7

Should Khazars, or Turks, or even Rus', or some other northern and Scythian nation, as often happens, ask that some of the imperial vestments or crowns or robes be sent to them on account of some service or ministry of theirs, thus you must make this defense, that: "These robes and the crowns, which are called *kamelaukia* by you, were neither fashioned by men, nor were they devised or wrought by human arts, but as we find written in an ancient history in secret accounts, when God made that Constantine the Great emperor, the first to reign as a Christian, he sent out to him through an angel these robes and the crowns, which you call *kamelaukia*, and he ordained for him to place these in the great holy church of God, which is named Hagia Sophia after the very hypostatic wisdom of God, and not to be worn on every occasion, but only when a public and great festival of the Lord occurs. Therefore, by God's command he deposited these, which also hang from above the holy table in the sanctuary of the same church, and have been established as an adornment for the church. And the other imperial cloths and mantles are laid spread out over this holy table. And when a festival of our Lord and God Jesus Christ occurs, the patriarch takes from these robes and crowns those which are suitable and fitting for the occasion, and sends them to the emperor, and that one wears them, as a servant and minister of God, during the procession only, and again after the need he returns them to the church, and they are laid up in it. But there is also a curse of the holy and great emperor Constantine inscribed upon this holy table of the church of God, just as God ordained for him through the angel, that, if an emperor should wish for some need or circumstance or unseasonable desire to take some of them and either use them himself or grant them to others, as an adversary and enemy of the commands of God, he is anathematized and cast out from the church; and if he should wish to make other similar ones, so that the church of God might also receive them, with all the high priests and the senate speaking freely on these matters; and that neither the emperor, nor the patriarch, nor any other should have the authority to take such robes or crowns from the holy church of God. And a great fear hangs over those who wish to overturn any of such divine ordinances. For one of the emperors, Leo by name, who also took a wife from Khazaria, acting with ill-advised daring, took one of these crowns, when there was no festival of the Lord, and without the consent of the patriarch he put it on. And immediately, breaking out with a carbuncle on his forehead and being worn down by the pains from this, he miserably gave up his life, and brought death upon himself before his time. And this act of daring having been swiftly avenged, from then on it became a precedent, so that when the emperor is about to be crowned, he first swears and gives assurance, that he will dare to do or to conceive nothing contrary to what has been commanded and observed from of old, and so to be crowned by the patriarch and to perform and carry out the things fitting to the present festival." Likewise you must also be concerned and take care about the liquid fire, which is discharged through the siphons, so that if ever any should dare to ask for it, as they have often asked of us, you may repulse and send them away with such words as these, that: "This too by God through an angel was revealed and taught to the great and first Christian emperor, saint Constantine. And he received great injunctions concerning this also from the same angel, as we are certified and informed by our fathers and grandfathers, that it should be manufactured among the Christians alone and in the city ruled by them, and nowhere else at all, nor

7

Χάζαροι, εἴτε Τοῦρκοι, εἴτε καὶ Ῥῶς, ἢ ἕτερόν τι ἔθνος τῶν βορείων καὶ Σκυθικῶν, οἷα πολλὰ συμβαίνει, ἐκ τῶν βασιλείων ἐσθήτων ἢ στεμμάτων ἢ στολῶν ἕνεκά τινος δουλείας καὶ ὑπουργίας αὐτῶν ἀποσταλῆναι αὐτοῖς, οὕτως χρή σε ἀπολογήσασθαι, ὅτι· "Αἱ τοιαῦται στολαὶ καὶ τὰ στέμματα, ἃ παρ' ὑμῶν καμελαύκια ὀνομάζεται, οὔτε παρὰ ἀνθρώπων κατεσκευάσθησαν, οὔτε ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνων τεχνῶν ἐπενοήθησαν ἢ ἐξηργάσθησαν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀπὸ παλαιᾶς ἱστορίας ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λόγοις γεγραμμένον εὑρίσκομεν, ἡνίκα ὁ Θεὸς βασιλέα ἐποίησεν Κωνσταντῖνον ἐκεῖνον τὸν μέγαν, τὸν πρῶτον Χριστιανὸν βασιλεύσαντα, δι' ἀγγέλου αὐτῷ τὰς τοιαύτας στολὰς ἐξαπέστειλεν καὶ τὰ στέμματα, ἅπερ ὑμεῖς καμελαύκια λέγετε, καὶ διωρίσατο αὐτῷ θεῖναι ταῦτα ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἁγίᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἥτις ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτῆς τῆς ἐνυποστάτου σοφίας Θεοῦ Ἁγία Σοφία κατονομάζεται, καὶ μὴ καθ' ἑκάστην αὐτὰ ἀμφιέννυσθαι, ἀλλ' ὅτε δημοτελὴς καὶ μεγάλη τυγχάνῃ δεσποτικὴ ἑορτή. ∆ιὸ δὴ Θεοῦ προστάγματι ταῦτα ἀπέθετο, ἅτινα καὶ ἄνωθεν τῆς ἁγίας τραπέζης ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ναοῦ ἀποκρέμαται, καὶ εἰς κόσμον τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθέστηκεν. Τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ἱμάτια καὶ σαγία βασιλικὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης τραπέζης ἄνωθεν ἐπίκεινται ἐφαπλούμενα. Ἡνίκα δὲ καταλάβῃ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ Θεοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἑορτή, ἀναλαμβάνεται ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων στολῶν καὶ στεμμάτων τὰ πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν ἐπιτήδεια καὶ ἁρμόζοντα ὁ πατριάρχης, καὶ ἀποστέλλει πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ἀμφιέννυται αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνος, ὡς ὑπηρέτης Θεοῦ καὶ διάκονος, ἐν τῇ προελεύσει καὶ μόνον, καὶ πάλιν μετὰ τὴν χρείαν ἀντιστρέφει αὐτὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἀπόκεινται ἐν αὐτῇ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ κατάρα τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ μεγάλου βασιλέως Κωνσταντίνου ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ ταύτῃ τραπέζῃ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἐγγεγραμμένη, καθὼς αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ὁ Θεὸς διωρίσατο, ἵνα, ἐὰν βουληθῇ βασιλεὺς διά τινα χρείαν ἢ περίστασιν ἢ ἐπιθυμίαν ἄκαιρον ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπᾶραι καὶ ἢ αὐτὸς καταχρήσασθαι ἢ ἑτέροις χαρίσασθαι, ὡς πολέμιος καὶ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσταγμάτων ἐχθρός, ἀναθεματίζεται καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποκηρύττεται· εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἕτερα ὅμοια καμεῖν βουληθῇ, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὰ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησία ἀναλαμβάνηται, τῶν ἀρχιερέων πάντων εἰς ταῦτα παρρησιαζομένων καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου· καὶ μὴ ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν μήτε τὸν βασιλέα, μήτε τὸν πατριάρχην, μήτε ἕτερόν τινα τὰς τοιαύτας ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι στολὰς ἢ τὰ στέμματα ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας. Καὶ φόβος μέγας ἐπήρτηται τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀνατρέπειν τι τῶν τοιούτων θεϊκῶν διατάξεων. Εἷς γάρ τις τῶν βασιλέων, Λέων ὀνόματι, ὃς καὶ ἀπὸ Χαζαρίας γυναῖκα ἠγάγετο, ἀβούλῳ τόλμῃ χρησάμενος ἓν τῶν τοιούτων ἀνελάβετο στεμμάτων, δεσποτικῆς μὴ παρούσης ἑορτῆς, καὶ δίχα γνώμης τοῦ πατριάρχου τοῦτο περιεβάλετο. Καὶ εὐθέως ἄνθρακα ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου ἐκβαλὼν καὶ ταῖς ἐκ τούτου ὀδύναις κατατρυχόμενος κακιγκάκως ἀπέρρηξεν τὸ ζῆν, καὶ πρὸ καιροῦ τὸν θάνατον ἐπεσπάσατο. Καὶ τοῦ τοιούτου συντόμως ἐκδικηθέντος τολμήματος, ἔκτοτε τύπος ἐγένετο, ὥστε ἐν τῷ μέλλειν στέφεσθαι τὸν βασιλέα πρότερον ὀμνύειν καὶ ἀσφαλίζεσθαι, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἐναντίον τῶν προστεταγμένων καὶ ἐκ παλαιοῦ φυλαττομένων τολμήσει ποιήσειν ἢ ἐννοήσασθαι καὶ οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ πατριάρχου στέφεσθαι καὶ τὰ ἁρμόζοντα τῇ καθεστώσῃ ἑορτῇ ἐπιτελεῖν τε καὶ διαπράττεσθαι." Ὡσαύτως χρή σε καὶ περὶ τοῦ ὑγροῦ πυρός, τοῦ διὰ τῶν σιφώνων ἐκφερομένου μεριμνᾶν τε καὶ μελετᾶν, ὡς εἴπερ ποτὲ τολμήσωσί τινες καὶ αὐτὸ ἐπιζητῆσαι, καθὼς καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν πολλάκις ἐζήτησαν, τοιούτοις αὐτοὺς ἔχεις ἀποκρούεσθαι καὶ ἀποπέμπεσθαι ῥήμασιν, ὅτι· "Καὶ αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δι' ἀγγέλου τῷ μεγάλῳ καὶ πρώτῳ βασιλεῖ Χριστιανῷ, ἁγίῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐφανερώθη καὶ ἐδιδάχθη. Παραγγελίας δὲ μεγάλας καὶ περὶ τούτου παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλου ἐδέξατο, ὡς παρὰ πατέρων καὶ πάππων πιστωθέντες πληροφορούμεθα, ἵνα ἐν μόνοις τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς καὶ τῇ ὑπ' αὐτῶν βασιλευομένῃ πόλει κατασκευάζηται, ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ μηδαμῶς, μήτε