Chronicon OF GEORGE THE MONK LIVES OF THE NEW EMPERORS.

 he summons to the palace Nikephoros the renowned patriarch and with him the leading bishops and priests in the presence of the senate, and says, Know

 a man-slaying fruit of a seed bitterly kept and sprouted in our generation, I know not whence this terrible condemnation was allotted to the Romans. w

 and the fool will speak foolish things. For being exceedingly ignorant and nonsensical, he did not know at all those Cherubim wrought of gold, which t

 we have recorded as being preserved. 21 And sight is a witness, a truthful teacher. Both the length of time and the building of the venerable churches

 This apostolic preaching they continue to uphold and never in another jurisdiction, where there are Christians, is that wicked and lawless and God-ha

 {THE REIGN OF MICHAEL THE STAMMERER.}

 Therefore, having plundered it moderately, but not as he had hoped, but as divine providence allowed on account of our sins, he accomplished nothing m

 {THE REIGN OF THEOPHILOS.}

 of impiety and insolence, and of tyranny and madness, the deluded and vain-minded one. Since therefore he was possessed by the same deceit and derange

 this? But the emperor, as if rebuked, forcefully dragged him from the sanctuary, and having inflicted no small number of blows upon him, exiled him,

 as was fitting, he received him, immediately making him magister and domestic of the scholae, and receiving his children from holy baptism. 14. Elated

 most lawless ones, or Pharaoh the Egyptian, or Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian? Or should we bring all these together and name you one and the same, since

 he wished to take, but he received two pounds for him, the general having also been ordered to test him, and if he was brave, to make him a guardsman.

 Then, having impiously committed many shameful, terrible, and absurd acts, they were driven from there as apostates. But having fled to the imperial c

 having secretly brought out Theophobos through Boukoleon, they saved him near Narsou, in what is now called 'of Theophobias', and they placed this the

 and overturned every day. And so finally, through imperial commission and cooperation, the fathers in exile and bitter prisons were recalled and resto

 Theophilitzes said, My lord, 817 I have a young man, most experienced and most brave with horses, just as your majesty desires, by the name of Basil.

 church, having a warden named Nicholas. And on that night a divine voice called the warden, saying Arise, bring the emperor into the oratory. And ha

 to Bardas, Do not strike the logothete. But they slaughtered him and cut him limb from limb in the Scythian manner, showing the rawness and savagery

 having constructed it very beautifully with flowing water. And when this was completed, there was someone in the city named Peter, a man of letters an

 plotting against him. But he heard these things as nonsense. But Basil, hurrying to convince the emperor, befriends Symbatios, a patrician and logothe

 standing on a high rock, cried out loudly to the emperor, A fine journey you have made, O emperor, having slain your own kinsman and your paternal bl

 Peganes to cense him with an earthenware censer with sulfur. And they blind Symbatios in one eye, and they also cut off his right hand, and they set h

 the emperor. And John the Chaldos immediately with his sword striking the emperor cut off his hands. And Iakobitzes the apelates, the Persian, woundin

 and having been eaten by worms, he died. 3. And the emperor, having come forth on the day of Christ's nativity during the procession to the great chur

 before the fleet arrived, with the emperor lamenting and mourning greatly. 12. And when Niketas Xylinites, the epi tes trapezes, was accused of being

 he made Leo fashion and wear in his boot, saying to him that Often when your father is looking for a small knife for some need, why do you not give i

 of the drome and having gone up to the ambo of the church, having read the charges against the patriarch Photius, they brought him down from the thro

 to make war against Hagion. And when an engagement occurred, those with Constantine were defeated and slaughtered, with him barely escaping. 9. And th

 He having died, Symeon sought pretexts to break the peace for seeking other captives as well, he advanced against the Romans. And the emperor Leo app

 he having given his word to Basileios, he confided everything to him. But Samonas, entering in to the emperor, said to him that, my lord, I wish to te

 Of Nicholas the Patriarch, the monks were pardoned from death, Karamalos to the Pikridiou monastery, and Eustathios to the Stoudiou monastery. And the

 He was persuading, he fled to Siricha to the precious cross, pretending that he had come on account of faith in the cross. So Constantine, the son of

 Andronikos, learning this, despairing, along with his relatives and his children and his men, went away and seized the fortress of Kabala, having come

 Samonas said, Against whom is the affliction? The metropolitan said to him, Against you and if you get past the 13th of June, from then on you wil

 he dressed it and made an illumination for the animals. For this reason the hand of God was lifted from him, as one who attached the honor of God to i

 of the detachments fell, and so many that the place was flooded with blood pouring down like a river. And Gregoras the son of the Doux was also killed

 879 of Domenikos the Hetaeriarch. Zoe deposes Patriarch Nicholas along with those with him in anger, telling him to look after and care for the affair

 others in the engagement of the war, 882 both Constantine Lips and John Grapson and a sufficient number of other commanders. 17. And at some point Rom

 These things came to pass. 23 But the emperor took Nicholas the patriarch and Stephen the magister to be with him in the palace, drawing the authority

 the basileopator, having made signed golden bulls as if from the person of the emperor Constantine, containing the overthrow of such a plot, and that

 they came forth in a procession. 2. In the month of June, of the 8th indiction, on a Sunday, the union of the church took place under Romanos, with al

 and many others. Therefore, having barely been saved, he entered into the dromon. And Alexios Mouseles the droungarios also came fleeing, armed, with

 is deprived. They tonsured Bardas Boilas as a monk, since the emperor pitied him as he was a friend. 15. When the patrician nicknamed Moroleon, who wa

 of silver-shielded and silver-speared men, and of those adorned with every color of arms, all of them fenced in with 900 iron, who, having taken Symeo

 Stephen the metropolitan of Amaseia being a eunuch. 903 26. In the month of October, the mystikos John, the paradynasteuon, was accused of aspiring to

 and with Maria the daughter of Christopher and with the whole senate to the church of the most holy Theotokos of the Spring, and they blessed both Pet

 son of the emperor Romanos, whom they were about to ordain patriarch of Constantinople. 38. On the twenty-fifth of the same month an unbearable winter

 he having already reached old age and his sons being still infants. and his remains were placed in the aforementioned monastery of his father. 43. And

 Consequently, the rest of the dromons and the triremes, having sallied forth, worked a complete rout, and they sank many ships with their crews, and w

 a military force being besieged and coming into the greatest necessity, its inhabitants sent an embassy to the emperor Romanos to have the siege lifte

 a monk. 1 Constantine, his son-in-law, was therefore left as sole emperor who, having immediately honored Bardas, the son of Phokas, with the dignity

we have recorded as being preserved. 21 And sight is a witness, a truthful teacher. Both the length of time and the building of the venerable churches clearly show it. And furthermore also the making and dedication of the sacred vessels from of old by the pious, being infinite in number. Nay, but also the very covers of the holy Gospels, bearing on the outside the sacred images reverently venerated by all the faithful, and the divine columns and what are called the soleas, which wall off the venerable space of the holy sanctuary. For indeed for no other reason than for the sake of being venerated absolutely have they been piously depicted here from the beginning, together with the accompanying image of the cross. 22. But he of bestial name and of lion-like character, having disregarded all these things, strove as much as possible to reject every divine image and to consign it to deep oblivion. Therefore, fighting against God and having dared such things before the people, the stupefied one speaks boldly, saying "Just as we have utterly destroyed the icons from your sight, O brothers, so also indeed you, as servants and friends of God and of the emperor, strive to remove them from your souls." For indeed the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will devise vain things, 777 to commit lawless deeds and to speak error against the Lord. And from that time, therefore, the wicked and bloodthirsty one condemned those who were found having and venerating an icon of Christ or of some saint to terrible punishments and tortures. And so being butchered every day and being sacrificed, the God-fearing were being destroyed everywhere; and he has murdered many glorious and conspicuous men. 23. And these things, on the one hand, were being committed unsparingly and unceasingly against the Orthodox; but against those in authority and the wealthier ones, the wicked and all-scheming one finds another wicked device. For wishing to make them pitiful and poor, what does he do? He surrounds them with inescapable accusations and charges, making pretexts for sins, so that out of fear of the charges they might forfeit all their property for the sake of salvation therefrom. And sometimes he also used violence against some of the more manly or more clever men, envying them for their manliness or cleverness, as if suspecting that they were planning a revolution. Of some he gouged out the eyes, of others he mutilated the limbs; others, holding them in chains, after some days he delivered to death. Among whom was Michael, 778 who commanded the tagma of the Excubitors; for he was slandered to the emperor as plotting against him; whom he had kept in prison and in fetters. 24 And when the birthday of our Savior arrived, he planned to kill this man by night; but having been prevented by his own wife on account of the feast, he let him be. But Michael, being in the prison, and having learned this, sent a message to all his fellow-conspirators that, "If you do not hasten to get me out of custody, I will denounce all of you to the emperor." And among them was also the papias of the palace, who was a kinsman of Michael. These men, having armed themselves during the night, wearing their swords underneath, entered as priests with chasubles, with the papias opening the doors. And when the emperor entered into the church, they rushed in and ... his unholy soul ... in the palace, in which no one of those who had reigned before him had been slain. 25 And at that very hour, having gone to the prison, they lead out Michael and bring him in during the feast, a crown-wearer instead of a prisoner, so that the saying of the Psalmist was fulfilled in his case, namely "in the evening weeping shall have its lodging, and in the morning, rejoicing." 779 And after these things, having wrapped the limbs of the sinner with cheap rags, and having thrown his all-defiled body into a skiff, they carry it out to the island called Prote and bury it, where they also tonsured his sons and made them monks; I do not know for what reason it was condemned to receive this calamity of so many evils. 26. But it must be observed that if indeed the argument of these impious and ill-named men and the things fabricated by them had any force and any semblance of truth, they would have by all means been somewhere preserved and known by the other patriarchates; but as it is, it is not possible to learn this from anywhere. For at the same time both the eastern and the western regions, the evangelical indeed

σωζομένας ἱστορήσαμεν. 21 μάρτυς δὲ καὶ ἡ ὄψις, δι δάσκαλος ἀψευδής. τό τε μῆκος τοῦ χρόνου σαφῶς δείκνυσι καὶ τῶν σεπτῶν ναῶν ἡ κτίσις. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀνέκαθεν ἱερῶν σκευῶν παρὰ τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἡ ποίησις καὶ ἀφιέρωσις ἄπειρος τῷ πλή θει τυγχάνουσα. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐταὶ αἱ πτυχαὶ τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελίων τοὺς ἱεροὺς τύπους ἔξωθεν φέρουσαι ὑπὸ πάντων πι στῶν σεπτῶς προσκυνουμένους, οἵ τε θεῖοι κίονες καὶ αἱ σωλαῖαι καλούμεναι, αἳ τὸ σεβάσμιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ διατειχίζουσι θυσιαστη ρίου. καὶ γὰρ οὐδενὶ ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ ἢ τοῦ προσκυνεῖσθαι πάντως εἵνεκα ἅμα τῷ συμπαρακειμένῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπῳ εὐσεβῶς ἀρχῆ θεν ἐνταῦθα καθιστόρηνται. 22. Ἀλλ' ὅ γε θηριώνυμος καὶ λεοντότροπος ταῦτα παρα γραψάμενος πάντα ἔσπευδεν ὅτι μάλιστα πᾶσαν θείαν εἰκόνα ἀπο στρέφειν καὶ λήθῃ βαθείᾳ παραπέμπειν. ταύτῃ τοι θεομαχῶν ἐπὶ δήμου τοιαῦτα κατατολμήσας ὁ ἐμβρόντητος παρρησιάζεται, λέγων "ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν ὄψεων ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί, τὰς εἰκόνας ἐξω λοθρεύσαμεν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν περιαιρήσειν ὑμεῖς ὡς θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως δοῦλοι καὶ φίλοι σπουδάσατε." καὶ γὰρ ὁ μωρὸς μωρὰ λαλήσει, καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ μάταια νοή 777 σει τοῦ συντελεῖν ἄνομα καὶ λαλεῖν πρὸς κύριον πλάνησιν. κἀν τεῦθεν τοίνυν τοὺς εὑρισκομένους ἔχοντας εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ ἤ τινος ἁγίου καὶ προσκυνοῦντας δειναῖς τιμωρίαις καὶ κολάσεσι κατεδί κασεν ὁ ἀλάστωρ καὶ αἱμοβόρος. καὶ οὕτω κρεωκοπούμενοι καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν καὶ καταθυόμενοι διεφθείροντο πανταχοῦ οἱ θεο σεβεῖς· καὶ πολλοὺς ἐνδόξους καὶ περιβλέπτους πεφόνευκε. 23. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ τῶν ὀρθοδοξούντων ἀφειδῶς καὶ ἀπαύστως διεπράττετο· κατὰ δὲ τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τῶν εὐπορωτέ ρων ἄλλην πονηρὰν ἐπίνοιαν ὁ πονηρὸς καὶ παμμήχανος εὑρίσκει. βουλόμενος γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐλεεινοὺς καὶ πένητας ἀπεργάσασθαι τί ποιεῖ; αἰτίαις αὐτοὺς ἀφύκτοις καὶ ἐγκλήμασι περιβάλλει, προ φασιζόμενος προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις, ἵνα τῷ δέει τῶν ἐγκλημά των πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τὴν οὐσίαν ἀναλογήσωσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν σω τηρίας. ἔστιν ὅτε δὲ καὶ συνεβίαζεν καθ' ὧν τινῶν ἀνδρικωτέρων ἢ εὐφυεστέρων, βασκαίνων τῆς εὐανδρίας ἢ εὐφυΐας αὐτοῖς, ὡς νεωτερίσειν ὑποπτεύων. τινῶν μὲν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξώρυττεν, ἄλλων δὲ τὰ μέλη ἠκρωτηρίαζεν· ἑτέρους δεσμοῖς κατέχων μεθ' ἡμέρας τινὰς τῷ θανάτῳ παρέπεμψεν. ἐξ ὧν ὑπῆρχε Μιχαὴλ ὁ 778 τὴν τοῦ ἐξκουβίτου τάγματος ἀρχὴν διέπων· διεβλήθη γὰρ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὡς κατ' αὐτοῦ βουλευόμενος· ὃν εἱρκτῇ καὶ πέδαις εἶχε τηρούμενον. 24 τῆς δὲ γενεθλίου τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἡμέρας ἐνστάσης τοῦτον ἠβουλήθη νυκτὶ ἀνελεῖν· κωλυθεὶς δὲ παρὰ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς διὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν εἴασεν αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ Μιχαὴλ ἐν τῇ εἱρκτῇ ὤν, τοῦτο μαθών, πᾶσι τοῖς συμβούλοις τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐμήνυσεν ὡς εἰ μὴ σπουδάσητε ἐξελεῖν με τῆς φρουρᾶς, πάντας ὑμᾶς καταμηνύω τῷ βασιλεῖ. ἦν δὲ μετ' αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ τοῦ παλα τίου παπίας, συγγενὴς ὢν τοῦ Μιχαήλ. οὗτοι τῇ νυκτὶ ὁπλι σθέντες, ἔνδοθεν τὰ ξίφη φοροῦντες, τοῦ παπίου ἀνοίξαντος ὡς ἱερεῖς μετὰ φελονίων εἰσῆλθον. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως εἰς τὴν ἐκκλη σίαν εἰσελθόντος εἰσπηδήσαντες τὴν ἀνοσίαν αὐτοῦ ψυχὴν ... ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ, ἐν ᾧ οὐδεὶς τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ βεβασιλευκότων ἀνῄρητο. 25 αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐν τῇ εἱρκτῇ ἀπελθόντες ἐξάγουσι τὸν Μιχαὴλ καὶ εἰσάγουσιν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, ἀντὶ δεσμοφόρου στεφηφό ρον, ὡς πληρωθῆναι ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸ τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ λόγιον, τὸ ἑσπέρας αὐλισθήσεται κλαυθμός, καὶ εἰς τὸ πρωῒ ἀγαλλίασις. 779 μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ῥακίοις εὐτελέσι περιβαλόντες τὰ τοῦ ἀλιτηρίου μέλη, καὶ εἰς ἀκάτιον ἐμβαλόντες τὸ παμμίαρον αὐτοῦ σῶμα, κατὰ τὴν καλουμένην Πρώτην νῆσον ἐκφέρουσι καὶ κατορύττουσιν, ἔνθα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ ἀποκείραντες μονάσαι πεποιήκασιν, οὐκ οἶδα ἀνθ' ὅτου ταύτην κατακριθεῖσαν τὴν συμφορὰν τοσού των κακῶν ὑποδέξασθαι. 26. Προσεκτέον δὲ ὡς εἴ γε ἰσχύν τινα εἶχεν ὁ λόγος τῶν δυσσεβῶν τούτων καὶ δυσωνύμων καὶ ἀληθείας ἔμφασιν τὰ παρ' αὐτῶν κτιζόμενα, κἂν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἱεραρχίαις ὑπῆρξέ που πάντως πεφυλαγμένα καὶ γινωσκόμενα· νῦν δὲ οὐδαμόθεν ἐπιγνῶναι τοῦτο πάρεστιν. ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ ἑῴα καὶ ἑσπερία λῆξις τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν δὴ