivered concerning the right and blameless faith of the Christians. For being asked by the aforementioned emir, also sultan, the following: The emir: What do you Christians believe? the patriarch answered and said to him the following:

Ch. 1. We believe that there is a God, creator of all things that are from non-being; that He is neither a body, nor has a body, but lives intellectually. And He is a mind, most excellent and most perfect and most wise, uncompounded, without beginning, without end; He is in the world and beyond the world, He is not in any place and He is in every place. These are the properties of God, through which He is distinguished from His creatures. And there are others similar to these. -All the chapters that were translated into the Turko-Arabic language by Achmat, kadi of Berroia, the father of Machmout tzelepes the scribe, and so the chapters follow in order:

Ch. 2. Text: He is wise and good and true and truth-itself. Whatever excellences His creations have dividedly, He alone possesses in a higher way; and His creatures also have these perfections, because He Himself gives these also to His creatures; they are good, because He is wise, they are wise; because He is true, they are true 450 and the others likewise, except that God possesses them in the proper sense, while the creatures possess them by participation.

Interpretation: Ch. 3. Text: We believe that in God there are three other properties, which are like the beginnings and sources of all His other properties; and through these three properties God lives eternally in Himself and before the

Θεόφιλος γεννᾷ Λέοντα, ὁ δὲ Λέων τὸν μέγαν πρωτοστρατόρα Νικηφόρον καὶ Γεώργιον. Ὁ δὲ μέγας πρωτοστράτωρ Νικηφόρος γεννᾷ Νικόλαον. Ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπιτροπικῆς τοιουτοτρόπως ἦν. Τὸν εἰρημένον Νικόλαον ἀνεδέξατο διὰ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ὁ δεσπότης κὺρ Θεόδωρος. Ἐν δὲ τῷ παρελ θόντι ἔαρι μέλλων θανεῖν ὁ μέγας οὗτος πρωτοστράτωρ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Νικόλαος τριετὴς ὤν, διαθήκην ποιήσας, εἴασε τὸν δεσπότην κὺρ Θεόδωρον ἐπίτροπον καὶ κυ βερνήτην τοῦ πνευματικοῦ υἱοῦ Νικολάου καὶ πάντων τῶν αὑτοῦ κτημάτων. Καὶ ἐὰν ὁ υἱὸς καὶ κληρονόμος εὐθὺς ἀποθάνῃ, πάσης τῆς αὐτοῦ δεσποτείας καὶ ἐξουσίας τό ποι καὶ χῶραι ἐκτὸς καὶ ἐντὸς τῆς Πελοποννήσου ἔσονται τῷ δεσπότῃ κὺρ Θεοδώρῳ. Ἦσαν γὰρ ἐκτός· μεγάλη Αἶνος, Περιθεώριον καὶ Ξάνθη καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν καὶ πᾶ 278 σα ἡ Χερσόνησος τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου. Τὰ δὲ ἐντὸς Πελοποννήσου ἐν τῷ Μελισσηνιακῷ κόλπῳ, ἔνθα ῥέει διὰ μέσου καὶ ὁ Πάμισος ἐκεῖνος ποταμός· Ἀνδροῦσα λέγω καὶ Κα λαμάτα, Μαντίνια, Ἰανίτζα, Πήδημα καὶ Μάνη καὶ Νησὶ καὶ Σπιτάλιν καὶ Γρέμπενι καὶ Καράντζα καὶ Ἀετὸς καὶ Ἐλωῒ καὶ Νεόκαστρον καὶ ἰθώμη ἡ νῦν λεγομένη Μεσ- σήνη καὶ Ἀρχάγγελος καὶ Σαβλάουρος καὶ Ἰωάννινα καὶ Λιγουδίστα καὶ Φιλατρία καὶ Πύλος καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ ὄρους κορυφῆς τοῦ τῆς Νίκης τοῦ Σίμου λεγομένου ἄχρι τῆς πεδιάδος Στενικλάρου καὶ τοῦ ῥεύματος τῆς Βελίρας καὶ σταλεὶς ἐγὼ παρέλαβον αὐτά, τὰ ὅσα μὴ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν εὑρι σκόμενα ὀλίγα πάνυ. Ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστόν τινας ἐκ τούτου τοῦ γένους τῶν Μελισσηνῶν καὶ Στρατηγο πούλους ἐπωνόμαζον καὶ ἐν ταῖς χρονικαῖς ἱστορίαις οὕτως ἔγραφον δι' αἰτίαν τοιαύ την· τὸν γὰρ Ἀλέξιον καίσαρα τὸν Μελισσηνόν, Στρατηγόπουλον ἐπωνόμαζον καὶ ἔκτοτε τὸ ἐπίκλην τοῦτο εἴς τινας τοῦ γένους τούτου ἐπεκράτησε. ∆ιῆρχε δὲ τὴν εἰρη μένην ἐπιτροπικὴν καὶ διοίκησιν καὶ ὁ πρωτοστράτωρ Λέων ὁ Φραγκόπουλος καιρῷ τινι, προστάξει τοῦ δεσπότου κὺρ Θεοδώρου, εἶτα τῷ ἀδελφῷ κὺρ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐδω ρήσατο. 448 καὶ πολλὰ ἐπυνθάνετο περὶ τῆς πίστεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἃ καταλεπτῶς διηγησόμεθα, πῶς ὁ πατριάρχης ἐν συνόψει τὴν τῆς πίστεως ὁμολογίαν ἐν κεφαλαίοις αὐτῷ διεσάφησεν· ἤγουν, τὸ ἐπίγραμμα ἔχει οὕτως· Τοῦ σοφωτάτου καὶ λογιωτάτου κυροῦ Γενναδίου τοῦ Σχολαρίου καὶ πα τριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως νέας Ῥώμης ὁμιλία ῥηθεῖσα περὶ τῆς ὀρθῆς καὶ ἀμωμήτου πίστεως τῶν Χριστιανῶν. Ἐρωτηθεὶς γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ εἰρημένου ἀμηρᾶ τοῦ καὶ σουλτάνου τάδε· Ὁ ἀμηρᾶς· Τί πιστεύετε ὑμεῖς οἱ Χριστιανοί; ἀπεκρίθη ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ τάδε·

κφ. αʹ. Πιστεύομεν, ὅτι ἐστὶ Θεὸς δημιουρ γὸς πάντων ὅσων εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι· ὅτι οὔτε σῶμά ἐστιν, οὔτε σῶμα ἔχει, ἀλλὰ ζῆν νοερῶς. Καί ἐστι νοῦς ἄριστος καὶ τελειότατος καὶ σοφώτατος ἀσύνθετος, ἄναρ χος, ἀτελεύτητος· ἔστιν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν οὐδενὶ τόπῳ καί ἐστιν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ. Ταῦτά εἰσιν ἰδιώματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, δι' ὧν χωρίζεται ἀπὸ τῶν κτισμάτων αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις εἰσὶν ὅμοια. -Πάντα ὅσα κεφάλαια μετεγλωτί σθησαν εἰς τὴν τουρκοαραβόγλωσσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχμὰτ καδδὴ Βεῤῥοίας τοῦ πατρὸς Μαχουμοὺτ τζελεπῆ τοῦ ἀναγραφέως καὶ οὕτως ἕπεται τὰ κεφάλαια κατὰ τάξιν·

Κφ. βʹ. Κείμενον· Ἔστι σοφὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀληθινὸς καὶ αὐτοαλήθεια. Ὅσα προτερήματα ἔχουσι τὰ ποιήματα αὐτοῦ μεμερισμένως, ἔχει αὐτὸς μόνος ὑψηλότερον τρόπον· καὶ ταύτας τὰς τελειότητας ἔχουσι καὶ τὰ κτίσματα αὐτοῦ, διότι αὐτὸς δίδωσι ταύτας καὶ τοῖς κτίσμασιν αὐτοῦ· ἀγαθά εἰσι, διότι σοφός, σοφά· διότι ἀληθής, ἀληθῆ 450 καί τ' ἄλλα ὁμοίως, πλὴν ὅτι ὁ μὲν θεὸς κυρίως ἔχει αὐτά, τὰ δὲ κτίσματα κατὰ με τοχὴν ἔχουσιν.

Ἑρμηνεία· Κφ. γʹ Κείμενον· Πιστεύομεν, ὅτι εἰσὶν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἄλλα τρία ἰδιώματα, ἅτινά εἰσιν ὥσπερ ἀρχαὶ καὶ πηγαὶ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων ἰδιωμάτων αὐτοῦ· καὶ διὰ τούτων τῶν τριῶν ἰδιωμάτων ζῇ ὁ Θεὸς ἀϊδίως ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ