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she, being in great pain, was asking what should be done for his soul. And she, by asking such things, first revealed what was being plotted in the depths by the emperor. For he spent whole nights with Joseph, and was trying to bring him up, who was altogether a corpse with but a little breath. And when those 17 around him were immediately persuaded and all but hastened his ascent, some, supposedly so that they might settle the affairs of the church, the scandal concerning the pope having been resolved, others, so that they might be puffed up more than was fitting and, persuading the patriarch, might carry out purifications of the church, expulsions of those men and other holy persons, and censures and punishments of those of the church (and these were especially Galaktion Galesiotes and Meletios, who is also a saint, who lies in the monastery of the holy and righteous Lazaros, of whom the one suffered the loss of his eyes, the other the cutting out of his tongue, on charges, the one of falsehood, for saying he saw the emperor using unleavened bread for the consecration while traveling through the East, the other of insolence, for calling the emperor another Julian to his face), the emperor on the one hand, sending away the patriarch John, excused his oversight of him, as something that would happen by force and out of necessity. For the scandal arising from many 18 was causing a ferment and persuading the loyal to revolt, and he, being newly established in power, had the necessity of suppressing what was unmoored and of pacifying the minds, as far as possible, of those who would receive him. And that he heard many great men were becoming divided, using as a pretext the withdrawal of Joseph and the scandal which had recently occurred, whom it was not at all expedient for a new monarch to overlook. And indeed, concerning him he had the greatest assurance of the love which he knew he had from him for himself, that he would give up not only the honor of patriarch but even his very life for the emperor and for his government. Moreover, thinking it right not to be angry, that he would have that very love which he knew and honor from him, even if another should preside over the church. And sending these messages by the chartophylax and archdeacon Meliteniotes, he fervently excused the necessity, while on the other hand, spending the night with Joseph and his followers, he arranged beforehand his ascent to the patriarchate. 4. John, therefore, being otherwise straightforward, and moreover having had his fill of the patriarchal honor, as he often showed both by word 19 and deed, and hoping that some good would come from Joseph's ascent (for the things that happened would not have happened at all while he was alive, as one can surmise from many things), for these reasons, though he was ready to celebrate the liturgy on the feast of Christ, and ready also to care for the memory of the departed as was fitting, leaving everything behind on the day after the feast, he went down, and bringing himself to the monastery of the Panachrantos, he gave himself up, having asked the emperor also for men to lead him away, on the pretext that they would protect him, if any of the clergy should rush upon him in an unseemly manner, but with the deeper purpose of escaping the charge of desertion, as he thought, before God the judge. And these things were done on the twenty-sixth of the month of Skirophorion; (5) and on the thirtieth of the same month towards evening, Joseph, placed in a litter, all but breathless, with many on either side accompanying and acclaiming him with processional honors, was brought up to the patriarchate with hymns and the applause of men, and also with the ringing of the church bells. And the clergy, having with difficulty completed the evening hymnody by themselves, when it was dawn and they were going to the church as was their custom, perceived that the sanctuary was inaccessible to them, as they had not been summoned by semantra or bells; and when they learned the reason, 20 it having been ordered that the church of God was not even to be entered by them, standing somewhere outside and having completed their prayers (for the solemnity of the feast persuaded the clergy even to transgress what seemed right to them) at last, sitting down in their houses, they awaited what was to come, and what they who were present ought to think of the command. The day was dawning, and those

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ἐκείνη κατώδυνος οὖσα τὸ ποιητέον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνου ψυχῆς ἐπυνθάνετο. καὶ πρώτως ἔδειξεν ἐκείνη τοιαῦτ' ἐρωτῶσα τὸ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως βυσσοδομευόμενον. ἐκεῖνος γὰρ καὶ νύκτας ὅλας παρὰ Ἰωσὴφ ἴαυε, καὶ ἀνάγειν ἐπει ρᾶτο οὕνεκα σμικρᾶς πνοῆς νέκυν τὸ σύνολον ὄντα. ὡς δ' οἱ 17 περὶ ἐκεῖνον ἐκ τοῦ παραχρῆμα πεισθέντες μόνον οὐ κατήπειγον τὴν ἀνάβασιν, οἱ μὲν ὡς ἄν γε τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας δῆθεν κατα στήσωσι πράγματα τοῦ κατὰ τὸν πάπαν λυθέντος σκανδάλου, οἱ δὲ ὡς ἂν καὶ πλεῖον τοῦ εἰκότος κατεπαρθεῖεν καί γ' ἀνακαθάρ σεις μὲν ἐκκλησίας, ἀπομόρξεις δ' ἐκείνων καὶ ἱερῶν ἄλλων, ἐπιτιμήσεις δὲ καὶ κολάσεις τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας πείθοντες πατριάρ χην τελέσειαν (ἦσαν δ' οὗτοι καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ Γαλησιώτης τε Γαλα κτίων καὶ ὁ Μελέτιος, ὃς καὶ ἅγιος, ὁ ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ δικαίου Λαζάρου κείμενος, ὧν ὁ μὲν στέρησιν ὀμμάτων ὁ δ' ἐκ τομὴν γλώττης πέπονθεν, ἐπ' αἰτίαις ὁ μὲν ψεύδους, ὡς ἴδοι βασιλέα λέγων ἀζύμοις εἰς ἁγιασμὸν χρώμενον, τὴν ἀνατολὴν διερχόμενος, ὁ δ' ὕβρεως, Ἰουλιανὸν ἄλλον τὸν βασιλέα εἰπὼν κατὰ πρόσωπον), ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔνθεν μὲν ἀποστέλλων τὸν πα τριαρχοῦντα Ἰωάννην τὴν ἐκείνου ἀπελογεῖτο παρόρασιν, ὡς βίᾳ καὶ ἐξ ἀνάγκης γεννησομένην. τὸ γὰρ ἐκ πολλῶν σκάνδαλον 18 ἀναζεῖν πεῖθον καὶ τὸν εὔνουν ἀποστατεῖν, αὐτὸν δὲ νέον εἰς ἀρ χὴν καθιστάμενον ἀνάγκην ἔχειν τὸ ἀνορμοῦν καταστέλλειν καί γε τὰς γνώμας, καθόσον ἔστι, τῶν ὑποδεξομένων ἐξημεροῦν. πολλοὺς δ' ἀκούειν σχίζεσθαι καὶ μεγάλους προφασιζομένους τὴν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἀναχώρησιν καὶ τὸ σκάνδαλον ὃ δὴ πρωϊζὰ ξυνέβη, οὓς παρορᾶν μηδ' ὅλως ξυμφέρειν νεωστὶ μοναρχοῦντι. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ γε μεγίστην πληροφορίαν ἔχειν ἀγάπης ἧς ᾔδει τῆς ἀπ' ἐκείνου πρὸς ἑαυτόν, μὴ μόνον πατριάρχου τιμὴν ἀλλά γε δὴ καὶ ζωὴν αὐτὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως προεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου συστάσεως. ἄλλως μέντοι μηδὲ χολᾶν ἀξιῶν, αὐτὴν ἐκείνην τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ᾔδει καὶ τὴν τιμὴν ἕξοντα παρ' αὐτοῦ, εἰ καὶ ἄλλος τῆς ἐκκλησίας προστήσεται. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν πέμπων τὸν Μελιτηνιώτην χαρτοφύλακα καὶ ἀρχιδιάκονον θερμῶς τὴν ἀνάγ κην ἀπελογεῖτο, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ συνδιανυκτερεύων τῷ Ἰωσὴφ καὶ τοῖς περὶ ἐκεῖνον τὴν εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον προκαθίστα ἀνάβασιν. 4. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἰωάννης καὶ ἄλλως εὐθὺς ὤν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ πατριάρχου τιμῆς ἐπικόρως ἔχων, ὡς πολλάκις καὶ λέ 19 γων καὶ πράττων ἔδειξεν, ἐλπίζων δὲ καί τι γενέσθαι τῶν ἀγα θῶν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἀναβάσεως (τὰ γὰρ ξυμβάντα οὐκ ἂν πάν τως ξυνέβη ζῶντος ἐκείνου, ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ἔστιν ὑπονοεῖν), διὰ ταῦτα ἕτοιμος μὲν ὢν ἐκεῖνος κατὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ ἑορτὴν λειτουρ γεῖν, ἕτοιμος δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀποιχομένου κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς μνή μης φροντίζειν, ἀφεὶς τὰ πάντα τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ τῆς ἑορτῆς κάτεισι, καὶ τῇ τῆς Παναχράντου μονῇ φέρων ἑαυτὸν δίδωσι, ζητήσας παρὰ βασιλέως καὶ τοὺς ἀπάξοντας, πρόφασιν μὲν ὡς ὑπερα σπιοῦντας, ἤν τις τῶν τοῦ κλήρου ἀπαιδεύτως ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον ὁρ μῴη, τῷ δὲ βαθυτέρῳ σκοπῷ τὴν τοῦ λειποταξίου ἐκφεύγων κα τηγορίαν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ᾤετο, παρὰ θεῷ κρίνοντι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπράττετο εἰκοστῇ ἕκτῃ μηνὸς Σκιρροφοριῶνος· (5) τοῦ δ' αὐτοῦ μηνὸς μετὰ τὴν τριακοστὴν τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἐντεθεὶς λίκνῳ ὁ Ἰωσήφ, μόνον οὐκ ἄπνους, πολλῶν παρ' ἑκάτερα παρεπομέ νων καὶ ἐπευφημούντων τὰ προπεμπτήρια, ἐφ' ὕμνοις καὶ κρό τοις ἀνθρώπων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας συνακτηρίων κω δώνων, εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον ἀνάγεται. οἱ δὲ τοῦ κλήρου μόλις τὴν ἑσπερινὴν ὑμνῳδίαν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐκτελέσαντες, ἐπεὶ ὄρ θρος ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀπήντων κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες, σφί σιν ἑαυτοῖς ἄβατον τὸν ναὸν κατενόουν, ὡς μηδὲ σημάντροις καὶ κώδωσιν ἠθροισμένοι· ὡς δὲ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐμάνθανον, 20 προστεταγμένον μηδ' εἰσιτητὸν εἶναι εἰς ἐκκλησίαν ἐκείνοις θεοῦ, ἔξω που στάντες καὶ τὰ τῆς εὐχῆς ἐκτελέσαντες (τὸ γὰρ τῆς ἑορτῆς περιφανὲς καὶ παραβαίνειν τὰ σφίσιν δοκοῦντα ἔπειθον τοὺς τοῦ κλήρου) τέλος ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν καθεσθέντες ἐκαραδόκουν τὸ μέλλον, καὶ τί δεῖ νοεῖν τοῖς παραγεγονόσι τὸ πρόσταγμα. ἐπέφωσκεν ἡ ἡμέρα, καὶ οἱ