Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

to accuse you, shall we destroy the whole thing?" and of those who said, "And where and in what respects has it been transgressed by us?" those men immediately brought out a document and displayed it. And those who read it in turn denied and anathematized the statement, and almost even the one who wrote it. But Moschampar, seeing it, confessed 99 that the writing was his and tried to defend himself. At which Bekkos, with as much wit as one might say, said to the patriarch: "We were expecting it to be yours; but if it is not yours but this man's, as he himself has confessed, it is some flea sitting on the pole of a wagon that has the power neither to pull up nor pull down the wheel-rim." And he said this while the chartophylax was being named. "But if we should grant it," he said, "what sort of penances will you impose on the one who has taught false doctrine?" So when the discussion had dragged on for a long time, Bekkos again interjected, "Or do you wish, since I too am a lover of peace, that I should bring forward an opinion, using words simply and without excessive curiosity? We, for our part, finding the sayings of the saints in times of inquiry, have accepted them as being secure and orthodox. And we both did accept and do accept the one confessing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father; for it is the word of the Savior and of the council, and we thus confess it daily. But we also accept him who says that it proceeds from the Father through the Son, as one who follows the entire Seventh Council, but we indict for audacity 100 the one who does not honor the sayings of the saints. Behold, then, today patriarchs are present, and prelates are present, and all the clergy and devout monks and the most distinguished of the laity. I wish both to have communion with you who are orthodox, and should we have somehow jointly strayed from what is right, I choose condemnation with you before God who judges, rather than our own security alone. That you should seek and compel me and those with me to reject a dogma of the fathers, one so ancient and spoken of by many, while you yourselves care nothing for these things, does not seem to me to have reason. For I too have a reverence, lest I somehow slip from what is right. But behold, putting aside my own knowledge, I become wholly yours, and I treat you as if you were my teachers. You lead the way, and I will follow you in your actions. Let a tome be set forth, and let the dogma be renounced, and let 'through the Son' be rejected, if you wish. And if I myself do not follow, although I know it is a saying of the fathers and that a great danger of oversight hangs over it, I myself will bear the blame, whether for obstinacy or for heresy; for I wish to be both justified and condemned with all of you. But if you are cautious about this action, but burden us with its rejection, it is entirely reasonable, not to say necessary, that as you are being cautious 101 and hesitating, we too should be afraid, lest if we alone slip, the consequences of the danger will fall on us." "But we have not written it," said those around the patriarch, defending themselves. "It has been written and set in motion by you. It is for you to reject these things." "And what is the obstacle?" said those around Bekkos. "Be of good courage," they said, "since by making amends you will also gain brothers." But they did not persuade them by speaking. But when the patriarch grew even harsher against him, so as to revile him with insolence, the exasperated Bekkos cleverly rebuked him, and turning to the emperor said in a loud voice and with an oath that unless he himself departed from the patriarchate, the storm of the church would never be calmed. And when he had spoken thus, the emperor, seized with anger, stood up and said, "What then," suffering terribly for the church; "Are the former things not enough, but you will disturb the church again? And you will surround it with two wars, on the one side by the assaults of those who are in schism, and on the other by the, so to speak, opportune attacks from you yourselves, so that the one and indivisible church, being in a state of sedition against itself, is in danger of being consumed by its own members devouring one another, 102 for which Christ himself shed his own blood." Having said these things and more, he was clearly distressed that the discussion had not concluded in anything good or advantageous, which indeed he had expected.

ὑμῖν ἐγκαλεῖν, τὸ πᾶν ἀφανίσομεν;" καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων "καὶ ποῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τίσιν ἡμῖν παραβέβασται;" ἐκείνους ἐκβαλεῖν εὐθὺς χάρτην καὶ ἐμφανίζειν. καὶ τοὺς αὖθις ἀναγνόντας ἀρνεῖσθαι καὶ ἀναθεματίζειν τὸν λόγον, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν γράψαντα. ἀλλὰ τὸν Μοσχάμπαρα ἰδόντα ὁμο 99 λογεῖν ἑαυτοῦ τὸ σύγγραμμα εἶναι καὶ ἀπολογεῖσθαι πειρᾶσθαι. ἐφ' οἷς ὁ Βέκκος, μεθ' ὅσου εἴποι τις ἂν τοῦ χαριεντισμοῦ, "ἡμεῖς μὲν προσεδοκῶμεν σὸν εἶναι" πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην φησίν· "εἰ δὲ μὴ σὸν ἀλλὰ τούτου, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ὡμολόγησε, ψύλλα τις ἐπικαθίσασα τῷ τῆς ἁμάξης ῥυμῷ οὔτ' ἀνασπᾶν οὔτε κατασπᾶν ἔχει τὴν πείρινθα." τοῦτο δ' εἶπε διωνυμουμένου τοῦ χαρτο φύλακος. "πλὴν εἰ δοίημεν ἄν" φησιν, "ὁποῖα τὰ ἐπιτίμια ἐπάξεις τῷ παραδογματίσαντι;" ἐπὶ πολὺ γοῦν τριβομένων τῶν λόγων, τὸν Βέκκον αὖθις ἐπενεγκεῖν "ἢ βούλεσθε, κἀγὼ τῆς εἰρήνης ὢν ἐραστὴς γνώμην οἴσω, ἁπλῶς καὶ ἀπεριέργως τοῖς λό γοις χρώμενος; ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ῥητὰ ἐπὶ καιρῶν εὑρόντες ζητούντων, ὡς ἀσφαλῶς ἔχοντα καὶ ὀρθόδοξα προσηκά μεθα. καὶ τὸν μὲν ὁμολογοῦντα ἐκ πατρὸς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκπορεύεσθαι καὶ ἀπεδεχόμεθα καὶ ἀποδεχόμεθα· λόγος γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ τῆς συνόδου, καὶ ἡμεῖς καθ' ἑκάστην οὕτως ὁμολο γοῦμεν. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἐκ πατρὸς δι' υἱοῦ λέγοντα ἐκπορεύεσθαι ὡς συνόδῳ πάσῃ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ ἑπόμενον ἀποδεχόμεθα καὶ αὐτόν, τὸν δέ γε μὴ τιμῶντα τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ῥητὰ τόλμης 100 γραφόμεθα. ἰδοὺ γοῦν σήμερον πάρεισι μὲν πατριάρχαι, πάρεισι δ' ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ κλῆρος ἅπας καὶ μοναχοὶ εὐλαβεῖς καὶ τῶν λαϊ κῶν οἱ ἐλλόγιμοι. θέλω καὶ ὀρθοδοξοῦσιν ὑμῖν κοινωνεῖν, καὶ κοινῶς ὁπωσδήποτε τοῦ ὀρθοῦ σφαλεῖσι τὴν μεθ' ὑμῶν καταδί κην αἱροῦμαι παρὰ θεῷ κρίνοντι ἢ μόνος τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀσφάλειαν. τὸ γοῦν ὑμᾶς ἐμὲ ζητεῖν τε καὶ ἀναγκάζειν καὶ τοὺς μετ' ἐμοῦ ἀποβαλέσθαι δόγμα πατέρων, οὕτω δὴ παλαιὸν καὶ παρὰ πολλῶν λεγόμενον, ὑμᾶς δὲ μηδὲν περὶ τούτων φροντίζειν, οὔ μοι δοκεῖ ἔχειν τὸ εὔλογον. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἐμοὶ εὐλάβεια μή πως παρασφαλῶ τοῦ ὀρθοῦ. ἀλλ' ἰδοὺ καὶ τὴν κατ' ἐμαυτοῦ γνῶσιν ἀφεὶς ὅλως ὑμῶν γίνομαι, καὶ διδασκάλοις ὡσανεί τισι χρῶμαι. ὑμεῖς προη γεῖσθε, κἀγὼ ἕψομαι πράττουσιν. ἐκτιθέσθω τόμος, καὶ ἀπο πεποιήσθω τὸ δόγμα, καὶ ἀποβεβλήσθω τὸ δι' υἱοῦ, εἰ βούλεσθε. κἂν μὴ ἕψομαι καὶ αὐτός, καίτοι γ' εἰδὼς πατέρων ῥητὸν καὶ μέ γαν ἐπηρτημένον τῆς παροράσεως κίνδυνον, αὐτὸς αἰτίαν ἕξω, εἴτε μὴν πεισμονῆς εἴτε μὴν καὶ αἱρέσεως· θέλω γὰρ σὺν ὑμῖν πᾶσι καὶ δικαιωθῆναι καὶ κατακριθῆναι. εἰ δ' ὑμεῖς μὲν διευλα βεῖσθε τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἡμῖν δ' ἐπιφορτίζετε τὴν ἀποβολήν, εὔλογον εἶναι πάντως, ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἀναγκαῖον εἴπω, ὑμῶν διευλαβουμένων 101 καὶ διαμελλόντων καὶ ἡμᾶς δεδιέναι, μή πως παρασφαλεῖσιν ἡμῖν καὶ μόνοις τὰ τοῦ κινδύνου περιστήσεται." "ἀλλ' οὐ γεγράφαμεν ἡμεῖς" φασὶν οἱ περὶ τὸν πατριάρχην ἀπολογούμενοι. "ὑμῖν γέ γραπται καὶ κεκίνηται. ὑμῖν καὶ ἀποβλητέον ταῦτα." "καὶ τί γε τὸ ἐμποδών;" οἱ περὶ τὸν Βέκκον, "ἐθαρρεῖτε," φασίν, "ὅπου καὶ ἀδελφοὺς προσλήψετε θεραπεύσαντες." ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔπειθον λέ γοντες. ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον τραχυνθέντος κατ' ἐκείνου τοῦ πατριάρ χου, ὡς καὶ ὕβρει διαλοιδορήσασθαι, τὸν Βέκκον παροξυνθέντα ἐκείνῳ μὲν εὐφυῶς ἐπιπλῆξαι, πρὸς δὲ τὸν βασιλέα ἐπιστραφέντα μεγαλοφώνως εἰπεῖν μεθ' ὅρκου ὡς εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἐξέλθοι τοῦ πα τριαρχείου, οὐκ ἄν ποτε τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας καταστορεθήσεσθαι κλύδωνα. καὶ οὕτως εἰπόντος, ὀργῇ ληφθέντα τὸν βασιλέα ἐξανα στῆναι καὶ "τί δαὶ" φάναι ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκκλησίας δεινοπαθήσαντα· "οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τὰ πρότερα, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ταράξετε; καὶ δυσὶ περιβαλεῖτε πολέμοις, ἔνθεν μὲν ταῖς τῶν σχιζομένων προσβολαῖς, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ καὶ ταῖς παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐνευκαιρίαις, ὥστε κινδυνεύειν τὴν μίαν καὶ ἄρρηκτον ἐκκλησίαν καθ' αὑτὴν στασιάζουσαν ἐν τῷ ἐσθίειν τοὺς αὐτῆς ἀλλήλους 102 δαπανηθῆναι, ὑπὲρ ἧς αὐτὸς ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον αἷμα ἐξέχεε." ταῦτα καὶ πλείω τούτων εἰπὼν δῆλος ἦν ἀλύων, μὴ εἰς καλόν τι μηδ' εἰς συμφέρον, ὃ δὴ καὶ προσεδόκα, καταληξάσης τῆς δια λέξεως.