Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

Therefore, since it was impossible for Asan to rule the Bulgarians now that Terter had been strengthened, he makes a treaty with the latter (for the forces of Rhomais which were about to make war were failing), but Asan, according to the previous agreements of his father, he restores as Despot of Rhomais.

21. But he himself, having a persistent care for the concord and stability of the church, on account of which all these things were also being done (for the faction of the Arsenites, being very large and growing daily, did not allow for peace), setting out from Constantinople, he marched to the east, having instructed both the patriarch and the rest, both those who were with the patriarch and those of the opposite party, to meet there somewhere around Hypoplakian Thebes as quickly as possible with imperial triremes and provisions, as the whole affair was to be set in motion there. For the scandal concerning the things done yesterday was no small matter, and especially because the acts of Joseph or those around him had been transgressed, they themselves being zealous on this account and suspecting the acceptance of the Arsenites, they pitied those who had suffered and confessed that they were suffering unjustly. For these reasons the ruler gathered them all together there, so that, the assembly having become complete, what was to be done 59 might come from common deliberation. And indeed when they had assembled, and the emperor was providing them with the necessities as they would be wintering around Atramytion, the ruler, being completely idle from external duties, was deliberating almost entirely on how the Arsenites might assent to what had been done and make peace. Therefore, on the one hand, those around the patriarch were gathered, with whom were for the most part Eulogia and her daughters, both Theodora and Anna from the west, who was also empress, she too having just then been brought up to the emperor according to the report of what had happened, and the aforementioned great logothete Mouzalon, who had great influence with the emperor and who had been honored with the gold and scarlet covering of the magnates even beyond the rank of the office belonging to him, and on the other hand the monks around Hyakinthos, with whom were numbered also those who had suffered yesterday and been blinded, both Lazaros Gorianites and Makarios Peristeres; for Athanasios Lependrenos was one of the old and great zealots. And there were not a few with them, since the emperor allowed all to appear freely, both from the laity and even from the palace, with whom, being called together, the emperor spoke on 60 appointed days of each week, having on either side also those of the patriarch, and he tried throughout the whole forty-day period to reconcile and unite them both into one and the same fulfillment of communion. But he could not persuade them, at one time exhorting, at another refuting, and in every way running up against and trying to bring into subjection opinions that had been, as it were, dehumanized by time, and which were willing to submit only to certain signs from God; for to be thus persuaded by words and to make peace at once, having yielded such strictness, they supposed showed a self-pleasing mind about the principles of their former opposition.

(22) For which reason they looked to the ancient signs of God, by which He was glorified in the saints, and just as He is the same now as of old, so they thought that signs also would always occur for those alone who do not doubt, and they sought to entrust themselves to the wonders of God, since both parties would by all means follow those things in which God would show himself to be 61 well pleased. And so they themselves and the emperor (for those around the patriarch, as they showed, were displeased, so as not to cooperate openly) fulfilled the agreements. And the agreements were, that they on their part should compose and write down whatever seemed to them to be obstacles to making peace, and that the others in turn should compose another volume and declare as far as they were able, a defense to the accusations from the others, and at the same time, having lit a fire such as could melt even adamant, to place them in it, and if one should be preserved, then indeed both parties would honor the one preserved unharmed, as God would be showing His pleasure in this, but if the fire should destroy both, to come together again

τὸ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐπεὶ ἀδύνατον ἦν τὸν Ἀσὰν βασιλεύειν Βουλγάρων κραταιωθέντος ἤδη τοῦ Τερτερῆ, ἐκείνῳ μὲν σπέν δεται (τὰς γὰρ δυνάμεις τῆς Ῥωμαΐδος πολεμησειούσας ἐκλεί πειν), τὸν δ' Ἀσὰν κατὰ τὰς προτέρας συνθεσίας τοῦ πατρὸς δεσπότην Ῥωμαΐδος ἀποκαθίστησιν.

21. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἔμμονον μέριμναν ἔχων τῆς περὶ τὴν ἐκ κλησίαν ὁμονοίας καὶ καταστάσεως, δι' ἣν καὶ ταῦτα πάντ' 58 ἐπράττετο (ἡ γὰρ τῶν Ἀρσενιατῶν ἐπισύστασις πολλή τις οὖσα καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην πληθυομένη ἠρεμεῖν οὐκ εἴα), ἀπάρας τῆς Κωνσταντίνου ἐπ' ἀνατολῆς ἤλαυνεν, ἐπισκήψας καὶ πατριάρχῃ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς, ὅσοι τε περὶ τὸν πατριάρχην ἦσαν καὶ ὅσοι τῆς ἐναντίας μοίρας, ἐκεῖσε περί που τὰς Ὑποπλακίους Θήβας ἀπαν τᾶν τὴν ταχίστην ὑπὸ βασιλικαῖς τριήρεσί τε καὶ ἐφοδίοις, ὡς ἐκεῖ κινηθησομένων τῶν ὅλων. οὐκ ὀλίγον γὰρ καὶ περὶ τῶν χθὲς πραχθέντων ἀνέζη τὸ σκάνδαλον, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτι καὶ τῶν παρ' Ἰωσὴφ ἢ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀμφ' ἐκεῖνον πραχθέντων παραβε βασμένων αὐτοὶ ζηλοῦντες ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἀρσενιατῶν πα ραδοχὴν ὑποπτεύοντες τοῖς παθοῦσιν ἐπῳκτίζοντο καὶ ἄδικα πάσχειν διωμολόγουν. διὰ ταῦτα καὶ συνόλους ἐκεῖ ὁ κρατῶν συνῆγεν, ὡς ἂν ἐντελοῦς γεγονυίας τῆς συνελεύσεως τὸ ποιητέον 59 ἀπὸ κοινῆς τῆς σκέψεως γένηται. καὶ δὴ συνελθόντων, καὶ τῶν εἰκότων προνοοῦντος σφίσι τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς διαχειμεριοῦσι περὶ τὸ Ἀτραμύτιον, ἀργήσας πάμπαν τῶν ἔξωθεν δουλειῶν ὁ κρα τῶν σχεδὸν τὰ περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἂν οἱ Ἀρσενιᾶται τοῖς πραχθεῖσι συγκατανεύσειαν εἰρηνεύσαντες διεσκέπτετο. συνήγοντο τοίνυν ἔνθεν μὲν οἱ περὶ τὸν πατριάρχην, οἷς συνῆν τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ ἡ Εὐλογία καί γε αἱ θυγατέρες αὐτῆς, ἥ τε Θεοδώρα καὶ ἡ ἐκ δυ τικῶν Ἄννα ἡ καὶ βασίλισσα, ἄρτι τότε κἀκείνη κατὰ φήμην τῶν γεγονότων ἀναχθεῖσα πρὸς βασιλέα, καὶ ὁ ῥηθεὶς μέγας λογο θέτης ὁ Μουζάλων τὰ πολλὰ παρὰ βασιλεῖ δυνάμενος καί γε τι μηθεὶς καὶ τῇ τῶν μεγιστάνων χρυσοκοκκίνῳ καλύπτρᾳ καὶ παρὰ τὴν τοῦ προσόντος αὐτῷ ὀφφικίου τάξιν, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ὑάκινθον μοναχοί, οἷς συνηριθμοῦντο καὶ οἱ χθιζὰ παθόντες καὶ τυφλωθέντες, Λάζαρός τε ὁ Γοριανίτης καὶ ὁ Περιστέρης Μακάριος· ὁ γὰρ Λεπενδρηνὸς Ἀθανάσιος ἐκ τῶν παλαιῶν ζηλωτῶν ἦν καὶ μεγάλων. οὐκ ὀλίγοι δ' ἦσαν σὺν τούτοις, τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνδόντος ἀνέδην φαίνεσθαι πάντας, καὶ ἐκ τῶν λαϊκῶν καί γε τοῦ παλατίου, οἷς δὴ καὶ συγκαλουμένοις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν 60 ἡμέραις τεταγμέναις τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἑκάστης ὡμίλει, ἔχων παρ' ἑκάτερα καὶ τοὺς τοῦ πατριάρχου, καί γ' ἐπείρα δι' ὅλης τῆς τεσσαρακονθημέρου συμβιβάζειν καὶ συνενοῦν ἀμφοτέρους εἰς μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς κοινωνίας συμπλήρωσιν. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔπει θεν, ὁτὲ μὲν παρακαλῶν ὁτὲ δ' ἐλέγχων, καὶ πᾶσι τρόποις ὑπο τρέχων καὶ δουλαγωγῶν γνώμας ἀπανθρωπισθείσας οἷον τῷ χρό νῳ, καὶ ὑπό τισι θεόθεν σημείοις ἐθελούσας καὶ μόνοις καθυ ποκλίνεσθαι· τὸ γὰρ οὕτω πεισθῆναι λόγοις καὶ παρευθὺς εἰρη νεύειν, ὑφεικότας τόσης ἀκριβείας, δεικνύντων εἶναι γνώμης αὐτα ρεσκούσης καὶ τὰ τῆς πρὶν ἐνστάσεως ὑπελάμβανον.

(22) ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς τὰ πάλαι τοῦ θεοῦ σημεῖα, οἷς δὴ ἐνεθαυμαστοῦτο τοῖς ἁγίοις, ἀπέβλεπον, καὶ ὥσπερ εἶναι τὸν αὐτὸν νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι, οὕτως ἀεὶ καὶ τὰ σημεῖα μὴ διακρινομένων μόνον ᾤοντο γίγνεσθαι, καὶ τέρασι θεοῦ ἐζήτουν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιτρέπειν, ὡς ἐκεί νοις ἑψομένων πάντως καὶ ἀμφοτέρων οἷς δὴ καὶ θεὸς ἐμφανεῖ 61 ἀρεσκόμενος. καὶ δὴ αὐτοὶ μὲν καὶ βασιλεὺς (οἱ γὰρ ἀμφὶ τὸν πατριάρχην, ὡς ἐδείκνυον, ἀπηρέσκοντο, ὥστε μὴ φανερῶς συμ πράττειν) τὰς συνθεσίας ἐπλήρουν. αἱ δέ γε συνθεσίαι, αὐτοὺς ἀνὰ μέρος συνθεῖναί τε καὶ γράψαι οἱ ὅσα σφίσι προσιστάμενα τῷ εἰρηνεύειν ἐδόκουν, ἐκείνους δ' αὖθις ἕτερον τόμον συντάτ τειν καὶ δηλοῦν ἐφ' ὅσον εἶχον ἐγκαλούμενοι παρ' ἐκείνων ἀπο λογεῖσθαι, καὶ ἅμα πῦρ ἐναύσαντας, οἷόν τ' ὂν συντῆξαι καὶ τὸν ἀδάμαντα, ἐνιέναι, κἂν μὲν ὃς φυλαχθείη, καὶ μὴν καὶ ἀμ φοτέρους τῷ ἀβλαβεῖ διατηρηθέντι τιμὴν ὡς ἐπὶ τούτῳ δεικνύν τος τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἀρέσκειαν, εἰ δ' ἀμφοτέροις διαλυμανεῖται τὸ πῦρ, καὶ αὖθις συνιέναι