Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

each week the people would run together to the Hodegon monastery according to custom, and it, being opened to those who approached, was convenient. But at a later time, the protovestiarissa Raoulaina raises up a sacred house in the monastery of St. Andrew in Krisei, adorned in 86 beauty and size. And since she held no ordinary devotion for the patriarch, both when he was living and after he had died, she asks the emperor and earnestly begs that the body be given to her monastery, so that it might be deposited in the church erected by her. Which indeed also happened, with another festival being arranged then, as was fitting, during which the emperor and the senate and almost all of the clergy, with no lack of the common people, walking on foot from there, paid honor to the patriarch, with the emperor contributing not a few of the provisions for the efforts.

32. At that time also, terrible things were happening in Syria. For the sultan of Babylon, having taken Antioch years before and razed it to the ground, left for those after him to have an undeclared war with the Italians who had long inhabited the coast. Whence also in those times, having levied an army, Arabs or rather Ethiopians first take Tripoli and slaughter those in it to a man, and they overturn the city itself from its foundations; then they do the same things to the populous Ptolemais, and having enslaved the whole coast, they made the wonders of Syria disappear. And it seemed that our portents were revealed and fulfilled in those events; for those tears 87 and bloods were referred to things far from us, as our terrors were sent away to others who were not able to share with us in our own misfortunes, not even in experience, but not even in mere sight. But it was, it seems, a consolation and a suspension of evils, as it was known by those who suffered that wherever the sign of terrible things is, there it happens that the result also comes to be.

33. The emperor, however, having two sons by Anna of Hungary, Michael and Constantine, raised the one royally and attended to him as the successor to the empire, but he reared Constantine to be a despot. However, his grandfather Michael also began the process of Michael's establishment in the empire, and caused him to be proclaimed as emperor, as no small consolation to his father who was grieving over the death of the empress. For which reason, being altogether unable to secure for himself a marriage-alliance from the greatest kings for a second marriage, as any offspring from them would certainly be under his authority, he marries Irene, from the family of marquesses and a descendant of the king of Spain, a good man marrying a good woman no less in lineage than 88 in character. Gregory was the one who performed the coronation, and the Augusta and his mother received the crowns.

34. Since Nicholas from the Amageireutoi, renamed Neophytos from among the monks, had been proclaimed president at Prousa (for this too was set down as a rule among them, even if it did not have the unalterable quality of others, namely to stand today before God and the angels and to demand the vows of the monastic order, and then tomorrow to ordain as high priest the one assigned to subjection; which very thing also seemed reprehensible to many), it seemed good to the priest, upon reaching his appointed see, to do something new contrary to what had been done, on account of the previous day's commemoration of the pope, and so by a common order he commanded them to abstain from meat for some days as a penalty for the defilement. This therefore seemed burdensome to the people of Prousa, and reproaching the one responsible for yesterday's events, they cursed him and heaped insults upon him. He was the one on whose account, as they said, they were about to be penalized with fasts and hardships. When this was heard by Bekkos (for it was spreading widely, and everyone was openly reviling him, and his associates who were living outside the city were being reproached to their faces) it seemed not tolerable, nor even bearable to endure. Whence he also takes up a greater anger, and standing in the middle of the largest 89 court of the monastery, so as to be heard by all, he seemed on the one hand to be exceedingly contemptuous of the bishop of Prousa as ignorant of ecclesiastical matters, and on the other hand toward the patriarch Gregory exceedingly

ἑκάστης ἑβδομάδος πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ὁδηγῶν κατ' ἔθος λαοῦ συντρέχοντος, κἀκεῖνο ὑπανοιγόμενον τοῖς προσιοῦσιν ἄνε τον ἦν. ἐν ὑστέρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ ἡ Ῥαούλαινα πρωτοβεστιάρισσα ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀνδρέου μονῇ τοῦ τῆς κρίσεως ἱερὸν οἶκον εἰς 86 κάλλος ἐξησκημένον καὶ μέγεθος ἀνιστᾷ. καὶ ἐπεὶ σπουδὴν εἶ χεν ἐκείνη πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν καὶ ζῶντα καὶ τελευτήσαντα, ἀξιοῖ βασιλέα καὶ λιπαρῶς δέεται δοθῆναι τὸ σῶμα τῇ κατ' αὐτὴν μονῇ, ἐφ' ᾧπερ ἀποτεθῆναι τῷ παρ' αὐ τῆς ἀνεγερθέντι ναῷ. ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν, ἑτέρας τότε συστάσης κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς πανηγύρεως, καθ' ἣν βασιλεὺς καὶ σύγκλητος καὶ τῶν ἱερωμένων σχεδὸν οἱ πάντες, οὐδὲ τῆς λαώδους λειπούσης μοίρας, ἐκεῖθεν πεζοποροῦντες τὴν τιμὴν ἐτέλουν τῷ πατριάρχῃ, οὐκ ὀλίγα τοῦ βασιλέως καταβαλόντος καὶ τὰ τῶν πόνων ἐφόδια.

32. Τότε καὶ τὰ κατὰ Συρίαν ἐπράττετο πάνδεινα. ὁ γὰρ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος σουλτὰν πρὸ χρόνων λαβὼν Ἀντιόχειαν καὶ εἰς ἔδαφος κατερείψας, ἀφῆκε τοῖς μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἀκήρυκτον ἔχειν μάχην μετὰ τῶν Ἰταλῶν τῶν τὴν παραλίαν οἰκούντων ἐκ πα λαιοῦ. ὅθεν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τότε καιρῶν στρατολογησάμενοι Ἄρα βες ἢ μὴν Αἰθίοπες πρῶτον μὲν αἱροῦσι τὴν Τρίπολιν καὶ ἡβη δὸν τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ κατασφάττουσι, καὶ αὐτὴν δὴ τὴν πόλιν ἀνα τρέπουσιν ἐκ θεμέθλων, ἔπειτα καὶ τὴν πολυπληθῆ Πτολεμαΐδα τὰ ὅμοια δρῶσι, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν παραλίαν ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι τὰ θαύματα τῆς Συρίας ἠφάνισαν. καὶ ἔδοξε τὰ ἡμέτερα τέ ρατα ἐπ' ἐκείνοις φανέντα τε καὶ τελειωθέντα· δάκρυα γὰρ ἐκεῖ 87 να καὶ αἵματα πρὸς τὰ μακρὰν ἡμῶν ἀνεφέροντο, ἀποπεμπομέ νων τὰ φοβερὰ ἡμῶν ἑτέροις τοῖς μὴ ὅτι γ' εἰς πεῖραν ἀλλ' οὐδ' εἰς θέαν δυναμένοις μόνην τῶν ἰδίων κακῶν ἡμῖν κοινωνῆσαι. τὸ δ' ἦν ἄρα παραψυχὴ καὶ κακῶν ἀνάρτησις, γνωσθέντος πα θοῦσιν ὡς ὅπου τὸ τῶν δεινῶν σημεῖον, ἐκεῖ ξυμβαίνει καὶ τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα γίγνεσθαι.

33. Ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεὺς υἱοὺς ἔχων ἐξ Ἄννης τῆς ἐξ Οὔγγρων δύο, Μιχαήλ τε καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον, τὸν μὲν βασιλι κῶς ἀνῆγε καὶ ὡς τῆς βασιλείας διάδοχον ἐθεράπευε, τὸν δὲ Κωνσταντῖνον εἰς δεσπότην ἔτρεφε. τῷ μέντοι γε Μιχαὴλ καὶ ὁ πάππος αὐτοῦ Μιχαὴλ τῆς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν καταστάσεως ἦρχε, καὶ ὡς βασιλέα παρεῖχε κηρύττεσθαι ὡς οὐ μικρὰν παραψυχὴν τῷ πατρὶ διὰ τὸν τῆς δεσποίνης ἀλύοντι θάνατον. παρ' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ τὸ ἐκ ῥηγῶν τῶν μεγίστων κῆδος κατὰ δεύτερον συνοι κέσιον μὴ ἔχων ὅλως περιποιεῖν ἑαυτῷ, ὡς ὑπ' ἀρχὴν πάντως ἐσομένου τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν, τὴν ἐκ μαρκεσίων Εἰρήνην καί γ' ἐκγό νην τοῦ ῥηγὸς Ἱσπανίας, ἀγαθὸς ἀγαθὴν οὐχ ἧττον τὸ γένος ἢ 88 τοὺς τρόπους, ἄγεται. Γρηγόριος δ' ἦν ὁ ταινιωτής, καὶ τὰ στέφη ἡ Αὐγοῦστα καὶ μήτηρ ἐδέχετο.

34. Ἐπεὶ δ' ἐπὶ τῇ Προύσῃ ἐπικεκήρυκτο πρόεδρος ὁ ἐξ ἀμαγειρεύτων Νικόλαος, μετονομασθεὶς ἐκ μοναχῶν εἰς Νεόφυ τον (καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ κανὼν ἐτίθετο παρ' ἐκείνοις, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἔχων κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους τὸ ἀπαραίτητον, τὸ σήμερον μὲν ἱστᾶν ἐνώ πιον θεοῦ καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ τὰς συνθήκας ἀπαιτεῖν τῆς μοναχι κῆς τάξεως, εἶτα τὸν εἰς ὑποταγὴν ταχθέντα τὴν αὔριον εἰς ἀρ χιερέα χειροτονεῖν· ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ ἐδόκει πολλοῖς ἐπιλήψιμον), καταλαβόντι τὴν λαχοῦσαν τῷ ἱερεῖ ἔδοξε καινόν τι ποιεῖν παρὰ τὰ πραχθέντα διὰ τὸ χθεσινὸν τοῦ πάπα μνημόσυνον, καὶ δὴ κοινῇ προστάσσει ἐφ' ἡμέραις τισὶν ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν κρεῶν ὡς πρόσ τιμον τοῦ ῥυπάσματος. τὸ δ' οὖν βαρὺ Προυσαίοις δόξαν, τῷ αἰτίῳ τῶν χθὲς συμβάντων ἐνίπτοντες κατηρῶντο καὶ μάλα οἱ ἐνεφόρουν ὕβρεις. ὁ δ' ἦν δι' ὅν, ὡς ἔλεγον, ἔμελλον νη στείαις προστιμᾶσθαι καὶ κακουχίαις. τοῦτ' ἀκουσθὲν Βέκκῳ (πολὺ γὰρ ὑφεῖρπε, καὶ πάντες ἀναφανδὸν ἐλοιδόρουν, καὶ οἱ ἐκείνου ἔξω διάγοντες κατὰ πρόσωπον ὠνειδίζοντο) οὐκ ἀνεκτὸν ἐδόκει, οὐδ' ὥστε καὶ ἐνεγκεῖν φορητόν. ὅθεν καὶ θυμὸν ἀνα λαμβάνει μείζω, καὶ ἐπὶ μέσης σταθεὶς τῆς τῆς μονῆς μεγίστης 89 αὐλῆς, ὡς παρὰ πάντων ἀκούοιτο, τῷ μὲν τῆς Προύσης καὶ λίαν καταφρονητικῶς ἔχειν ὡς ἀμαθεῖ τὰ ἐκκλησιαστικὰ αὐτόθεν ἐῴκει, τῷ δὲ πατριαρχοῦντι Γρηγορίῳ καὶ λίαν