from seeing evil." For many of the so-called bishops, wishing to cut off the reasonable hatred directed at them on account of their own ways and their lack of zeal for spiritual things, exchange one passion for another, greed for vainglory; with one hand unsparingly committing injustice for shameful gain, and with the other elaborately setting tables and raising columns of lofty buildings, so that by these things seeming to appear good and industrious, they might reap honor instead of dishonor, not remembering the Preacher who both built and hated, and who clearly forbade such things when he wrote: "I made myself houses and parks," and what follows, "and behold, all was vanity; and I hated all my labor in which I toiled under the sun." He did not say, "above the sun," lest he should disparage spiritual labors. But I say these things, not including 82 those who build or repair the things of the church for good reason and out of necessity, but because of those who spend the resources of the poor on suspended porticoes and cisterns of aerial waters in three-storied buildings and on improper baths for men and women in secret places for the collection of more silver, or conversely to be loved by triflers, repaying the favor for this very zeal by yielding in all things to the pleasure of sinners. But may it never be my lot, O great-named Theodore, to please the wicked; for I shall not please them from any other source than from those things which are displeasing to Christ. The deacon, marveling at these things, asked, saying: {THE DEACON} Since these things have been spoken so naturally and have no contradiction, if you have any knowledge about the matters in Asia established by the holy John, of whom our discourse now is, share it. {THE BISHOP} Most certainly. {THE DEACON} Did you know this from being present yourself, or did you learn it from another? {THE BISHOP} But I was not left out of even a chance part of the trial. {THE DEACON} What then were the subsequent events, and what end did it reach, and from where did it have its beginning? Present it to me in detail; especially since Theophilus, in his own writing, eager to dignify or conceal his own rashness, said that the blessed John, moved by a passion for power, had deposed sixteen bishops in a single day and had ordained his own in their place. {THE BISHOP} This wonderful man has done nothing inconsistent with his own ways, both in writing against John and in writing falsehoods. For by the very means by which he thinks to cover his own disgrace, he makes a greater example of it, and unwillingly honors the innocence of John, after the manner of that Balaam. For if he had deposed him, there would have been no need of a treatise or of exile, since the deposition itself would be sufficient to shame the deposed; but since the virtuous man stands undeposed, holding victory in his defeat, envy remains, reaping 83 the defeat of an irrational victory, puffing itself up like a bubble, and bursting upon itself, writing and writing against him, according to the prophet Isaiah: "woe" to him who draws upon himself the habit of doing and saying and writing all things falsely; "Woe," he says, "to those who write; for they write wickedness." But concerning those deposed in Asia, not sixteen, but six bishops, as I will state at the divine tribunal, and I will neither subtract from the quantity of the number nor add to the quality of the events, but as it naturally is, so I will report to you. In the thirteenth indiction, those from Asia, having come to Constantinople for certain necessary reasons, were staying with us, with other bishops also present, both from Scythia, I mean Theotimus, and from Thrace, Ammon the Egyptian, and from Galatia, Arabianus, all aged metropolitans, amounting to twenty-two bishops. And while all were gathering and communicating, a certain Eusebius, bishop of Valentinopolis from the so-called Celbian regions, watching his opportunity, came before the assembled synod on the first day of the week, and presented petitions to the synod, having of course appropriately prefixed the name of John, against Antoninus the bishop of the Ephesians, setting forth seven charges:

τοῦ μὴ ὁρᾶν πονηρά." πολλοὶ γὰρ τῶν λεγομένων ἐπισκόπων τὸ εὔλογον αὐτῶν μῖσος, ὃ μεμίσηνται διὰ τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτῶν τρόπους καὶ τὴν τῶν νοητῶν ἀζηλίαν, περικόψαι βουλόμενοι, πάθει πάθος ἀντικαταλλάττουσι πλεονεξίαν κενοδοξίᾳ· τῇ μὲν χειρὶ ἀφειδῶς ἀδικοῦντες εἰς κέρδος αἰσχρόν, τῇ δ' ἑτέρᾳ τὰς τραπέζας ἐπιτεχνώμενοι καὶ στήλας ὑψηλῶν οἰκοδομημάτων ἐγείραντες, ἵνα ἐκ τούτων δόξαντες χρηστοὶ καὶ φιλόπονοι φαίνεσθαι, τιμὴν ἀντὶ ἀτιμίας καρπώσωνται, οὐ μνημονεύοντες τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστοῦ τοῦ καὶ κτίσαντος καὶ μισήσαντος, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σαφῶς ἀπαγορεύσαντος ἐν τῷ γράψαι· "Ἐποίησά μοι οἴκους καὶ παραδείσους," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, "καὶ ἰδού, τὰ πάντα ματαιότης· καὶ ἐμίσησα σύμπαντα μόχθον μου, ὃν ἐγὼ μοχθῶ ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον." οὐκ εἶπεν, "ὑπὲρ τὸν ἥλιον," ἵνα μὴ τοὺς νοη τοὺς καθυβρίσῃ πόνους. ταῦτα δὲ λέγω, οὐ συμπεριλαμβάνων 82 τοὺς εὐλόγως καὶ δι' ἀνάγκην κτίζοντας ἢ διορθουμένους τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοὺς τὰ τῶν πτωχῶν εἰς κρεμαστοὺς περι βόλους καὶ ἀερίων ὑδάτων δεξαμενὰς ἐν τριωρόφοις καὶ ἀπρεπῆ ἀνδρογύνων λουτρὰ ἐν ἀποκρύφοις καταναλίσκοντας εἰς συλλο γὴν ἢ πλείονος ἀργυρίου ἢ τοὔμπαλιν παρὰ τῶν ἀθυρμάτων ἀγαπηθῆναι, ἐν αὐτῷ τούτῳ τῆς σπουδῆς τὴν χάριν ἀντιπλη ρούντων, τῷ πάντα πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἐνδιδόναι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν. ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο, Θεόδωρε μεγαλώνυμε, φαύλοις ἀρέσαι ποτέ· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλοθεν αὐτοῖς ἀρέσω, ἢ ἐκ τῶν Χριστῷ μὴ ἀρεσκόντων. Ὁ διάκονος ἐπὶ τούτοις θαυμάσας ἤρετο λέγων· {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Τούτων οὕτως φυσικῶς εἰρημένων καὶ μὴ ἐχόντων ἀντίῤῥησιν, εἴ τίς σοι γνῶσις περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου, περὶ οὗ νῦν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, τετυπωμένων, μετάδος. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Καὶ πάνυ γε. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Αὐτὸς παρὼν ἔγνως, ἢ παρ' ἑτέρου μαθών; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἀλλ' οὔτε εἰς τὸ τυχὸν μέρος ἤμην ἀπολειφθεὶς τῆς δίκης. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Τίνα οὖν ἐστι τὰ παρακολουθήσαντα, καὶ ποῖον εἴληφε τέλος, καὶ πόθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκότα, λεπτομερῶς μοι παράστησον· ἐπειδὴ μάλιστα ὁ Θεόφιλος ἐν οἰκείῳ συγγράμ ματι τὴν ἰδίαν προπέτειαν σεμνῦναι ἢ περιστεῖλαι σπουδάσας ἔφησεν τὸν μακάριον Ἰωάννην φιλαρχίας πάθει κινούμενον δέκα ἓξ ἐπισκόπους καθῃρηκέναι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ καὶ ἰδίους ἀντ' αὐτῶν κεχειροτονηκέναι. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς τῶν ἰδίων τρόπων πεποίηκεν ὁ θαυμάσιος, καὶ γράψας κατὰ Ἰωάννου καὶ ψευδῆ γράψας. ἐξ ὧν γὰρ νομίζει καλύπτειν τὴν ἰδίαν ἀσχημοσύνην, ἐκ τούτων αὐτὴν μᾶλλον παραδειγματίζει, καὶ ἄκων σεμνύνων τὸ ἀθῷον Ἰωάννου κατὰ τὸ Βαλαὰμ ἐκεῖνον. εἰ γὰρ ἦν αὐτὸν καθελών, οὐ χρεία συγγράμματος ἢ ἐξορίας, ἱκανῆς οὔσης τῆς καθαιρέσεως αἰσχῦναι τοὺς καθαιρουμένους· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀκαθαίρετος ἕστηκεν ὁ ἐνάρετος, τῇ ἥττῃ τὴν νίκην κατέχων, μένει ὁ φθόνος τὴν 83 ἧτταν τῆς ἀλόγου νίκης ἀποφερόμενος, πομφόλυγος δίκην ἀνα φυσώμενος, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν συντριβόμενος, γράφων καὶ κατα γράφων, τὸ τοῦ προφήτου Ἠσαίου· "οὐαί" ὁ ἐπισπώμενος τὸ πάντα ψευδῆ καὶ ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν καὶ γράφειν· "Οὐαί," γάρ φησιν, "οἱ γράφοντες· πονηρίαν γὰρ γράφουσιν." περὶ δὲ τῶν κατὰ Ἀσίαν καθαιρεθέντων οὐ δέκα ἕξ, ἀλλὰ ἓξ ἐπισκόπων, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς θείας δίκης ἐρῶ, καὶ οὔτε τῆς ποσότητος τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ὑφελῶ οὔτε τῇ ποιότητι τῶν πραγμάτων προσθήσω, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔχει φύσεως, οὕτως σοι ἀπαγγείλω. ἐπὶ τῆς τρισκαιδεκάτης ἐπινεμήσεως ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἐλθόντες οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσίας τινῶν ἕνεκα ἀναγκαίων διέτριβον σὺν ἡμῖν, παρόντων καὶ ἑτέρων ἐπισκόπων, τῶν τε ἀπὸ Σκυθίας, Θεοτίμου λέγω, καὶ ἀπὸ Θρᾴκης Ἄμμωνος τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου καὶ ἀπὸ Γαλατίας Ἀραβιανοῦ, πάντων μητροπολιτῶν γεγηρακότων, συντεινόντων εἰς εἴκοσι δύο ἐπισκόπους. πάντων δὲ συναγομένων καὶ κοινω νούντων ἐπιτηρήσας Εὐσέβιός τις ἀπὸ τῶν Κελβιανῶν λεγο μένων τόπων ἐπίσκοπος Οὐαλεντινουπόλεως, τὴν συνηγμένην σύνοδον ἐπιστὰς τῇ μιᾷ τοῦ σαββάτου, λιβέλλους ἐπέδωκεν τῇ συνόδῳ, δηλαδὴ ἀκολούθως προτάξας τὸ ὄνομα Ἰωάννου, κατὰ Ἀντωνίνου τοῦ Ἐφεσίων ἐπισκόπου, ἑπτὰ κεφάλαια ἐντάξας·