with his own hands on his neck, and after inflicting blows on his jaws, with clenched fingers he bloodied his nostrils, shouting 38 with a loud voice: "Heretic, anathematize Origen"; with nothing set before him except the demand on account of Isidore. For such fits of anger, just like dogs, give birth to blind deeds and words. Thus, blood-stained and without an answer, returning to their own monasteries, they kept to their proposed asceticism, having sharpened their nature by learning, through which salvation is acquired, caring less for his madness, because they were conscious of no evil in themselves. CHAPTER Ζʹ In addition to this, Theophilus, not resting, sends to the neighboring bishops, and convenes a synod against the monks; neither summoning them to make a defense, nor giving them a hearing, he excommunicates three men of prominence (fearing to inflict the punishment on the multitude all at once), alleging a corruption of dogmas. And those whom he had often honored above bishops as teachers on account of their life, their reason, and their age, these he was not ashamed to call sorcerers because of their relationship with Isidore. And after the excommunication, from the mountain itself he anoints five paltry men, who had never stood in an assembly of the elders of the desert—I hesitate to say, unworthy even of being doorkeepers; and one he ordains as bishop, assigning him to a small village, having no city (for he fearlessly worked innovations, calling himself another Moses), another a presbyter, and the three deacons, not being from the Egyptians, but from different places (for one was a Libyan, another an Alexandrian, another a Pharanite, and another a Paraleote). Therefore they also obeyed his worthless endeavor, holding what was unexpected as pledges from their homelands. and he prepares them to give libelli against those three 39 men, he himself having woven the words of the slander, with these men contributing only their signatures. After this, having taken the libelli from them in the church, he goes in to the Augustal prefect and deposits a petition against them from his own person—the archbishop of the Egyptian diocese—having woven in also the libelli of slander, and he requests that the men be thrown out of all Egypt with military assistance. And having received the soldier for appearance's sake, along with the order, he gathers a crowd of miscreants easily swayed by rewards, and he leaps upon the monasteries suddenly at night, having made the servants with him drunk with wine. And first, their brother Dioscorus, being the holy bishop of the mountain, he orders to be thrown from his throne, dragged by Ethiopian servants—and they perhaps still unbaptized—having taken his parish, which the city of Dioscorus had held since the coming of Christ. After this he plunders the mountain, giving the monks' small possessions as wages to the younger men. And having plundered the cells, he seeks those three men, whom they had let down into a well, placing a mat over the mouth; but not finding them, he sets their cells on fire with brushwood, burning up with them all the testament-bequeathed and precious books, and one child, as those who saw it said, and the symbols of the mysteries. Thus, having ceased from his irrational anger, he takes possession of Alexandria again, having given those holy men an opportunity for flight; who, immediately taking up their sheepskins, go out into Palestine, reaching Aelia; with whom went out, along with presbyters and deacons of the mountain, three hundred of the zealous monks, while the others were scattered to various places. Not bearing their independence, "the crooked" serpent in his course "serpent" again stirs up Theophilus against them; 40 who, boiling with rage, scratches out letters to the bishops of Palestine, saying: "You should not have received these men in your cities against my judgment; but since you were ignorant, I grant you pardon. For the future, therefore, take care not to receive these men in either an ecclesiastical or a private place." not only saying, but also imagining himself to be a god, in the
τῷ τραχήλῳ οἰ κείαις χερσί, καὶ πληγὰς ταῖς σιαγόσιν αὐτοῦ ἐμφορήσας, συνεσπασμένοις δακτύλοις αἱμάξας αὐτοῦ τὰς ῥῖνας, ἐπιψοφῶν 38 τῇ φωνῇ· "Αἱρετικέ, ἀναθεμάτισον Ὠριγένην"· μηδενὸς προ κειμένου πλὴν τῆς ἀξιώσεως ἕνεκεν Ἰσιδώρου. τοιοῦτον γὰρ οἱ θυμοί, καθάπερ οἱ κύνες, τυφλὰ τίκτουσι καὶ τὰ πράγματα καὶ τὰ ῥήματα. οὕτως οὖν αἱματόφυρτοι καὶ ἀναπόκριτοι ὑπο στρέψαντες εἰς τὰς μονὰς αὐτῶν, εἴχοντο τῆς προκειμένης ἀσκήσεως, τῇ μαθήσει τὴν φύσιν ὀξύναντες, δι' ὧν ἡ σωτηρία προσγίνεται, ἔλαττον φροντίσαντες τῆς τούτου μανίας, τῷ μηδὲν ἑαυτοὺς συνειδέναι κακόν. <ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ζʹ> Πρὸς τούτοις οὐκ ἠρεμήσας ὁ Θεόφιλος ἀποστέλλει πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ γειτόνων ἐπισκόπους, καὶ συγκροτεῖ κατὰ τῶν μοναχῶν συνέδριον· οὔτε δὲ καλέσας αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀπολογίαν, οὔτε μετα δοὺς λόγου, ἀποκηρύττει τρεῖς ἄνδρας τοὺς ἐπ' ἐξοχῆς (φοβηθεὶς ἀθρόως κατὰ τοῦ πλήθους ἐξενεγκεῖν τὴν τιμωρίαν), σχηματι σάμενος δογμάτων παραφθοράν. καὶ οὓς πολλάκις ὑπὲρ ἐπι σκόπων ἐτίμησεν ὡς διδασκάλους διὰ τὸν βίον, διὰ τὸν λόγον, διὰ τὸν χρόνον, τούτους οὐκ ᾐδέσθη γόητας ὀνομάζων διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἰσίδωρον σχέσιν. καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἀποκηρῦξαι, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὄρους ἀλείφει ἀνθρωπάρια πέντε, ἃ μηδέποτε ἐν συλλόγῳ τῶν τῆς ἐρήμου γερόντων ἔστησαν-ὀκνῶ λέγειν ἀνάξια καὶ θυρωρίου· καὶ τὸν μὲν χειροτονεῖ ἐπίσκοπον, ἐγκατατάξας κωμυδρίῳ, πόλιν οὐκ ἔχων (ἀδεῶς γὰρ καὶ τὰς καινοτομίας εἰργάζετο, ἄλλον ἑαυτὸν Μωϋσέα ὀνομάζων), τὸν δὲ πρεσβύ τερον, τοὺς δὲ τρεῖς διακόνους, οὐκ ὄντας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἀλλὰ διαφόρων τόπων (ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἦν Λίβυς, ὁ δὲ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ὁ δὲ Φαρανίτης, ὁ δὲ Παραλεώτης). διὸ καὶ ὑπήκουσαν αὐτοῦ τῇ ματαιοπονίᾳ, τὸ ἀνέλπιστον ἔχοντες τῶν τῆς πατρίδος ἐνεχύρων. καὶ παρασκευάζει αὐτοὺς δοῦναι λιβέλλους κατὰ τῶν τριῶν 39 ἐκείνων, αὐτὸς ὑφάνας τοὺς λόγους τῆς συκοφαντίας, τούτων μόνον συνεισενεγκάντων τὸ ὑπογράψαι. μετὰ τοῦτο λαβὼν τοὺς λιβέλλους παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, εἰσέρχεται πρὸς τὸν αὐγουστάλιον καὶ ἀποτίθεται κατ' αὐτῶν ἐντυχίαν ἐκ προσώπου οἰκείου ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως, συμ πλέξας καὶ τοὺς τῆς συκοφαντίας λιβέλλους, καὶ ἀξιοῖ στρα τιωτικῇ βοηθείᾳ ῥιφῆναι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀπὸ πάσης Αἰγύπτου. λαβὼν δὲ σχήματι τὸν στρατιώτην, ἅμα τῷ προστάγματι, συναθροίζει πλῆθος πλημμελῶν εὐκόλως περὶ τὰς ἀξίας, καὶ ἐπισκιρτᾷ τοῖς μοναστηρίοις ἀθρόᾳ νυκτί, οἰνοφλυγήσας τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸν τούτων ἀδελφὸν ∆ιόσκορον, ἅγιον ἐπίσκοπον ὄντα τοῦ ὄρους, κελεύει τοῦ θρόνου ῥιφῆναι, συρέντα δι' οἰκετῶν Αἰθιόπων-καὶ αὐτῶν τάχα ἀκμὴν ἀφωτίστων, λαβὼν αὐτοῦ τὴν παροικίαν, ἣν ἀπὸ τῆς παρουσίας Χριστοῦ εἶχεν ἡ τοῦ ∆ιοσκόρου πόλις. μετὰ τοῦτο λαφυρα γωγεῖ τὸ ὄρος, μισθὸν τοῖς νεωτέροις τὰ μικρὰ πράγματα τῶν μοναχῶν διδούς. σκυλεύσας δὲ τὰς κέλλας ἐπιζητεῖ τοὺς τρεῖς ἐκείνους, οὓς κεχαλάκεισαν ἐν φρέατι, ψίαθον ἐπιθέντες τῷ στομίῳ· μὴ εὑρὼν δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐμπίπρησιν αὐτῶν φρυγάνοις τὰς κέλλας, συγκαύσας τὰς βίβλους πάσας ἐνδιαθέτους καὶ σπου δαίας, καὶ παιδίον ἕν, ὡς ἔφασαν οἱ ἑωρακότες, καὶ τὰ σύμβολα τῶν μυστηρίων. οὕτως οὖν λωφήσας τῆς ἀλόγου ὀργῆς κατα λαμβάνει πάλιν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, δοὺς χώραν φυγῆς τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐκείνοις· οἵτινες ἐξαυτῆς λαβόντες αὐτῶν τὰς μηλωτὰς ἐξέρχονται εἰς τὴν Παλαιστίνην, Αἰλίαν καταλαβόντες· οἷς συνεξῆλθον σὺν πρεσβυτέροις καὶ διακόνοις τοῦ ὄρους τρια κόσιοι τῶν μοναχῶν σπουδαίων, οἱ δ' ἕτεροι διαφόροις διεσπά ρησαν τόποις. τούτων μὴ φέρων τὴν ἰδιοπραγίαν "ὁ σκολιὸς" τὸν δρόμον "ὄφις" ἀνασείει πάλιν κατ' αὐτῶν τὸν Θεόφιλον· 40 ὃς ἀναβρασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς χαράσσει γράμματα πρὸς τοὺς τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἐπισκόπους, λέγων· "Οὐκ ἔδει μὲν ὑμᾶς παρὰ γνώμην μου ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὑποδέξασθαι τούτους· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἠγνοήσατε, συγγνώμην ὑμῖν νέμω. τοῦ λοιποῦ τοίνυν φροντί σατε, μήτε εἰς ἐκκλησιαστικόν, μήτε εἰς ἰδιωτικὸν τούτους ὑπο δέξασθαι τόπον." οὐ μόνον λέγων, ἀλλὰ καὶ φανταζόμενος εἶναι θεός, τῇ