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The father John having left only ** with her mother Eudokia, who was with John Angelos, the aunt of the Strategopouloi.

52 In the following year he arrived around Nicaea, where around February, sitting on his bed for the greater part of the night and having fallen face down on his bed, he was speechless. The physicians made incisions in his feet and placed a cupping-glass on the incisions, but that night and the following day and night he lay motionless; for the disease was apoplexy. At any rate, with difficulty he began to breathe, his color changed. And he hurried to reach Nymphaion before Palm Sunday, on which he was accustomed to celebrate a triumph, and there he also passed the feast of the Resurrection, and from then on he frequented such places, being afflicted by the disease that had seized him at intervals of days. For sometimes he would fall speechless on his bed, and at other times while traveling a road on horseback he would be overcome by the disease, and those present would hold him and watch over him, and when he came to his senses he would slowly return to the palace, and sometimes he was even carried in a litter. But since the disease grew worse and the emperor’s body was failing—for it happened to him more frequently—and atrophy afflicted him, and he arrived in Smyrna, so that he might venerate the Christ there and through supplications make Him merciful. And having gone he found no relief. But while encamped in the places of Periklystra, which are near Smyrna, he felt the affliction worsen. And he reached Nymphaion, and in the imperial gardens near the town he pitched his tents. There he also paid his debt to fate, being sixty-two years old, of which he had reigned for thirty-three years well and goodly. For he was gentle and always inclined toward the more humane, generous with gifts to all, but more so to those from afar. But he was overcome by the love of women, from the time his wife Eirene passed from among men, and especially of the marchioness from Italy, so much so that he was bound to give her scarlet-dyed shoes and saddle-cloths and bridles, and that more people followed her than the actual empress, and he did many other things, being a slave to her desires. But he was steadfast in battles, and he did not rejoice in hand-to-hand combat, fearing the fickle nature of Ares, but using endurance, and passing the spring among the enemy and the summer season, and furthermore the autumn, and sometimes even wintering there, he would win the victory. He was most pious and a friend of the poor, a lover of justice and a lover of Christ, leaving the empire to his son Theodore, being 33 years old; for his age was as great as that of his father's reign; for his birth nearly coincided with his father's proclamation.

53 He, having paid the customary holy rites to his father and having been acclaimed on the shield, set out from Nymphaion and arrived at Philadelphia. And having remained there a short while he proceeded toward the land of the Bithynians. And since the church was vacant—for the patriarch Manuel had died before the emperor—having summoned a certain monk Arsenios from the lake of Apollonias, he ordained him patriarch, who was made deacon, priest, and patriarch in a single day. And having been crowned by him, he went forth.

54 For the ruler of the Bulgars Michael, this man's brother-in-law, having learned of the death of the emperor John, since he saw the western parts bare of troops, wishing to reclaim the towns that had been taken from them, crossing the Hebrus he brought many under his control. Thus Stenimachos, Peristitza, Kritzimos, Tzepaina were seized, and all the places in the region of Achrida except Mniak; for this alone was guarded by the Romans. And Oustra and Perperakion and Krybous and the place lying near Adrianople and called Ephraim were subdued by the Bulgars. For this reason he hurried.

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μόνην ὁ πατὴρ Ἰωάννης καταλιπὼν ** σὺν τῇ αὐτῆς μητρὶ Εὐδοκίᾳ τῇ τοῦ Ἀγγέλου Ἰωάννου συνοῦσαν, τῇ θείᾳ τῶν Στρατηγοπούλων.

52 Εἰς τὸ ἐπιὸν περὶ τὴν Νίκαιαν ἀφίκετο, ἔνθα περὶ τὸν Φεβρουάριον ἐπὶ κλίνης τὸ πλέον τῆς νυκτὸς καθήμε νος καὶ πρηνὴς ἐπὶ κλίνης πεσὼν ἦν ἄναυδος. οἱ δ' ἰατροὶ ἀμυχὰς τοῖς ποσὶν ἐποίουν καὶ ἐφόλβιον ταῖς ἀμυχαῖς ἐνέ βαλλον, ἀλλὰ ταύτην τὴν νύκτα καὶ τὸ ἐπιὸν ἡμερονύκτιον ἀκίνητος ἔκειτο· ἀποπληξία γὰρ ἦν ἡ νόσος. μόγις γοῦν ἀνέπνευσεν, ἠλλοιωμένος τὸ χρῶμα. καὶ ἔσπευσε καταλα βεῖν τὸ Νύμφαιον πρὸ τῆς βαϊοφόρου κυριακῆς, καθ' ἣν εἴωθε θριαμβεύειν, καὶ ἐκεῖ καὶ τὴν ἀναστάσιμον διῆλθε, καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐπεχωρίαζε μέρεσι, τῇ κατασχούσῃ τοῦτον νόσῳ κατὰ διάστημα ἡμερῶν πιεζόμενος. ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ κλίνης ἔπιπτεν ἄφωνος, ποτὲ δ' ἔφιππος ὁδὸν βαδίζων ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου ἐγίνετο κάτοχος, καὶ οἱ συμ παρόντες κατεῖχον καὶ παρεφύλαττον, καὶ ἐπὰν εἰς λογισμὸν ἧκε σχολῇ πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια ὑπανέστρεφεν, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ φοράδην ἤγετο. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ νόσος ἐπηύξανε καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως κατέπιπτε-συνεχέστερον γὰρ ἐγίνετο τούτῳ -καὶ ἡ ἀτροφία τοῦτον ἐπίεζε, καὶ ἀφίκετο εἰς Σμύρνην, ὡς τῷ ἐκεῖσε προσκυνήσῃ Χριστῷ καὶ διὰ παρακλήσεων ἵλεων αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσοιτο. καὶ ἀπελθὼν ἀνακωχὴν οὐχ εὗρεν. ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς Περικλύστροις τόποις σκηνούμενος, ἅ εἰσιν ἐγγὺς Σμύρνης, χείρονος τοῦ πάθους ἐπῄσθετο. καὶ καταλαμβάνει τὸ Νύμφαιον, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐγγὺς τῆς χώρας βασιλείοις κήποις τὰς σκηνὰς ἐπήξατο. ἔνθα καὶ τῷ χρεὼν ἐλειτούργησεν, ἑξήκοντα δύο ἐτῶν ὤν, ἐξ ὧν τριάκοντα τρεῖς βεβασίλευκε καλῶς καὶ ἀγαθῶς. πρᾶος γὰρ ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὸ φιλανθρωπότερον ἀεὶ ἀπονεύων, πρὸς πάντας φιλόδωρος, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸς τοὺς μήκοθεν. ἐρώτων δὲ θήλεων ἡττᾶτο, ἐξ ὅτου ἡ σύζυγος αὐτοῦ Εἰρήνη ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐγένετο, μάλιστα δὲ τῆς ἐξ Ἰταλίας μαρκεσίνης, ὡς καὶ πέδιλα ὑπο δεδέσθαι ταύτῃ δοῦναι κοκκοβαφῆ καὶ ἐφεστρίδας καὶ χα λινά, ἕπεσθαί τε αὐτῇ πλείους ἢ τῇ κυρίως δεσποίνῃ, ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἐποίει ταῖς ἐκείνης δουλεύων ὀρέξεσι. καρτερικὸς δὲ ἦν ἐν ταῖς μάχαις, καὶ τοῖς μὲν κατὰ συστάδην πολέ μοις οὐκ ἔχαιρε, τὸ ἀλλοπρόσαλλον τοῦ Ἄρεως δειλιῶν, τῇ καρτερίᾳ δὲ χρώμενος, καὶ ἐνεαρίζων εἰς τὴν ἐναντίων καὶ τὴν θέρους ὥραν διαβιβάζων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν φθίνουσαν, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ παραχειμάζων τὴν νικῶσαν ἐλάμβανεν. ἦν δὲ εὐσεβέστατος καὶ φιλόπτωχος, φιλοδίκαιός τε καὶ φιλόχριστος, τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ υἱῷ Θεοδώρῳ καταλιπὼν ἐτῶν ὄντι λγʹ· τοσοῦτος γὰρ ἦν ὁ χρόνος αὐτῷ, ὅσος ὁ τῆς πατρικῆς βασι λείας ἐτύγχανε· σχεδὸν γὰρ τῇ πατρικῇ ἀναρρήσει καὶ ἡ γέννησις ἐκείνου συνέδραμεν.

53 Ὃς τὴν νενομισμένην ὁσίαν ἀποδοὺς τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὑπ' ἀσπίδος φημισθεὶς τοῦ Νυμφαίου ἀπάρας πρὸς τὴν Φιλαδέλφου ἀφίκετο. καὶ ἐκεῖσε διακαρτερήσας μικρὸν καὶ περὶ τὴν Βιθυνῶν χωρεῖ. καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐχήρευεν ἡ ἐκκλησία- προτέθνηκε γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως ὁ πατριάρχης Μανουήλ- Ἀρσένιόν τινα μοναχὸν ἐξ Ἀπολλωνιάδος λίμνης μεταπεμψάμενος χειροτονεῖ πατριάρχην, ὃς καὶ μονημέρως διάκονος καὶ ἱερεὺς καὶ πατριάρχης τετέλεστο. καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ στεφθεὶς ἔξεισιν.

54 Ὁ γὰρ βουλγαράρχης Μιχαήλ, ὁ τούτου γυναικάδελ φος, τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰωάννου πυθόμενος θάνατον, ἐπεὶ τὰ δυτικὰ μέρη γυμνὰ στρατευμάτων ἑώρα, βουληθεὶς τὰ ἀφῃ ρημένα ἐκ τούτων ἄστη ἀνακαλέσασθαι, τὸν Ἕβρον διαπε ράσας πολλὰ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιήσατο. κατεσχέθη μὲν οὖν ὁ Στενίμαχος Περιστίτζα Κριτζιμὸς Τζέπαινα καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ Ἀχριδῷ ξύμπαντα πλὴν Μνιάκου· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ μόνον ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων πεφύλακτο. Οὔστρα δὲ καὶ Περπεράκιον καὶ Κρυ βοῦς καὶ τὸ παρακείμενον τῇ τοῦ Ἀδριανοῦ καὶ κεκλημένον Ἐφραὶμ τοῖς Βουλγάροις κεχείρωτο. τούτου χάριν ἔσπευδε.