slandering their life, waiting to have help from God. To these things Theodore, being astonished, said: {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} I see the facts as contrary to the nature of the words, father. for for the most part the vainglorious, being men-pleasers, are found to be flatterers also and they contrive lavish banquets, for the sake of being loved and well-spoken of, and often enduring insults. how then Porphyry, or some other, practiced threats and punishments and exiles, I am at a loss. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} For this is the wondrous thing, Theodore, that they have driven on to such a measure of wickedness, as not only not to hasten to please men, but also not to care at all for the shame of their actions; for wickedness leads on wickedness in wickedness 98. For then wickedness puts forth vainglory, when it hopes to prevail over the foolish through flattery; but when those who are hunted are found to be superior to both flattery and banquets, it brings forth threats and punishments, so that those whom it did not entice by banquet or flattery, it might cow by inhumanity and fear, as in the case of the martyrs. for there both were contrived: both the trap devised through gifts and honors, hunting those gaping after petty glories, and the threat through tortures, preparing frying pans and limb-stretchers and wild beasts and whatever is suitable for intense pain, revealing the courageous and God-loving. However, the notable clergy of the Antiochenes assembles secretly, not even approaching the walls of the church, and all the notable women's gallery, on account of whom the money-collectors of the leaders have become especially frantic. And concerning those of Constantinople what need is there even to say, how great a multitude has withdrawn from the church, assembling in the open air, as we have said before, so that not even those in control of ecclesiastical affairs have so many listeners for their silence? - for there is no word at all among them. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} You have freed my mind, father, which was enslaved by doubt, by setting the facts before my eyes. for the consistency of your words and the unfeigned narrative have fully persuaded me that what has happened is true; for it is impossible for a false account to be consistent with itself. Without offense, therefore, narrate to us also the things concerning Olympias, if indeed you have any knowledge. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Which one? since there are others also. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} The deaconess of Constantinople, who was once the bride of Nebridius, the former prefect. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} I know her very well indeed. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} What sort of woman is she? {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Do not say "woman," but "what a person"; for she is a man, despite the form of her body. 99 {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} In what respect? {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Both in life and labors and knowledge and in the patient endurance of circumstances. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} How then did Theophilus revile her? {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Which one is this? {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} The leader of the Alexandrians. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} It seems to me, Theodore, that you have covered so many courses of our conversation with forgetfulness. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} In what respect? {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} He who did not spare the truth, but trampled upon it, as the preceding words have shown, and he who did not honor the church under heaven—for which the Only-Begotten, as the saying goes, was despoiled, that He might unite it—but insulted it in its form, is he going to spare a widowed woman, who spends her life in prayers? go about and see if he ever reviled any of the wicked, being always a hater of piety. And why do you not consider from his letters, how they are contrary to one another? For having slandered the blessed Epiphanius, the bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, who had presided over the church for thirty-six years, as a heretic or schismatic in the time of the blessed Damasus and Siricius, later in his letter to Pope Innocent, while reviling the blessed John, he is found calling Epiphanius most holy. And how many times, if you will, did he kiss her knees, in the hope of money, she whom he now reviles, while she was falling to the ground at the matter and shedding tears, with a bishop doing these things? But in what did he revile her? {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} As having received the monks cast out by him. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} And is it permitted for a bishop

δυσφημοῦντες αὐτῶν τὴν ζώην, ἕξειν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀντίληψιν ἀναμένοντες. Πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Θεόδωρος ἐκπληττόμενος ἔλεγε· {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Παρὰ φύσιν ὁρῶ τῶν λόγων τὰ πράγματα, πάτερ. ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον οἱ κενόδοξοι, ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι ὄντες, καὶ κόλακες εὑρίσκονται καὶ τραπέζας πολυτελεῖς ἐπιτεχνῶνται, τοῦ ἀγαπηθῆναι χάριν καὶ καλοὶ ἀκοῦσαι, καὶ ἐμπτυσμάτων ἀνεχόμενοι πολλάκις. πῶς τοίνυν ὁ Πορφύριος, ἢ ἄλλος τις, τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας καὶ τὰς ἐξορίας ἐξήσκησαν, ἀπορῶ. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ θαυμαστόν, Θεόδωρε, ὅτι εἰς τοσοῦτον κακίας ἠλάκασι μέτρον, ὡς οὐ μόνον μὴ σπεύδειν ἀρέσκειν ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ τῶν πραττομένων αἰσχύνης μηδ' ὅλως φροντίζειν· κακία γὰρ κακίας ἐν κακίᾳ 98 προάγει. τότε γὰρ ἡ κακία προβάλλεται τὴν κενοδοξίαν, ὅτε ἐλπίζει κρατεῖν διὰ τῆς κολακείας τῶν ἀνοήτων· ὅταν δὲ ἀνώ τεροι εὑρεθῶσιν καὶ κολακείας καὶ τραπέζης οἱ θηρευόμενοι, τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας προφέρει, ἵν' οὓς οὐκ ἐδελέασεν τραπέζῃ ἢ κολακείᾳ, καταπτήξῃ ἀπανθρωπίᾳ καὶ δέει, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν μαρτύρων. ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἀμφότερα ἐτεκταίνετο, καὶ ἡ διὰ δώρων καὶ τιμῶν μηχανευομένη παγίς, τοὺς περὶ τὰ δοξάρια κεχηνότας θηρῶσα, καὶ ἡ διὰ κολάσεων ἀπειλή, τήγανα καὶ ἀρθρέμβολα καὶ θηρία καὶ ὅσα περὶ σφοδρὰν ὀδύνην ἐπιτήδεια εὐτρεπίζουσα, τοὺς ἀνδρείους καὶ φιλοθέους ἀναδεικνῦσα. ὁ μέντοι κλῆρος ὁ Ἀντιοχέων ὁ ἐπίσημος κεκρυμμένως συνάγει, μηδὲ πλησιάζων τοῖς τοίχοις τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ἐπίσημος γυναικωνῖτις, δι' ἃς μάλιστα ἔκφρονες γεγόνασιν οἱ ἀργυρολόγοι τῶν ἡγου μένων. περὶ δὲ τῶν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν, ὅσον πλῆθος ἀπέστη τῆς ἐκκλησίας, συνάγον ἐν τῷ ὑπαίθρῳ, ὡς προειρήκαμεν, ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς κρατοῦντας τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν πραγμάτων ἔχειν τοσούτους ἀκροατὰς τῆς σιγῆς; - λόγος γὰρ οὐδαμοῦ παρ' αὐτοῖς. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἠλευθέρωσάς μου τὴν διάνοιαν, πάτερ, τῇ ἀμφι βολίᾳ δεδουλωμένην, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου παραστήσας τὰ πράγ ματα. ἡ γὰρ συμφωνία τῶν λόγων καὶ ἡ ἄσκηπτος διήγησις ἐπληροφόρησέν με ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὰ γεγενημένα· ἀδύνατον γὰρ ψευδῆ λόγον ἑαυτῷ συμφωνῆσαι. ἀνεπαχθῶς τοίνυν διήγησαι ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα, εἴ γέ τίς σοι γνῶσις. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ποίαν ταύτην; ἐπειδή εἰσι καὶ ἕτεραι. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Τὴν διάκονον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, νύμφην ποτὲ γενομένην Νεβριδίου τοῦ ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Καὶ πάνυ γε οἶδα. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ποταπὴ γυνὴ τυγχάνει οὖσα; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Μὴ λέγε "γυνή," ἀλλ' "οἷος ἄνθρωπος"· ἀνὴρ γάρ ἐστι παρὰ τὸ τοῦ σώματος σχῆμα. 99 {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἐν τίνι; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἔν τε βίῳ καὶ πόνοις καὶ γνώσει καὶ τῇ τῶν περιστάσεων ὑπομονῇ. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Πῶς οὖν ὁ Θεόφιλος αὐτὴν ἐλοιδόρησεν; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ποῖος οὗτος; {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ὁ Ἀλεξανδρέων ἡγούμενος. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ἔοικάς μοι, Θεόδωρε, τοὺς τοσούτους διαύλους τῶν λόγων λήθῃ κεκαλυφέναι. {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ἐν τίνι; {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ φεισάμενος, ἀλλὰ ταύτην καταπατήσας, ὡς οἱ προάγοντες λόγοι παρέστησαν, καὶ ὁ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν, δι' ἣν ὁ μονογενής, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ἐσκύλη, ἵνα ταύτην ἑνώσῃ, μὴ τιμήσας, ἀλλ' ἐνυβρίσας τῷ σχήματι, γυναικὸς ἔχει φείσασθαι χήρας, ἐν προσευχαῖς τὸ ζῆν ἀναλισκούσης; ἐμπερινόστησον καὶ ἴδε εἴ τινά ποτε τῶν κακῶν ἐλοιδόρησεν, μισευλαβὴς ὑπάρχων ἀεί. διὰ τί δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν αὐτοῦ οὐ στοχάζῃ, πῶς εἰσιν ἐναντίαι ἀλλήλαις; Ἐπιφάνιον γὰρ τὸν μακάριον τὸν Κωνσταντίας τῆς Κύπρου ἐπίσκοπον, τριάκοντα ἓξ ἔτη ἄρξαντα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, δυσφη μήσας, ὡς αἱρετικὸν ἢ σχισματάριν ἐπὶ ∆αμάσου καὶ Σιρικίου τοῦ μακαρίου, ὕστερον ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν πάπαν Ἰννοκέντιον ἐπιστολῇ λοιδορῶν τὸν μακάριον Ἰωάννην, εὑρίσκεται ἁγιώ τατον ὀνομάζων τὸν Ἐπιφάνιον. ποσάκις δὲ θέλεις καὶ τὰ γόνατα ταύτης ἐφίλησεν, ἐλπίδι τοῦ ἀργυρίου, ἣν νῦν λοιδορεῖ, ἐκείνης χαμαὶ πιπτούσης ἐπὶ τῷ πράγματι καὶ δάκρυα ῥαι νούσης, ἐπισκόπου ταῦτα ποιοῦντος; πλὴν ἐν τίνι ἐλοιδόρησεν αὐτήν; {Ο ∆ΙΑΚ.} Ὡς ὑποδεξαμένην τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ῥιφέντας μοναχούς. {Ο ΕΠΙΣΚ.} Καὶ ἔξεστιν ἐπισκόπῳ