Orationes forenses et acta

 Each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo

 Having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a bacchic frenzy. now, that the many are deceived by this, i do

 Of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. for someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi

 To be enumerated? for divination is for the time being sufficient. but i think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things

 Of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: one must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui

 In these matters i would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r

 Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin

 Has he discerned? but if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the nazirites—for this part was no

 Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever

 What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision

 And i gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. for where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y

 All those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. for what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? but sinc

 And of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri

 They have shaken. for if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having

 For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme

 He has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai

 He both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p

 Depicting the madness of nestorian rage. i have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the massalians. i brought forth to them from the inner

 The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. and it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend

 And having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. and a fi

 Delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. and he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w

 Being torn apart. but pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han

 To kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin

 An innovative rank and would come to be below. there, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked

 Demonic in his life. but again i have turned to you, the judges, and again i ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? you will surely say the

 Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses

 Ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w

 In the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible

 Disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? and he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. for not o

 Leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e

 And the remains of the apostle luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. i fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. i am afraid that some of

 I shall grant you this also. he had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. i admit it, since they had all already decayed. but he did have need of

 Let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. but where the mercy-seat is, and around

 Seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, i mean the one from isauria. but you consider for me what a

 Fire was burning us and the zeal of the lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t

 To me the macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. and nothing new nor incredible for one who has

 I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. therefore

 He would trace his genealogy from cronus and rhea and from those even further back, i mean hericapaeus and phanes and that orphic night and he traced

 And the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? but never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th

 The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land

 And to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could i speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w

 Granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma

 Suspicious to many. but if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac

 They anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and i confidently awaited the court, as one

 To vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,

 Of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that i may speak truly, to believe against a believer? for this would be far from reason and thought. for where we

 But i, but what might i say about this? he living the life of a private citizen, but i clothed in the high-priestly vestment. and such a man is agains

 With misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. and let the sword be ha

 Do you receive? for the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. for if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what

 Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? for from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ

 An evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. so may the lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in

 This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. but he introduced a new kind of writing into the

 Of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped

 Has been debarred from studies? but for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? who of all people has known you, as far as i know, afte

 Which they say came into being of their own accord. but these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin

 Ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. for this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. from w

 And the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy

 Did he transcend this time? and it is likely, o best one, for christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. whether, then, th

 From himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul this man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau

 A contest, but more brilliant was the victory of elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the

 Receiving. when the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man

 I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. and first i shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since i will also become a stumbling

 The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp

 Having received a seaside property from him, i give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. but the kalai property was

 Most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions

 Indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. and so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu

 At that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i

 But the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document

 He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of god concern

 On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. for the estate was perhaps of the daughters of nicholas’s wife through paternal

 Harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? for the first and

 He has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised

 Emperor of the romans, doukas. konstantinos, in christ the god faithful emperor of the romans, doukas. ioannes, most humble archbishop of constantinop

all those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. For what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? But since Plato introduced ideas, and Aristotle declared matter to be without beginning, we reasonably exclude them from the church. And we shake off the Stoa, because it accepted nothing incorporeal; and we reject the necessity of Empedocles and the fate of Heraclitus and the chance of Epicurus and the transmigration of Pythagoras and the other Hellenic nonsense. And we no longer trouble ourselves whether the cosmos is intelligent and the heaven is ensouled, but even if they seem to prove it, even if they bring and show the things themselves, we shut our eyes. If, therefore, we call such doctrines heresies and their introducers heresiarchs, those who have set aside the dignity of the Spirit no less than Macedonius, whom would we deem worthy of the name? Or to what rank shall we assign the master who has communed with these things, or with what praises shall we crown him? Is it not clear with which their mystagogues are adorned? But what almost escaped me, this I will add to what has been said, having taken it as an acknowledged principle, that every demon is both darkness and pretends to be light and, drawing to himself the power of reverence, does not speak blasphemy openly, but, as a craftsman and a sophist, he openly contrives the attempt and conceals his malice, so that he might first capture the one being deceived, and then besiege and overcome him as an easily demolished little wall. At any rate, he at first confesses God and posits a beginning without a beginning, uttering words that are familiar and customary to those being brought to him, so that they might run to what is foreign as if it were genuine and attach themselves to his teaching. But while fighting fiercely against the mother of the Word and warring with the cross by which he is destroyed, he both glorifies her in word and signs himself with this, for he knows that he would not otherwise be accepted by the ears of those being deceived, unless he first devises such sophistries. If, then, someone has the gift of discernment and the senses of his soul have been trained for the understanding of the worse and the better, and he has recognized this one immediately, having characterized him by both his appearances and his forms, whether he abides in these, whether he changes, whether he makes the soul of the one conversing with him cheerful, and having convicted him of his hypocrisy, he both keeps far away and escapes the deceit. But if not, having swallowed the hook of deceit, he is caught from within and is hung from his soul, suspended by an angler's hooks. At any rate, both the Chians and Dosithea and the great master have swallowed this and, suspended from below, have been ignorant. For the martyrs being brought forward have deceived them, and the wailing infants and John the Evangelist leading the mother by the hand and—such is the bait of the deceit, but the fish-trap, the enclosure is—the much-afflicted mother and the holy trinity, which created all nature, being circumscribed by place and advancing somewhere near to the spectators; and the mother of the Word, on the one hand supplicating her son, on the other hand making promises, and on the other hand giving things to the initiate and patriarch. But such, O best of men, are not the mysteries of theophany, nor so human and nonsensical, but rather common and groveling. Nor does the virgin and mother utter such sounds. For such words belong more to courtesans speaking to their neighbors than to a virgin; "A good early morning to you; may no evil eye harm you; may you spend the day well; blow twice into the cup; it is a good thing for me that after seeing the crescent moon, I immediately caught sight of you." The mystery of Dosithea reeks of such trifles. And let no one merely laugh at the words as old-womanish; for the evil one, by slyly introducing these, sets up trophies of his error against the souls that have received them. Do you wish to know the pure and unadulterated theophany? Listen to Isaiah speaking about the high throne

πάντες, πρὸς οὓς διαφερόμεθα, τὰς συγχύσεις ἢ τὰς διαιρέσεις ἐπρέσβευσαν. τί γὰρ κοινὸν ὕλῃ καὶ ἰδέαις πρὸς τὰ ἡμέτερα δόγματα; ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ταύτας μὲν Πλάτων εἰσήνεγκε, τὴν δὲ ὕλην Ἀριστοτέλης ἄναρχον ἀπεφήνατο, τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰκότως ἀλλοτριοῦμεν. καὶ τὴν μὲν Στοὰν διασείομεν, ὅτι μηδὲν ἀσώματον παρεδέξατο· καὶ τὴν Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἀνάγκην καὶ τὴν Ἡρακλείτου εἱμαρμένην καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον Ἐπικούρου καὶ Πυθαγόρου τὴν μετεμψύχωσιν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην Ἑλληνικὴν τερθρείαν ἀποβαλλόμεθα. καὶ οὐκέτι πολυπραγμονοῦμεν, εἰ ἔννους ὁ κόσμος καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἔμψυχος, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἀποδεικνύειν δοκῶσι, κἂν αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα φέροντες δεικνύωσι, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπιμύομεν. εἰ τοίνυν αἱρέσεις τὰ τοιαῦτα ὀνομάζομεν δόγματα καὶ αἱρεσιάρχας τοὺς τούτων εἰσηγητάς, τοὺς τὸ ἀξίωμα τοῦ πνεύματος ἀθετήσαντας οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ Μακεδόνιος, τίνα ἂν ἀξιώσαιμεν τῆς προσηγορίας; ἢ τὸν τούτοις κεκοινωνηκότα δεσπότην ποίας θήσομεν τάξεως ἢ ποίαις τοῦτον εὐφημίαις ἀναδησόμεθα; οὐ δῆλον αἷς οἱ μυσταγωγοὶ τούτων κεκόσμηνται; Ἀλλ' ὅ με μικροῦ διέλαθε, τοῦτο προσθήσω τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὁμολογουμένην ἀρχὴν εἰληφώς, ὅτι πᾶς δαίμων καὶ σκότος ἐστὶν καὶ φῶς ὑποκρίνεται καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν περισπῶν τὸ τοῦ σεβάσματος κράτος οὐ παρρησιάζεται τὴν βλασφημίαν, ἀλλ' οἷα δὴ τεχνίτης καὶ σοφιστὴς ἄντικρυς μεθοδεύει τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν καὶ ἐπικαλύπτει τὴν κακεντρέχειαν, ἵν' ἕλοι τὴν πρώτην τὸν ἀπατώμενον, εἶτα δὴ ὡς εὐκαθαίρετον τειχίον πολιορκήσῃ καὶ παραστήσηται. θεὸν γοῦν τὰ πρῶτα ὁμολογεῖ καὶ ἄναρχον ἀρχὴν τίθεται, τὰς οἰκείας καὶ συνήθεις τοῖς προσαγομένοις φωνὰς ἀφιείς, ἵν' ὡς γνησίῳ τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ προσδράμωσι καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου διδασκαλίας ἑαυτοὺς ἀναρτήσωσι. τῇ δὲ μητρὶ τοῦ λόγου καὶ μάλα μαχόμενος καὶ τῷ σταυρῷ πολεμῶν δι' οὗ καταλέλυται, ἐκείνην τε σεμνύνει τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τούτῳ ἑαυτὸν καταγράφει, οἶδε γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως παραδεχθείη τῶν ἀπατωμένων ταῖς ἀκοαῖς, εἰ μὴ τοιαῦτα πρῶτον σοφίσεται. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔχει τις τὸ τῆς διακρίσεως χάρισμα καὶ γεγύμνασται τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια πρὸς τὴν κατανόησιν τοῦ χείρονος καὶ βελτίονος, ἔγνωκέ τε τοῦτον εὐθὺς χαρακτηρίσας καὶ τοῖς εἴδεσι καὶ τοῖς σχήμασιν, εἰ ἐμμένει τούτοις, εἰ παραλλάττει, εἰ τίθησιν ἱλαρὰν τὴν τοῦ προσομιλοῦντος ψυχήν, καὶ ἀπελέγξας αὐτῷ τὴν ὑπόκρισιν πόρρω τε γίνεται καὶ τὴν ἀπάτην ἀποδιδράσκει. εἰ δ' οὖν, τὸ τοῦ δόλου καταπιὼν ἄγκιστρον ἑάλωκεν ἔσωθεν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἤρτηται ἀσπαλιέως ἀγκυροβολίοις ἐκκρεμασθείς. τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ οἱ Χιῶται καὶ ἡ ∆οσιθέα καὶ ὁ μέγας δεσπότης καταπεπώκασι καὶ ἀπῃωρημένοι κάτωθεν ἠγνοήκασιν. ἠπατήκασι γὰρ αὐτοὺς οἱ μάρτυρες παραγόμενοι καὶ τὰ κλαυθμυρίζοντα νήπια καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης χειραγωγῶν τὴν μητέρα καὶ-τοιοῦτον μὲν τῆς ἀπάτης τὸ δέλεαρ, ὁ δὲ κύρτος, τὸ δὲ ἕρκος-ἡ πολύθλιβος μήτηρ καὶ ἡ ἁγία τριὰς ἡ πᾶσαν φύσιν δημιουργήσασα τόπῳ περιγραφομένη καὶ τοῖς θεαταῖς ἐγγύς που προβαίνουσα· καὶ ἡ τοῦ λόγου μήτηρ, τὰ μὲν τὸν υἱὸν λιτανεύουσα, τὰ δὲ ἐπαγγελλομένη, τὰ δὲ τῷ μύστῃ διδοῦσα καὶ πατριάρχῃ. ἀλλ' οὐ τοιαῦτα, ὦ βέλτιστε σύ, τὰ τῆς θεοφανείας μυστήρια οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀνθρωπικά τε καὶ φλύαρα, μᾶλλον δὲ κοινά τε καὶ χαμερπῆ. οὐδὲ τοιαύτας ἡ παρθένος καὶ μήτηρ ἀφίησι τὰς φωνάς. ἑταιρίδων γὰρ μᾶλλον ἢ παρθένου τὰ τοιαῦτα ῥήματα ταῖς ἐν γειτόνων προσφθεγγομένων· "εὖ ὑμῖν τὸ περίορθρον· ἀβάσκαντά σοι· διημερεύσοις καλῶς· ἐμφύσησον δὶς τῷ κυπέλλῳ· ἀγαθόν μοι ὅτι τὴν σελήνην ἰδοῦσα μηνοειδῆ εὐθύς σε τεθέαμαι." τοιούτων ἀπόζει λήρων τὸ τῆς ∆οσιθέας μυστήριον. καὶ μὴ γέ τις ἐπιγελῴη μόνον τοῖς ῥήμασιν ὡς γραώδεσι· ταῦτα γὰρ ὑποτρέχων ὁ πονηρὸς κατὰ τῶν ὑποδεξαμένων ψυχῶν τὰ τῆς πλάνης ἵστησι τρόπαια. Βούλει τὴν καθαρὰν γνῶναι καὶ ἀκίβδηλον θεοφάνειαν; ἄκουσον τοῦ Ἡσαΐου φωνοῦντος περὶ τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ