we die." And the patriarch to them, "Therefore, brethren, let us be in harmony and joined in one soul in this confession, indivisibly, and may those of the opposite party not find any one of us to separate, and they will not prevail; for we are more than they by the grace of Christ." And they cried out again, affirming that they would resist until death and fight for the church, making crosses and written agreements with one another not to be separated. These things were done before the feasts. When the feasts arrived, 356 the patriarch declared to the emperor words of admonition, at the same time also exhorting him not to despoil the church, which the fathers had built up with much labor in the orthodox faith, having driven out every heresy, saying that "if on my account these scandals against the right faith are happening, cast me out, and if you wish someone else, appoint him; only do not shake the faith." And responding deceitfully and craftily, the one justly called the chameleon said, "And who," he says, "dares to depose or cast out the patriarch our father, or to shake the church? We have made a small inquiry because of those who are speaking, since as the church believes, I also believe." And taking from his breast a cross bearing an icon, he venerated it in the presence of all. But he did this not truthfully but in hypocrisy, wishing to get through the feast.

For no one was able to comprehend his cunning; for his mouth spoke one thing, and his heart willed another. Therefore, when both the patriarch and the bishops heard these things, they rejoiced, thinking that he was speaking the truth. And on the Nativity of Christ, having come forth in the church, he entered into the sanctuary according to the custom of the emperors, and he venerated the vestment that bore the holy nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, all who saw were fully convinced, not 357 seeing his deceit and his cunning. And when the feast of the Lights also arrived, he came forth similarly, and having entered, he did not venerate; and everyone knew that he had done the first act in hypocrisy and not in truth. And indeed, when the feasts were completed, he began again to set upon them as Pharaoh did upon Israel, and he was winning over certain bishops with flatteries and promises of gifts, who also obeyed him, loving the present age, and those who before had affirmed they would die for the truth and had fixed crosses, almost all turned to the opposite side. And he declared to the patriarch through some of the apostate bishops that, "Come together with us for a little while, that we may remove all the lowly things; for if you do not wish, know that in this way we will not permit you to be there." The patriarch, having scorned them as perjured cross-tramplers, informed the emperor, "Do what you wish; for from what was piously defined by the fathers I neither add decrees nor do I come together with those who think the opposite." And while these things were happening, the patriarch fell into a sickness, so that in a few days he was given up by the physicians. And when the emperor learned this, he kept quiet for a little while, reckoning that with him dying, he would have everything easily to do whatever he wishes. And then, suddenly, by the wonder-working God, he recovered a little. When the 358 chameleon learned this, he secretly prepared through certain persons for the soldiers to go up to the patriarchate and drag him down. It was the beginning of the fasts. And having gathered in great numbers like the Jews against Christ with swords and clubs, they filled the courtyards of the church, shouting and yelling disorderly. And then they began to dig up and to anathematize those of holy memory, Germanus and Tarasius and Nicephorus. When the patriarch heard these things, he gave thanks to God with tears that he was deemed worthy to hear these things for the sake of piety. And indeed the people rushed with one accord to go up to the patriarchate. And a certain Thomas, a patrician who had been of the disypati, who then had received the church from the emperor, having secured the gates of the patriarchate, drove them away as if...

ἀποθνήσκομεν." καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης πρὸς αὐτοὺς "λοιπὸν οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ ἐσώμεθα καὶ συνημμένοι ἐν μιᾷ ψυχῇ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ ἀδιαιρέτως, καὶ μὴ εὕρωσίν τινα ἐξ ἡμῶν ἀποχωρίσαι οἱ τῆς ἐναντίας μοίρας, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἰσχύσωσιν· πλείους γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐσμὲν χάριτι Χριστοῦ." οἱ δὲ πάλιν ἀνέκραξαν διαβεβαιούμενοι ἕως θανάτου ἀντέχεσθαι καὶ ὑπερμαχεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ποιήσαντες σταυροὺς καὶ ἔγγραφα εἰς ἀλλήλους τοῦ μὴ χωρίζεσθαι. ταῦτα ἐπράχθη πρὸ τῶν ἑορτῶν. φθασάντων δὲ τῶν ἑορτῶν 356 δηλοῖ ὁ πατριάρχης τὸν βασιλέα λόγους νουθεσίας, ἅμα καὶ παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν μὴ σκυλῆναι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἣν πολλῷ κόπῳ οἱ πατέρες ἐπῳκοδόμησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρθοδόξῳ πίστει, ἀποδιώξαντες πᾶσαν αἵρεσιν, λέγων ὅτι εἰ δι' ἐμὲ γίνονται ταῦτα τὰ σκάνδαλα κατὰ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως, ἐμὲ ἐξεώσασθε, καὶ εἴ τινα βούλεσθε, ποιήσατε· μόνον τὴν πίστιν μὴ παρασαλεύσητε. καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὑπούλως καὶ δολερῶς ὁ δικαίως ἐπικληθεὶς χαμαιλέων εἶπεν. "καὶ τίς" φησὶν "τολμᾷ καθελεῖν ἢ ἐξεῶσαι τὸν πατριάρχην τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν, ἢ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν παρασαλεῦσαι; μικρὸν ἠρευνήσαμεν διὰ τοὺς λαλοῦντας, ἐπεὶ ὡς πιστεύει ἡ ἐκκλησία, κἀγὼ πιστεύω." καὶ ἐκβαλὼν ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου αὐτοῦ σταυρὸν ἔχων εἰκόνα προσεκύνησεν ἐνώπιον πάντων. ἐποίησεν δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀληθεύων ἀλλ' ἐν ὑποκρίσει, βουλόμενος διαβάσαι τὴν ἑορτήν.

Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἠδύνατο καταλαβέσθαι τὴν πανουργίαν αὐτοῦ· ἄλλα γὰρ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἐλάλει, καὶ ἕτερα ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ ἐβούλετο. ταῦτα τοίνυν ἀκούσαντες ὅ τε πατριάρχης καὶ οἱ ἐπίσκοποι ἐχάρησαν, νομίζοντες ἀληθεύειν αὐτόν. καὶ προελθὼν τῇ Χριστοῦ γεννήσει ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ εἰσῆλθεν ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῶν βασιλέων, καὶ προσεκύνησεν τὴν ἐνδυτὴν τὴν ἔχουσαν τὴν ἁγίαν γέννησιν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. καὶ λοιπὸν ἰδόντες πάντες ἐπληροφορήθησαν, μὴ 357 ἰδόντες τὸν δόλον καὶ τὴν πανουργίαν αὐτοῦ. φθασάσης δὲ καὶ τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν φώτων προῆλθεν ὁμοίως, καὶ εἰσελθὼν οὐ προσεκύνησεν· καὶ ἔγνωσαν πάντες ὅτι ἐν ὑποκρίσει τὸ πρῶτον ἐποίησεν καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. καὶ δὴ πληρωθεισῶν τῶν ἑορτῶν ἤρξατο πάλιν ἐπιτίθεσθαι ὡς ὁ Φαραὼ τὸν Ἰσραήλ, καί τινας ἐπισκόπους ὑπέκλεπτεν κολακείαις καὶ ὑποσχέσεσι δώρων, οἵ τινες καὶ ὑπήκουον αὐτόν, ἀγαπῶντες τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα, καὶ οἱ πρὶν διαβεβαιούμενοι ἀποθνήσκειν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ πήξαντες σταυροὺς σχεδὸν πάντες ἐστράφησαν εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον. καὶ δηλοῖ τὸν πατριάρχην διά τινων τῶν ἀποστατησάντων ἐπισκόπων ὅτι μικρὸν σύνελθε ἡμῖν, ἵνα περιέλωμεν πάντα τὰ χαμηλά· ἐπεὶ εἰ οὐ βούλει, γνῶθι ὅτι οὕτως οὐ παραχωροῦμεν αὐτόθι σε εἶναι. οὓς ὁ πατριάρχης ἐξουθενώσας ὡς ἐφιόρκους σταυροπάτας, τὸν βασιλέα ἐμήνυσεν ὅτι ὃ βούλει ποίησον· ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ὁρισθέντων εὐσεβῶς ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων οὔτε ἐπιδιατάσσομαι οὔτε συνέρχομαι τοῖς ἐναντίως φρονοῦσιν. καὶ ἐν τούτοις ὄντων ἔπεσεν εἰς ἀσθένειαν ὁ πατριάρχης, ὥστε ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἀπογνωσθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν. καὶ μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς μικρὸν ἡσύχασεν, λογιζόμενος ὅτι ἀποθνήσκοντος αὐτοῦ πάντα εὐμαρῶς ποιῆσαι ἔχει ἅπερ βούλεται. καὶ λοιπὸν ἀθρόον ἐκ τοῦ παραδοξοποιοῦ θεοῦ μικρὸν διεφορήθη. ὅπερ μαθὼν ὁ 358 χαμαιλέων παρασκευάζει λάθρα διά τινων τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀνελθεῖν εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον καὶ συρτὰ καταβάσαι αὐτόν. ἦν δὲ ἡ παρείσβασις τῶν νηστειῶν. καὶ συναχθέντες παμπληθεὶ ὥσπερ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ μαχαιρῶν καὶ ξύλων, ἐγέμισαν τὰ προαύλια τῆς ἐκκλησίας, κράζοντες καὶ βοῶντες ἀτάκτως. καὶ λοιπὸν ἤρξαντο ἀνασκάπτειν καὶ ἀναθεματίζειν τοὺς ἐν ὁσίᾳ τῇ μνήμῃ Γερμανὸν καὶ Ταράσιον καὶ Νικηφόρον. ἅπερ ἀκούσας ὁ πατριάρχης ηὐχαρίστησε τῷ θεῷ μετὰ δακρύων ὅτι ἠξιώθη ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ταῦτα ἀκοῦσαι. καὶ δὴ ὥρμησεν ὁ λαὸς ὁμοθυμαδὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀνελθεῖν εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον. καί τις Θωμᾶς πατρίκιος ἀπὸ δισυπάτων γενόμενος, ὃς τότε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν παρέλαβεν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἀσφαλίσας τὰς πύλας τοῦ πατριαρχείου ἀπεδίωξεν αὐτοὺς ὡς δῆθεν