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he judged it impossible to test both. But he even attempted the impossible, as the saying goes, because of his zeal for concord, and by delivering many speeches at each synod, he accomplished nothing at all. He had utterly despaired of John at that time, and even more so when he was condemned for aspiring to the throne, 137 so that in one of the synods, scarlet gloves embroidered with pearls and certain other supposedly royal insignia were displayed in the middle, which, having been found with one of his followers, provided credible basis for the accusation against him, and for these reasons he was again given over to custody under a most dire suspicion that had nothing to do with him. But towards those around Hyacinthus he supposedly acted with solicitude, so that he even allowed him, providing one of the finest horses, to make frequent visits to the emperor and to report what was fitting on behalf of those in need and to work out solutions for many problems, since he himself also flattered the emperor, saying that he was a friend of peace and ready to make peace, and that the others should also submit, so that they might make peace more completely. But that John was dying a hard death, and was subject to condemnation even by his own people, whom it was necessary to court, and that thus he had suffered the fate of the jackdaw, stripped of borrowed plumes. And that these things required time and a knowledge that demanded long-suffering, which would cover their presumptions, as 138 they would give in at the proper time. By saying these things, Hyacinthus beguiled the emperor's hopes, so that he even granted them the monastery of Mosele, and to be confident that their concord would come about before long. But all these things were a dream impressing the non-existent. So indeed, after having met them often and welcomed them with the greatest honors, so that he even rose up for the blind when they approached and blessed their sufferings and exhorted them not to cover good things with evil—their zeal for God and divine things with schisms from his church—he finally let them go, and he considered with a common and holy council who might be called to the leadership of the church after Gregory. For they seemed to be openly pursuing the unattainable, demanding to reject Joseph, and to reject the dogma of the church that the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, and to be contentious with bishops, and to accept one priesthood but reject another, and certain such things which were very difficult even to hear, compiling them into a single 139 demand and saying that they would arrange the affairs of the church according to the Gospels and canons, if matters were in their hands with the emperor's consent. But these men, suspecting some great evils, in addition to the absurdity of the things being supposed, were terrified lest they should stir up a silent wave of troubles upon the recent settlement of the church. Therefore, having let them go, they deliberated in common about the patriarch.

(13) And indeed they elected three, as was customary, first, Gennadius, who had been elected during the first reign of Justinian and accepted the election, but after arriving and staying for a time, he then refused, second, Jacob, a man simple in manners and full of piety, who was entrusted with the leadership of those on Athos, and third, Athanasius, who was living in the mountains of Ganos, originating from the regions around Adrianople, whom the emperor, on the recommendation of the bishop of Honopolis, placed among the first of his acquaintances when he was then living in Constantinople. But when the first was notified and strongly urged, since he would not be persuaded, the choice between the two remaining persons was in doubt for the emperor, and the scales of his preference tipped from the second towards the third. And thereupon Athanasius was summoned, but he too did not immediately consent, but spoke 140 modestly of his own abilities in relation to such a height. For the time being, however, by what seemed to be compulsion from the emperor and the synod, he assented and accepted the summons. And right away the beginnings were different from what had come before; for he wished to travel the roads on foot and in coarse clothing

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πειρᾶσθαι καὶ ἀμ φοτέρους ἀδύνατον ἔκρινεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδυνάτοις, τὸ δὴ λεγόμε νον, ἐπεχείρει διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὴν ὁμόνοιαν ζέσιν, καὶ πολλοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην συνέλευσιν ἐξελίττων λόγους οὐδὲν ἤνυτε τὸ παράπαν. τοῦ μὲν Ἰωάννου καὶ λίαν ἀπεγίνωσκε τότε, καὶ μᾶλλον βασιλειᾶν 137 κατακριθέντος, ὥστε κἀν μιᾷ τῶν συνελεύσεων ἐς μέσον ἐμφα νισθῆναι χειρίδας ἐμμαργάρους κοκκίνας καὶ ἄλλ' ἄττα ὡς δῆ θεν σημεῖα βασιλικά, ἃ δὴ παρά τινι τῶν αὐτοῦ εὑρεθέντα τὴν ἀναφορὰν τῆς κατηγορίας πιστὴν ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ παρεῖχε, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα φυλακῇ καὶ πάλιν δοθέντος κατά τινα χειρίστην ὑποψίαν μηδὲν ἐκείνῳ προσήκουσαν. τοῖς δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὑάκινθον κηδεμο νικῶς ὡς δῆθεν προσήγετο, ὥστε καὶ ἐφεῖναί οἱ, ἵππον πα ρασχὼν τῶν καλλίστων, συχνὰς προσόδους πρὸς βασιλέα ποιεῖ σθαι καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν δεομένων ἀναφέρειν τε τὰ εἰκότα καὶ λύσεις πολλῶν ἐργάζεσθαι, ἐπείτοι γε καὶ αὐτὸς βασιλέα ὑπέσαινεν, ἑαυτὸν μὲν λέγων εἰρήνης φίλον εἶναι καὶ ἕτοιμον εἰρηνεύειν, χρῆ ναι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπέρχεσθαι, ἐφ' ᾧπερ καὶ ἐντελέστερον εἰρηνεύοιεν. Ἰωάννην δὲ καὶ δυσθανατᾶν, καί γ' ὑποκεῖσθαι καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἰδίων καταγνώσει, οὓς καὶ αὐτοὺς θεραπεύειν δεῖν, καὶ οὕτω τὸ τοῦ κολοιοῦ παθεῖν ἐκεῖνον, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐψιλωμένον πτερῶν. εἶναι δὲ καιροῦ ταῦτα καὶ ἐπιστήμης ἀπαι τούσης μακροθυμίαν, τὰς ἐκείνων ἀτασθαλίας καλύψουσαν ὡς 138 κατὰ καιρὸν ἐνδωσόντων. ταῦθ' Ὑάκινθος λέγων περιεβουκό λει τὰς ἐλπίδας τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὥστε καὶ τὴν τοῦ Μωσελὲ μονὴν ἐκείνοις ἀνεῖναι, καὶ θαρρεῖν τὴν ἐκείνων ὁμόνοιαν οὐκ εἰς μα κρὰν γενήσεσθαι. ἀλλ' ἦν ταῦτα πάντ' ὄνειρος ἐντυπούμενος τὰ ἀνύπαρκτα. ἀμέλει τοι κἀκείνους μὲν, ἐπεὶ πολλάκις προσμί ξας καὶ τιμαῖς μεγίσταις δεξιωσάμενος, ὥστε καὶ τοῖς τυφλοῖς ὑπεξανίστασθαι προσιοῦσι καὶ μακαρίζειν τὰ πάθη καὶ παρακα λεῖν μὴ καλὰ καλύπτειν κακοῖς, τὸν ὑπὲρ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων ζῆλον ταῖς τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἀποστασίαις, τέλος ἀφίησι, σκέπτεται δὲ μετὰ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου καὶ ἱεροῦ ὁποῖος ἂν καὶ κλη θείη εἰς προστασίαν τῆς ἐκκλησίας μετὰ Γρηγόριον. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀκίχητα διώκουσιν ἐῴκεσαν ἄντικρυς, ἀθετεῖν μὲν ἀξιοῦντες τὸν Ἰωσήφ, ἀθετεῖν δὲ καὶ δόγμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὸ διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐκ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεσθαι, ἀρχιερεῖς δὲ φιλοκρινεῖν, καὶ ἱερωσύνην τὴν μὲν προσίεσθαι τὴν δ' ἀποπέμπειν, καί τινα τοιαῦτα πολὺ τὸ δυσχερὲς καὶ εἰς ἀκοὴν ἔχοντα μόνην μιᾷ τινὶ 139 συμφοροῦντες ἀξιώσει καὶ λέγοντες ὡς εὐαγγελικῶς τε καὶ κανονι κῶς τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν διάθωνται, εἴγ' ἐπ' ἐκείνοις τὰ πράγματα γένοιντο βασιλέως νεύσαντος. οὗτοι δὲ μεγάλ' ἄττα τῶν κακῶν ὑπειδόμενοι πρὸς τῷ ἀτόπῳ τῶν ὑπονοουμένων κα τωρρώδουν μή πως ἐπὶ νεαρᾷ καταστάσει τῆς ἐκκλησίας κωφὸν κῦμα πραγμάτων ἀναταράξειαν. ἔνθεν τοι κἀκείνων ἀφειμένοι κοινῇ περὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου κατεσκέπτοντο.

(13) καὶ δὴ ψηφίζονται τρεῖς γε κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες, πρῶτον μὲν τὸν Γεννάδιον, ὃς δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτῃ Ἰουστινιανοῦ ψηφισθεὶς καὶ τὴν ψῆφον δεξάμενος, ἐπιδημήσας καὶ ἐγχρονίσας ἔπειτα παρῃτεῖτο, δεύτε ρον τὸν Ἰάκωβον, ἄνδρα τοὺς τρόπους ἁπλοϊκὸν καὶ εὐλαβείας πλήρη, τὴν τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἄθω προστασίαν πεπιστευμένον, καὶ τρίτον τὸν Ἀθανάσιον, ὃν δὴ καὶ κατὰ τὰ ὄρη τοῦ Γάνου ἐν διατρίβοντα, ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν τὴν γένεσιν ἔχοντα, τοῦ Ἠονοπολίτου βασιλεῖ συστήσαντος ἀνὰ τὴν Κωνσταντίνου τότε διάγοντα βασιλεὺς ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις τῶν γνω ρίμων ἔταττε. διαμηνυθέντος δὲ τοῦ πρώτου καὶ τὰ πολλὰ κατα ναγκασθέντος, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἐπείθετο, περὶ ἀμφοῖν τῶν λοιπῶν προσώπων ἡ κρίσις τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐνεδοίαζε, καὶ τὰ ζυγὰ τῆς ἀρε σκείας ὑπὲρ τὸν δεύτερον πρὸς τὸν τρίτον ἔκλιναν. κἀντεῦθεν προσκληθεὶς Ἀθανάσιος οὐκ εὐθὺς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐνεδίδου, ἀλλὰ τὰ 140 καθ' αὑτὸν πρὸς τοιοῦτον ὕψος ὑπεκορίζετο. τέως δὲ βίᾳ τῷ δοκεῖν βασιλέως καὶ τῆς συνόδου κατανεύει καὶ τὴν πρόσκλησιν δέχεται. ἦσαν δ' εὐθὺς τὰ προοίμια ἄλλ' ἄττα παρὰ τὰ φθά σαντα· πεζῇ γὰρ ἠβούλετο διέρχεσθαι τὰς ὁδοὺς ἔνδυμά τε τρα χὺ