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For everywhere it makes mention of years, saying: and Adam lived 930 years and died, and likewise in succession for all the generations, unless one were persuaded of this, which I do not think, as he says, that those from him, that is, from Adam, numbered their times by weeks, until the 165th year of Enoch, which was the cosmic year 1286—for in this year, by the commission of the God over all, the archangel over the stars, Uriel, revealed to Enoch what a month and a solstice and a year is, as is recorded in his book of Enoch, and that the year has 52 weeks, and that in the 1286 years there are 46 myriads and 9,307 days, and 6 myriads and 7,056 weeks, in which neither month nor solstices nor years nor their measures were known to men—a more absurd conclusion will be drawn for those who wrote the Chaldean accounts, who were then kings, as it seems to them and to their most pious monk and writer Annianus and to Panodorus, a monk and contemporary historian of his. For if nine hundred and fifty-six years before the flood the annual time was made known to Enoch and to those with him, and its fourfold division by solstices and its twelvefold division by months, then the people before the flood also knew for about a thousand years, that is, 956, to measure the years of their kings by solar years and months. And concerning the 700 years reckoned among them, that we should count them as days, in order, as they say, to agree with the divine scripture and with the truth, from which they have fallen away in every way, and one must pay attention neither to their testimonies about the flood for the confirmation of our own, nor to any other demonic history of theirs. For nearly from this writing, as from some muddy spring, and from others like it, all the mythical Greek and Manichaean heresy has gushed forth, and not a few of the heresies among us have taken their starting points from such deceitful writings. For this reason we were led, for the sake of the security of those who consider such fables as authoritative, to set forth the aforementioned testimonies of Alexander and of the two aforesaid monks, Annianus and Panodorus, contemporaries who flourished under Theophilus, the twenty-second archbishop of Alexandria, and who composed many useful historical chapters, even if in this part, while seeming to achieve something, they brought no profit to the truth, having accepted the opinions of the aforementioned Alexander concerning the kingdom of the Chaldeans, that they reigned in Babylon before the flood, and who allegorized the myriads of years, and in addition to these also those of Abydenus and Apollodorus concerning the same things, and further those of Manetho who narrates similar myths about the dynasty of the Egyptians before the flood, whose accounts, I mean of Abydenus and Apollodorus and Manetho, I think should be added to this proposal, so that both their disagreement with each other might be gathered, and the evil might be overthrown by itself, and so to mark out the details in the years after the flood as much as possible. However, of the aforementioned most God-loving monk-historians, it must be known that the edition of Annianus is more concise and more accurate, following the apostolic and patristic tradition, in which he demonstrates the divine incarnation in the year 5500 being completed and the year 5501 beginning, and the holy and all-luminous day of the resurrection on the 25th of the month of March among the Romans, and the 29th of Phamenoth among the Egyptians, which he also clarified as the first-created day in the paschal cycle of 532 years composed by him, with certain scholarly observations, beginning in the year 5534 of the world on that very life-giving day of the first Sunday Pascha, of which paschal cycle the lover of learning will find a most truth-loving edition in this work in the appropriate place along with its equivalent composed by us; but that of Panodorus is multipartite and multiform, having many useful things, pertaining not only to chronological theory, but also to

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πανταχοῦ γὰρ ἐτῶν μέμνηται λέγουσα· καὶ ἔζη σεν Ἀδὰμ ἔτη Ϡλʹ καὶ ἀπέθανε, καὶ ἐφεξῆς ἐπὶ τῶν ὅλων γενεῶν ὁμοίως, πλὴν εἰ καὶ τοῦτο πεισθείη τις, ὅπερ οὐκ οἶμαι, καθώς φησιν, ὅτι οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἤγουν τοῦ Ἀδάμ, δι' ἑβδομάδων τοὺς χρόνους ἠρίθμουν, ἕως τοῦ ρξεʹ ἔτους Ἐνώχ, ὅπερ ἦν κοσμικὸν ασπ ςʹ-ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ κατ' ἐπιτρο πὴν τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄστρων ἀρχάγγελος Οὐριὴλ ἐμήνυσε τῷ Ἐνὼχ τί ἐστὶ μὴν καὶ τροπὴ καὶ ἐνιαυτός, ὡς ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ αὐτοῦ Ἐνὼχ φέρεται, καὶ τὸ ἔχειν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν νβʹ ἑβδομάδας, καὶ ὅτι τῶν ασπ ςʹ ἐτῶν γίνονται ἡμερῶν μὲν μυριάδες μ ςʹ καὶ θτ ζʹ, ἑβδομάδων δὲ μυριάδες ςʹ καὶ ζν ςʹ, ἐν αἷς οὔτε μὴν οὔτε τροπαὶ οὔτε ἐνιαυτοὶ οὔτε τὰ τούτων μέτρα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγνώσθησαν-ἀτοπώτερον συναχθήσεται συμ πέρασμα τοῖς τὰ Χαλδαϊκὰ συγγραψαμένοις τότε βασιλεύουσιν, ὡς ἐκεί νοις δοκεῖ καὶ τῷ αὐτῶν εὐλαβεστάτῳ μοναχῷ συγγραφεῖ Ἀννιανῷ καὶ Πανοδώρῳ μονάζοντι συγχρόνῳ αὐτοῦ ἱστορικῷ. εἰ γὰρ ἐννακοσίοις πεν τήκοντα ἓξ ἔτεσι πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἐγνωρίσθη τῷ Ἐνὼχ καὶ τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐνιαύσιος χρόνος καὶ ὁ τετραμερὴς αὐτοῦ τροπικῶς καὶ ὁ δωδεκαμερὴς μηνιαῖος, ἄρα ἐγίνωσκον καὶ οἱ πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἄν θρωποι χιλίοις που ἔτεσιν, ἤγουν Ϡν ςʹ, τοῖς ἡλιακοῖς ἔτεσι καὶ μησὶ καταμετρεῖν τὰ τῶν βασιλέων αὐτῶν ἔτη. καὶ περὶ τῶν ψʹ τὰ παρ' ἐκείνοις ἔτη ψηφιζόμενα λογίζεσθαι ἡμᾶς ἡμέρας, διὰ τὸ συμφωνῆσαι, ὥς φασι, τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἧς ἐκπεπτώκασι κατὰ πάντα τρόπον, καὶ οὔτε ταῖς περὶ κατακλυσμοῦ μαρτυρίαις αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἡμετέρων πίστωσιν προσέχειν χρὴ οὔτε ἄλλῃ τινὶ δαιμονιώδει αὐτῶν ἱστορίᾳ. σχεδὸν 35 γὰρ ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς συγγραφῆς καθάπερ ἔκ τινος πηγῆς βορβορώδους καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων αὐτῇ πᾶσα μυθώδης Ἑλληνικὴ καὶ Μανιχαϊκὴ κακο δοξία ἀνέβλυσε, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς δὲ αἱρέσεων οὐκ ὀλίγαι τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐκ τοιούτων ἀπατηλῶν γραφῶν ἐσχήκασι τὰς ἀφορμάς. οὗ χάριν προήχθη μεν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα μυθάρια ὡς καίρια λογιζομένων τὰς προγραφείσας μαρτυρίας Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τῶν προειρημένων δύο μοναζόν των Ἀννιανοῦ τε καὶ Πανοδώρου τῶν ὁμοχρόνων ἐπὶ Θεοφίλου τοῦ εἰκο στοῦ δευτέρου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας ἀκμασάντων καὶ πολλὰ χρή σιμα κεφάλαια ἱστορικὰ πεπονηκότων παραθέσθαι, εἰ καὶ ἐν τῷδε τῷ μέρει δοκοῦντές τι κατορθοῦν οὐδὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ κέρδος προσήγαγον, δε ξάμενοι τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ προρρηθέντος περὶ τῆς τῶν Χαλδαίων βασι λείας δόξας, ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἐβασίλευσαν, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἐτῶν μυριαδισμὸν ἀλληγορησάντων, πρὸς τούτοις δὲ καὶ Ἀβυδηνοῦ καὶ Ἀπολλοδώρου περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔτι Μανεθῶ περὶ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων δυναστείας πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ παρόμοια μυθολογούντων, ὧν τὰς χρή σεις, Ἀβυδηνοῦ φημὶ καὶ Ἀπολλοδώρου καὶ Μανεθῶ, προστεθῆναι ταύτης ἡγοῦμαι τῆς προθέσεως, ὡς ἂν καὶ ἐξ ἀλλήλων αὐτοῖς τὸ ἀσύμφωνον συναχθῇ καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἀνατραπῇ, καὶ οὕτω τοῖς μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν ἔτεσι τὰ κατὰ μέρος ὅση δύναμις ἐπισημήνασθαι. Τῶν μέντοι προαναφερομένων θεοφιλεστάτων ἱστορικῶν μοναχῶν ἰστέον εἶναι τὴν ἔκδοσιν Ἀννιανοῦ μὲν ἐπιτομωτέραν καὶ ἀκριβεστέραν τῇ ἀπο στολικῇ τε καὶ πατρικῇ παραδόσει ἀκόλουθον, ἐν ᾗ τὴν θείαν σάρκωσιν τῷ εφʹ πληρουμένῳ καὶ ἀρξαμένῳ τῷ εφαʹ ἀποδείκνυσι, τὴν δὲ ἁγίαν καὶ ὁλόφωτον ἡμέραν τῆς ἀναστάσεως κεʹ τοῦ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις Μαρτίου μη νός, τοῦ δὲ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις Φαμενὼθ κθʹ, ἣν καὶ πρωτόκτιστον ἡμέραν ἐν τῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ συστάντι πασχουαλίῳ τῶν φλβʹ ἐτῶν μετά τινων σχο λαστικῶν ἐπιστασιῶν διεσάφησε, τῷ εφλδʹ ἔτει τοῦ κόσμου ἀρξαμένῳ κατὰ αὐτὴν τὴν ζωοποιὸν τοῦ πρώτου κυριακοῦ πάσχα ἡμέραν, οὗτινος πασχουαλίου φιλαληθεστάτην ἔκδοσιν εὑρήσει ὁ φιλομαθὴς ἐν τῷδε τῷ πονήματι κατὰ τὸν δέοντα τόπον μετὰ καὶ τοῦ παρ' ἡμῶν πονηθέντος ἰσο δυνάμου αὐτοῦ· τοῦ δὲ Πανοδώρου πολυμερῆ τε καὶ πολυειδῆ, πολλά τε χρήσιμα ἔχουσαν, οὐ μόνον χρονικῆς ἐχόμενα θεωρίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς