doing these things without the emperor. And then the aforementioned man went to the chameleon and told him of the people's disorderly rush. But he, being ever a liar, denied knowing, or that they had been sent by him. But, he says, the people have need and toil, and for this reason they acted thus. And Thomas says that if you command, master, to expel him, there is no need of many. Send two persons, and those who are to carry him; for he cannot walk by himself because of his illness, and so 359 he departs. Which indeed he did. Sending some men by night, he expelled him from the church, and those who were sent, bringing him down on a bier, placed him in the middle of the forum of the Milion, so that some of the soldiers might kill him. And since it was late and all were overcome with sleep, no one was stirred. And after waiting for about an hour, and having accomplished nothing of what they wanted, they took him from there and brought him down to the acropolis and, putting him in a small boat, they cast him across to Chrysopolis. And in the morning, the son of perdition held a silentium and said to the people, "You know, brethren, that the patriarch has departed from the church, because we were telling him concerning the icons, that they are wrongly venerated, and that for this reason the nations rule over us. But he, having no reasonable defense to offer, became angry and, dishonoring us, departed. And so we have the necessity to make another patriarch." And by lying about these things he persuaded the people that he had resigned. And when he wished to make John Pancratius, as he had also pre-arranged with him, he was prevented by the patricians, who said that he is young and obscure, and it is not right for us old men to bow down and fall before him; but rather let one be chosen from the well-born and distinguished and those advanced in years. And so he chose Theodotus, son of Michael, a patrician, the 360 Melissenos, who was a brother-in-law of the Emperor Constantine Caballinus through his third wife. This Theodotus, being a spatharokandidatos, agreeing with his dogma, he tonsured as a stephanites, and made him patriarch, ordaining him at Easter, a man who knew nothing spiritual nor was educated in scripture except for a little, and possessed no piety, only that he was meek and appeared virtuous to men. This man, upon entering the patriarchate, began to hold lavish banquets with meat, and he made clerics and monks, and indeed even bishops, who from a young age had not eaten meat, break their fast and eat without restraint; and where there was once much reverence and solemnity and self-control and virtue, one could see laughter and games and wrestling and shameful talk taking place, as he had no teaching whatsoever. And so after Easter the chameleon holds a synod in the great church called Sophia, and having seated this Theodotus, whom he called Cassiteras, as being the patriarch, and Symbatius his son, whom he had named Constantine, and some impious bishops, he prepared them to plant crosses against the truth, while he himself was cautious to plant a cross because he had previously subscribed, when he was reigning, to the orthodox faith not to 361 disturb it; which the wretch did not keep. And so after reading the tome which the champions of the false assembly had made, which they named the horos of the seventh synod in Blachernae, the heirs of the anathema anathematized our orthodox patriarchs, and they brought certain metropolitans and bishops of the orthodox, dragging them tyrannically, tearing their vestments in the midst of their robber council, they trampled on them, as if the impious ones were doing something pious, and handing them over to the soldiers covered in blood, they led them away to the prisons and to the dungeons; and having kept them there for some days they brought them out again, and having interrogated them and found them not persuaded by what was said by them, they informed the author of the lie, and sent them into exile; whom he also tortured in exile by sending men to do so.

τοῦ βασιλέως χωρὶς ταῦτα ποιοῦντας. καὶ λοιπὸν ὁ προειρημένος ἀνὴρ ἀπελθὼν πρὸς τὸν χαμαιλέοντα εἶπεν αὐτῷ τοῦ λαοῦ τὴν ἄτακτον ῥύμην. ὁ δὲ ἀεὶ ψεύστης ὢν ἠρνήσατο εἰδέναι, μηδὲ ἀπεστάλθαι παρ' αὐτοῦ. ἀλλά, φησίν, ἀνάγκην ἔχουσιν καὶ πόνον οἱ λαοί, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως ἐποίησαν. καὶ λέγει ὁ Θωμᾶς ὅτι εἰ κελεύεις αὐτόν, δέσποτα, ἐξεῶσαι, οὐ πολλῶν ἐστὶ χρεία. δύο ὀνόματα ἀπόστειλον, καὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας αὐτὸν βαστάσαι· οὐ γὰρ δύναται περιπατῆσαι ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐκ τῆς νόσου, καὶ οὕτως 359 ἐξέρχεται. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐποίησεν. τῇ νυκτὶ ἀποστείλας τινὰς ἐξέωσεν αὐτὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ καταγαγόντες μετὰ φόρου οἱ ἀποσταλέντες ἔστησαν μέσον τῆς ἀγορᾶς τοῦ Μιλίου, ὅπως τινὲς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀποκτείνωσιν αὐτόν. καὶ ἐπειδὴ βράδιον ἦν καὶ πάντες ὕπνῳ κατεφέροντο, οὐδεὶς ἐσαλεύθη. καὶ ποιήσαντες ὡσεὶ μιῶριν, καὶ μηδὲν ἀνύσαντες περὶ οὗ ἐβούλοντο, ἦραν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖθεν καὶ κατήγαγον εἰς ἀκρόπολιν καὶ βαλόντες ἐν ἀκατίῳ ἔρριψαν πέραν εἰς Χρυσόπολιν. καὶ τὸ πρωῒ ποιήσας σελέντιον ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν λαὸν "οἴδατε, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι ὁ πατριάρχης παρεάσας τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀνεχώρησεν, διότι ἐλέγομεν αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν εἰκόνων, ὅτι κακῶς προσκυνοῦνται, καὶ ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἔθνη κυριεύουν ἡμῶν. αὐτὸς δὲ μὴ ἔχων εὔλογόν τι ἀπολογήσασθαι, ὀργισθεὶς καὶ ἀτιμάσας ἡμᾶς ἀνεχώρησεν. καὶ λοιπὸν ἀνάγκην ἔχομεν ἕτερον πατριάρχην ποιῆσαι." καὶ ταῦτα ψευσάμενος ἔπεισεν τὸν λαὸν ὅτι παρῃτήσατο. καὶ δὴ βουλομένου αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι Ἰωάννην τοῦ Παγκρατίου, καθ' ὃ καὶ προσυνέθετο αὐτῷ, διεκωλύθη παρὰ τῶν πατρικίων λεγόντων ὅτι νέος ἐστὶ καὶ ἀφανής, καὶ οὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶς γέροντας προσκυνεῖν καὶ προσπίπτειν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ· ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐκ τοὺς εὐγενοῦς καὶ ἐμφανεῖς καὶ χρόνῳ προβεβηκότας γενέσθω. καὶ δὴ ἐπελέξατο Θεόδοτον υἱὸν Μιχαὴλ πατρικίου τοῦ 360 Μελισινοῦ, συγγάμβρου ὄντος Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ Καβαλλίνου κατὰ τὴν τρίτην αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα. αὐτὸν τὸν Θεόδοτον, σπαθαροκανδιδάτον ὄντα, συνθέμενον τῷ δόγματι αὐτοῦ ἐκούρευσεν στεφανίτην, καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν πατριάρχην, χειροτονήσαντες αὐτὸν τὸ πάσχα, ἄνθρωπον μηδὲν πνευματικὸν ἐπιστάμενον μηδὲ παιδευθέντα τῇ γραφῇ ἀλλ' ἢ ὀλίγου τινός, καὶ μηδεμίαν εὐσέβειαν κεκτημένῳ, μόνον ὅτι πρᾶος ἦν καὶ ἐφαίνετο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνάρετος. οὗτος εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον ἤρξατο ποιεῖν ἀριστόδειπνα πολυτελῆ διὰ κρέατος, καὶ τοὺς ἐκ νέας ἡλικίας μὴ φαγόντας κρέα κληρικοὺς καὶ μοναχούς, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπισκόπους ἐποίησεν διαλῦσαι καὶ ἐσθίειν ἀφειδῶς· καὶ ἔνθα ποτὲ ἦν εὐλάβεια πολλὴ καὶ σεμνότης καὶ ἐκράτεια καὶ ἀρετή, ἦν ἰδεῖν γέλοια καὶ παιγνίδια καὶ παλαίσματα καὶ αἰσχρολογίας γενομένας, μὴ ἔχοντος διδασκαλίαν τὴν οἱανοῦν. καὶ λοιπὸν μετὰ τοῦ πάσχα ποιεῖ σύνοδον ὁ χαμαιλέων ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ λεγομένῃ Σοφίᾳ, καὶ καθίσας τὸν αὐτὸν Θεόδοτον, ὃν ἔλεγεν Κασσιτερᾶν, ὡς ἅτε πατριάρχην, καὶ Συμβάτιον τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ὃν ἐπέθηκεν Κωνσταντῖνον, καί τινας ἀσεβεῖς ἐπισκόπους, παρεσκεύασεν πῆξαι σταυροὺς κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας, αὐτὸς εὐλαβηθεὶς πῆξαι σταυρὸν διὰ τὸ πρότερον καθυπογράψαι ἐν τῷ βασιλεύειν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν τοῦ μὴ παρα 361 σαλεύειν αὐτήν· ὅπερ ὁ ἄθλιος οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν. καὶ λοιπὸν ἀναγνώσαντες τὸν τόμον ὃν ἐποίησαν οἱ τοῦ ψευδοσυλλόγου προασπισταί, ὃν ἐπωνόμασαν ὅρον τῆς ἑβδόμης συνόδου τῆς ἐν Βλαχέρναις, ἀναθεματίσαντες οἱ τοῦ ἀναθέματος κληρονόμοι τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους ἡμῶν πατριάρχας, ἤγαγον δέ τινας μητροπολίτας καὶ ἐπισκόπους τῶν ὀρθοδόξων τυραννικῶς σύροντες, ῥήξαντες ἐν μέσῳ τῆς λῃστρικῆς αὐτῶν συνόδου, ἐπάτησαν, ὡς δῆθέν τι εὐσεβὲς ποιοῦντες οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, καὶ παραδόσαντες αὐτοὺς τοῖς στρατιώταις αἱματοφύρτους ἀπήγαγον εἰς τὰς φυλακὰς καὶ εἰς τὰ δεσμωτήρια· ποιήσαντες δὲ ἡμέρας τινὰς ἐκεῖσε πάλιν ἐξήγαγον, καὶ ἀνακρίναντες καὶ εὑρόντες μὴ πειθομένους τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν λεγομένοις ὑπέμνησαν τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τοῦ ψεύδους, καὶ ἀπέστειλαν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἐξορίαν· οὕς τινας καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐξορίᾳ πέμπων ἐβασάνιζεν.