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for he sees that divine personage at dawn speaking to him and saying thus: "taking the wax tablet, read." And he, believing what was said, went in and read with a clear and distinct voice, "again Jesus is mine." From that time, at any rate, he did not cease abominating his inherited folly and impiety concerning the holy icons, and he was converted and did not cease embracing the images of the saints. But these things happened late in time and much later. 8 Now, when Michael had resumed the imperial rule and was managing its affairs as he wished, the blessed Nikephoros sent a letter, urging that the restoration of the faith might come to pass and that the holy icons might again receive veneration. "But I have not come forth to innovate," replied Michael, "on any of the doctrines concerning the faith, nor indeed to work any assault and destruction on what has already been handed down and confessed. Therefore let each one do what seems good and desirable to him, 48 remaining ignorant of troubles and untasted of grief." However, he did not maintain this choice until the end, he who had not even from the beginning been a true Christian; but inasmuch as he became master of the empire, by so much did he, with a wicked and most cruel nature, rekindle the war against Christians and his own people, now reviling the monks and surrounding them with all kinds of terrible things and devising punishments upon punishments, now sending the other faithful to prisons and making them exiles. From here also Methodios, who shortly after took possession of the patriarchal throne, and Euthymios, the then-president of Sardis, not yielding to his will nor denying the veneration of the icons, he expelled from the city, and he handed over the divine Methodios to a prison on the island of Andrew the apostle, near which Akritas is located, and the blessed Euthymios he handed over to death through his own son Theophilos, to be beaten unsparingly with ox-hides. And inasmuch as he oppressed the inheritance of Christ and devoured it like some wild beast, by so much did he show the Jews to be free from taxes and free, being beloved and cherished by him exceptionally above other men. And while painters have the beautiful aspects of animals for imitation, this man, on the other hand, having set the life of Kopronymos as a kind of sketch and archetype, strove to imitate it to the utmost. Therefore he also drives to the acropolis of impiety, now legislating to fast on Saturdays, now 49 sharpening his tongue against the divine prophets, disbelieving both the future resurrection and the good things from there. And he insisted that there was no devil at all, since this had not even been handed down by Moses. and embracing fornication, and legislating that one must swear only by the god over all, and with an unrestrained tongue ranking Judas among the saved, and mocking the feast of the saving Pascha as being celebrated wrongly and at the wrong time, and reviling Hellenic education, and so despising our and divine education as not even to allow the young to be educated anywhere, so that no one might ever be able to resist and refute his irrationality, nor again might anyone being carried along by the quickness of his eyes and the flow of his tongue through education compel him to take second place; for he was so slow at combining letters and reading syllables, that one might more easily go through a book than he, with the slowness of his mind, the letters of his own name. But these things must be left aside, as having also been ridiculed by the divine men of that time; for full books denounce his deeds; but let us proceed to what follows in the history, observing the results of his godless acts. 9 For at this time a civil war, having its beginning from the East, filled the inhabited world with all kinds of evils and of many people made few

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ὁρᾷ γὰρ τὸν θεῖον ἐκεῖνον χαρακτῆρα κατὰ τὸν ορθρον τούτῳ διαλεγόμενον καὶ "τὸν κηρὸν" ουτω δὴ λέγοντα "λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι." ὁ δὲ πιστεύων τοῖς λεγομένοις εἰσελθὼν ἀνέγνω λαμπρᾷ καὶ καθαρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ τὸ "πάλιν ̓Ιησοῦς ὁ ἐμός." εκτοτε γοῦν τὴν πατροπαρά- δοτον αὐτοῦ οὐ διέλιπε βδελυσσόμενος ανοιαν καὶ περὶ τὰς θείας εἰκόνας ἀγνωμοσύνην, μετετίθετο δὲ καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἁγίων χαρακτῆ- ρας περιπτυσσόμενος οὐ διέλιπεν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὀψὲ τοῦ και- ροῦ καὶ πολύ περ ἐς υστερον. 8Ηδη δὲ καὶ τὴν αὐτοκράτορα τοῦ Μιχαὴλ ἐπανελομέ- νου ἀρχὴν καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτὴν ὡς ἐβούλετο διοικοῦντος, ἐπιστολὴν ὁ μακαρίτης Νικηφόρος ἐκπέμπει, τὴν τῆς πίστεως παρακαλῶν ἀνάκλησιν γενέσθαι καὶ πάλιν ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν ἀσπασμὸν τὰς θείας εἰκόνας. "ἀλλ' ουτε καινουργήσων" ἀπεκρίνετο ὁ Μιχαὴλ "τῶν περὶ πίστεώς τι δογμάτων ἐξελήλυθα, ουτε μὴν τῶν ηδη παραδο- θέντων καὶ ἀνομολογηθέντων καταδρομήν τινα ἐργάσασθαι καὶ καθαίρεσιν. εκαστος ουν τὸ δοκοῦν αὐτῷ ποιείτω καὶ ἐφετόν, 48 ἀμαθὴς πόνων καὶ αγευστος λύπης διατελῶν." πλὴν οὐ μέχρι τέλους ταύτην ἐτήρησε τὴν προαίρεσιν ὁ μηδ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀληθὴς Χριστιανὸς γεγονώς· ἀλλ' οσῳ τῆς βασιλείας ἐγένετο ἐγκρατής, τοσούτῳ κακοδαίμονι φύσει καὶ ὠμοτάτῃ τὸν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν καὶ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἀνερρίπισε πόλεμον, νῦν μὲν τοὺς μοναχοὺς διαπτύων παντοίοις τε περιβάλλων δεινοῖς καὶ ποιναῖς ἐξευρίσκων ποινάς, νῦν δὲ τοὺς αλλους πιστοὺς παραπέμπων ταῖς φρουραῖς καὶ ὑπερορίους ποιῶν. ἐντεῦθεν καὶ Μεθόδιον τὸν μετὰ βραχὺ τοῦ πατριαρχικοῦ θρόνου ἀντιλαβόμενον καὶ Εὐθύμιον τὸν τηνι- καῦτα Σάρδεων πρόεδρον, τῷ αὐτοῦ θελήματι μὴ ὑπείκοντας μηδὲ τὴν τῶν εἰκόνων ἐξαρνουμένους τιμήν, τῆς πόλεως ἐξωθεῖ, καὶ τὸν μὲν θεῖον Μεθόδιον φυλακῇ παραδίδωσι κατὰ τὴν νῆσον ̓Ανδρέου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, καθ' ην ὁ ̓Ακρίτας ἐγγειτονεῖ, τὸν δὲ μακαρίτην Εὐθύμιον διὰ Θεοφίλου τοῦ οἰκείου υἱοῦ θανάτῳ πα- ραδίδωσι, βουνεύροις τυπτόμενον ἀφειδῶς. οσῳ δὲ τὴν Χριστοῦ κληρονομίαν ἐπίεζε καὶ οιόν τις θὴρ αγριος κατενέμετο, τοσούτῳ τοὺς ̓Ιουδαίους ἀνέτους φόρων καὶ ἐλευθέρους ἐδείκνυεν, ἀγαπω- μένους καὶ στεργομένους αὐτῷ τῶν αλλων ἀνθρώπων διαφερόν- τως. καὶ ζωγράφοι μὲν τὰ καλὰ τῶν ζῴων εἰς μίμησιν εχουσιν, ουτος δὲ τὸν τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου βίον οιόν τι προχάραγμα καὶ πρω- τότυπον θεὶς ἀπομιμεῖσθαι εἰς ακρον ἐσπούδαζεν. διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐλαύνει τῆς ἀσεβείας, αρτι μὲν σάββατα νηστεύειν νομοθετῶν, αρτι δὲ κατὰ τῶν θείων προφητῶν τὴν γλῶσσαν ἐξα- 49 κονῶν, ἀνάστασίν τε τὴν μέλλουσαν καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖθεν ἀπιστῶν ἀγαθά. διάβολόν τε ολως μὴ ειναι διισχυρίζετο, ατε μηδ' ὑπὸ τοῦ Μωσέως τούτου παραδεδομένου. πορνείαν δὲ κατασπαζόμε- νος, καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων δεῖν ὀμνύναι μόνον θεὸν νομοθετῶν, καὶ τὸν ̓Ιούδαν ἀκολάστῳ γλώσσῃ κατατάττων τοῖς σωζομένοις, καὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάσχα κακῶς καὶ παρὰ καιρὸν χλευάζων τιμᾶσθαι, καὶ τὴν ̔Ελληνικὴν παίδευσιν διαπτύων, καὶ τῆς ἡμε- τέρας καὶ θείας τοσοῦτον καταφρονῶν ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς νέους παιδο- τριβεῖσθαί που συγχωρεῖν, ινα μήτε τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀλογίᾳ εχοι τις ἀντιστῆναί ποτε καὶ διελέγξαι, μήτε πάλιν τῷ τάχει τῶν ὀφθαλ- μῶν καὶ τῇ τῆς γλώττης ῥύμῃ φερόμενος διὰ τῆς παιδεύσεως τὰ δευτερεῖα τοῦτον φέρειν καταναγκάσειεν· τοσοῦτον γὰρ ηργει πρὸς τὴν μῖξιν τῶν γραμμάτων ἐκεῖνος καὶ τὴν τῶν συλλαβῶν ἀνάγνω- σιν, ὡς ῥᾷον αν τις διῆλθε βιβλίον η  αὐτὸς τῇ βραδύτητι τοῦ νοῦ τὰ τοῦ οἰκείου στοιχεῖα ὀνόματος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς καὶ τοῖς κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ κεκωμῳδημένα θείοις ἀνδράσιν ἐατέον· πλή- ρεις γὰρ βίβλοι τὰ ἐκείνου ἐκστηλιτεύουσαι· ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἑξῆς προσβῶμεν τῆς ἱστορίας, τὰ ἀποτελέσματα τῶν ἀθέων αὐ- τοῦ πράξεων ἐνορῶντες. 9 Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἀρχὴν λαβὼν ἐμφύλιος πόλεμος ἐξ ̓Ανατολῆς παντοίων ἐνέπλησε τὴν οἰκουμένην κακῶν καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγους τοὺς ἀνθρώπους