God and let his enemies be scattered and let them that hate him flee from his face. 44.2 And when this happened, as we heard from some, the despot also sent away the emir's revenue to him and the debt of servitude to the armies, saying: I am an old man and weak; he who fulfilled the servitude has died. Therefore let the great revenue be given wherever you decree; and to me let be given, enough to live on, sitting here with a few others. The emir answered: He speaks well; and let him separate those he wishes. And he separated them; and he gave to him 50,000 aspers, so that he might have them from the tax on flour, but he took away the majority of his subordinates, having confined them, so that they would be in the City. But others said it happened otherwise, and we shall learn and relate it. 44.3 In the summer of the same year, there occurred such a pestilential disease in Constantinople and Adrianople and Gallipoli and the surrounding castles and market-towns and lands, such as had not occurred for many years before. For there died, as they say, many myriads of people, not thousands, and with them also the daughter of the despot.

45.1 In the 70th year, in the month of November, I also went to Hagia Maura, at the urging of the queen kyra Helene and mother-in-law of the lord of that place, kyros Leonardos, so that I might both inspect the place and those there and, as supposedly a nephew of my blessed lord the emperor kyros Constantine, and having suffered the greatest loss on behalf of his father, as I previously related in the 38th year, I might enjoy some annual benefaction as an old and weak and poor man from the captivity. But I returned on the 22nd of the same, having seen and enjoyed everything as worthless, except that his entire authority excelled in its bastard lineage; for the ruled must be like their rulers. 45.2 And in January of the same year, the lord of Albania, Skanderbeg, also died a natural death; and his place and his lordship the authority of the Venetians took, but his sister's son, being a Turk and to the emir and sent by him. 45.3 And from the middle of spring of the same, that is, the 70th year, and all summer, as I was faring badly from my usual infirmity of rheumatism, and also since my worldly clothes were worn out, we put on the monastic habit on the 1st of the month of August, and instead of George I was named Gregory, and instead of Helene she was named Eupraxía, first giving our confession of faith in God, which is as follows: 45.4 I believe the Son of God not to be a creature nor subject to time, according to the foolish Arius, but consubstantial and coeternal with God the Father, true God from true God, creator of time and of all created things, and later made incarnate for our sake by the Holy Spirit and Mary the ever-virgin. I believe the Holy Spirit not to be a creature nor of a different substance from the Father and the Son, as Macedonius, who was void of His grace, blasphemed, but true God, consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son, proceeding from the Father towards the Son, just as the Son is from Him by generation. I believe that the pre-eternal Son of God is not one person, and Jesus Christ born of the Virgin another, as the foolish Nestorius blasphemed, but that the one born of her is indeed two natures after the union, but one in hypostasis, that is, the divine one; wherefore she who bore him is properly and truly Theotokos and not Christotokos, according to that foolish one. I believe that the Son of God after the incarnation did not join the two into one nature, according to the foolish Dioscorus and Eutyches, who attributed the passions to the divinity, but is known in two natures even after the union without confusion, and that souls do not pre-exist their bodies, nor is there an end to punishment nor a restoration of demons, according to the foolish Origen. I believe the

θεὸς καὶ διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ φυγέτωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ οἱ μισοῦντες αὐ τόν. 44.2 Καὶ τούτου γενομένου, ὡς ἠκούσαμεν παρά τινων, ἄπεμψε καὶ ὁ δεσπότης τὴν τοῦ ἀμηρᾶ πρὸς αὐτὸν πρόσοδον καὶ τὸ χρέος τῆς δου λείας εἰς τὰ φωσάτα, εἰπόντος· Ἐγώ εἰμι γέρων καὶ ἀσθενής· ὁ ἐκπλη ρῶν τὴν δουλοσύνην ἀπέθανε. Λοιπὸν ἡ πολλὴ πρόσοδος ἂς δοθῇ, ὅπου ὁρίσῃς· ἐμοὶ δὲ ἂς δοθῇ, ὅσον νὰ ζῶ, καθήμενος ἐνταῦθα μετά τινων ὀλίγων. Ἀπελογήσατο ὁ ἀμηρᾶς· Καλῶς λέγει· καὶ ἂς χωρίσῃ τοὺς θέλει. Καὶ ἐχώρισε· καὶ δέδωκε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἄσπρα ʹν, ἵνα ἔχῃ αὐτὰς ἀπὸ τὸ κουμέρκι τοῦ ἀλεύρου, τοὺς δὲ πλείονας τῶν ὑποχειρίων αὐτοῦ περιορίσας ἀπῆρεν, ἵνα εὑρίσκωνται εἰς τὴν Πόλιν. Ἄλλοι δὲ εἶπον ἄλ λως γεγονέναι καὶ μέλλομεν μαθεῖν καὶ διηγήσεσθεν. 44.3 Τοῦ δ' αὐτοῦ χρόνου τὸ θέρος ἐγεγόνει τοσαύτη λοιμώδης νόσος εἴς τε τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν καὶ τὴν Ἀνδριανούπολιν καὶ τὴν Καλλί πολιν καὶ τὰ πέριξ αὐτῶν κάστρη καὶ κωμοπόλεις καὶ χώρας, οἵα οὐ γέγονε παρόπισθε χρόνους πολλούς. Τεθνήκασι γάρ, ὡς λέγουσι, μυριά δες πολλαὶ ἀνθρώπων, οὐ χιλιάδες, σὺν αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ δεσπότου θυγάτηρ.

45.1 Τοῦ δὲ ο-ου ἔτους Νοεμβρίῳ μηνὶ ἀπῆλθον κἀγὼ εἰς τὴν Ἁγίαν Μαῦραν, παρακινήσει τῆς βασιλίσσης κυρᾶς Ἑλένης καὶ πενθε-ρᾶς τοῦ αὐθεντὸς τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου κυροῦ Λεονάρδου, ἵνα καὶ τὸν τό πον καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖσε ἀναθεωρήσω καὶ ὡς δῆθεν ἀνεψιοῦ τοῦ μακαρίτου αὐθεντός μου τοῦ βασιλέως κυροῦ Κωνσταντίνου καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ παθόντος μου ζημίαν μεγίστην, ὡς προεδήλωσα ἐν τῷ λη-ῳ ἔτει, ἀπολαύσω τινὸς εὐεργεσίας ἐτησίου ὡς γέρων καὶ ἀσθενὴς καὶ πτωχὸς ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. Ἐπανέστρεψα δὲ τῇ κβ-ᾳ τοῦ αὐτοῦ, εὐτελῆ πάν τα καὶ ἰδὼν καὶ ἀπολαύσας ἄνευ τοῦ ὑπερέχειν ἐν τῷ μπασταρδικῷ γέ νει τὴν πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν αὐτοῦ· δεῖ γὰρ τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἐξομοιοῦσθαι τοῖς ἄρχουσι. 45.2 Καὶ τὸν Ἰαννουάριον τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους καὶ ὁ τῆς Ἀλβανιτίας αὐθέντης Σκαντάρης τέθνηκε φυσικῷ θανάτῳ· καὶ τὸ μὲν τοῦ τόπου καὶ τῆς αὐθεντίας αὐτοῦ ἔλαβεν ἡ αὐθεντία τῶν Βενετιῶν, τὸ δὲ ὁ τῆς ἀδελ φῆς αὐτοῦ υἱός, Τοῦρκος ὢν καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀμηρᾶν καὶ σταλεὶς παρ' ἐκεί νου. 45.3 Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἡμίσεως ἔαρος τοῦ αὐτοῦ, δηλονότι ο-ου ἔτους καὶ ὅλου τοῦ θέρους διαβιβάσαντός μου κακῶς ἀπὸ τῆς συνήθους ἀσθενείας τοῦ ῥευματισμοῦ, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τῶν κοσμικῶν φορεμάτων μου διαλυθέντων, ἐρασοφορέσαμεν τῇ α-ῃ τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνὸς καὶ ἀντὶ Γεώργιος Γρη γορίου, ἀντὶ δὲ Ἑλένη Εὐπραξία ὠνομάσθημεν, διδόντες πρῶτον τὴν εἰς θεὸν τῆς πίστεως ὁμολογίαν ἡμῶν ἔχουσαν οὕτως· 45.4 Πιστεύω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ κτίσμα εἶναι οὐδ' ὑπὸ χρόνον κατὰ τὸν ἄφρονα Ἄρειον, ἀλλ' ὁμοούσιον καὶ συναΐδιον τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί, θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, ποιητὴν χρόνων καὶ τῶν κτισμάτων πάντων, ὕστερον δὲ σαρκωθέντα δι' ἡμᾶς ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μα ρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου. Πιστεύω τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον μὴ κτίσμα εἶναι μηδὲ ἑτερούσιον τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ, ὡς ὁ Μακεδόνιος ὁ κενὸς τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἐβλα σφήμει, ἀλλὰ θεὸν ἀληθινόν, ὁμοούσιον καὶ συναΐδιον τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ, ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς πρὸς υἱὸν ἐκπορευτῶς, ὥσπερ ὁ υἱὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεν νητῶς. Πιστεύω μὴ ἄλλον εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν προαιώνιον, ἕτερον δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς παρθένου γεννηθέντα Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὡς ὁ ἄφρων Νεστόριος ἐβλασφήμει, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς γεννηθέντα δύο μὲν εἶναι μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν φύσεις, ἕνα δὲ τῇ ὑποστάσει τῇ θεϊκῇ δηλονότι· διὸ καὶ τὴν αὐτὸν τεκοῦσαν κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεοτόκον εἶναι καὶ οὐ Χριστο τόκον κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄφρονα. Πιστεύω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν μὴ εἰς μίαν φύσιν τὰς δύο συνάψαι κατὰ τοὺς ἄφρονας ∆ιόσκορον καὶ Εὐτυχῆ, οἲ τῇ θεότητι τὰ πάθη προσῆπτον, ἀλλ' ἐν δύο φύσεσι καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν ἀσυγχύτως γνωριζόμενον, καὶ μήτε προϋ πάρχειν τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν σωμάτων, μήτε τέλος εἶναι κολάσεως μήτε ἀποκατάστασιν δαιμόνων κατὰ τὸν ἄφρονα Ὠριγένην. Πιστεύω τὸν