son of the emperor Romanos, whom they were about to ordain patriarch of Constantinople. 38. On the twenty-fifth of the same month an unbearable winter occurred, so that the earth was frozen for 120 days. whence also a great famine occurred, surpassing any that had ever been, 909 and much death from this, so that the living were not able to carry out the dead. But the emperor Romanos, understanding that unspeakable distress, made provision worthy of his compassionate and merciful nature, consoling the want from the famine with many alms; and he blocked up the porticoes of the covered colonnades with windows and planks, so that the snow and the cold might not enter from there upon the poor. Then he also constructed the so-called 'arklas' in all the covered colonnades, and ordered that silver be given monthly to the poor lying in them, and the monthly trimisia in the churches, 12,000 of stamped silver. Not only these things did that compassionate soul arrange, providing for the poor, but he also ordered three poor men to eat with him daily, who also received one nomisma each. On Wednesday and Friday three poor monks ate with him, each receiving the stipulated nomisma. And what was customary to happen in the monasteries, so that a reading would take place at the time of the meal, this he also did, setting a double table for himself and his guests, so that the body might be nourished by the customary food, and the soul delight in the suitable pleasure of the words, to which he diligently applied his mind, and was pierced in his soul and shed many fountains of tears. 910 39. And the faith which he possessed towards all monks, but especially towards those renowned for holiness and piety, who could describe? For he never saw a monk clinging to virtue to whom he did not confess his own deeds with many tears. And being most faithful and most orthodox, he adorned and brightened all the churches of the city with translucent veils and brilliant illuminations. But also to the monks in the mountains, on Olympus and on Kyminas and on the rock named Golden and on the mountain of Baraches, he did not cease to send out yearly stipends, caring for and providing for them, and summoning to himself those renowned for practice and contemplation, and harvesting the blessings of their prayers. Not only this, but also to those enclosed for God's sake and who had confined themselves in the narrowest houses and to all the monasteries he did not cease to supply the yearly stipends which he had stipulated. These few things out of many we have recounted from his infinite achievements and charities. 40. But John, his brother, conspired against Peter the Bulgarian, along with other magnates of Symeon; and when they were discovered, John was beaten and shut up in prison, while the rest were subjected to no ordinary punishments. When Peter made these things known to the emperor Romanos, the emperor sent 911 the monk John, who had been rhaiktor, on the pretext of making an exchange of the held prisoners, but in truth to seize John and bring him to Constantinople. For having embarked on a ship with John, he came from Mesembria into the city; and not long after, when this man had cast off the monastic habit and sought a wife, the emperor gave him a house and very many properties and a wife from his own homeland, originating from the Armeniakon theme, and he held a splendid wedding in the house of the Caesar, with the emperor Christopher and the monk John, the former rhaiktor, acting as best men. 41. In the month of March, on the 2nd day, an architrave fell in the Forum from those resting upon the columns standing there in a row, and killed 6 men. There was also a great and terrible fire in the colonnade of the Forum, near the church of the most holy Theotokos, so that both the candlemakers' shops and the furriers' shops of the Forum were burned down as far as the Psicha. 42. And the emperor Christopher died in the month of August, in the 4th indiction, his father having mourned him greatly, as

τοῦ βασιλέως Ῥωμανοῦ υἱός, ὃν ἔμελλον πατριάρχην χειροτονεῖν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. 38. Εἰκάδι δὲ πέμπτῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς χειμὼν ἀφόρητος γέγονεν, ὥστε κρυσταλλωθῆναι τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ρκʹ. ὅθεν καὶ γέγονε μέγας λιμὸς τοὺς πώποτε γενομένους ὑπερβαλλόμενος, 909 καὶ θάνατος ἐκ τοῦδε πολύς, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς ζῶντας ἐκκο μίζειν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς τὴν ἀπόρρητον ἐκείνην βίαν κατανοήσας, ἀξίαν τῆς αὐτοῦ συμπαθοῦς καὶ ἐλεή μονος φύσεως πρόνοιαν ἐποιήσατο, πολλαῖς ἐλεημοσύναις τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λιμοῦ παραμυθησάμενος ἔνδειαν· ἀνέφραξέ τε θυρίσι καὶ σανιδώμασι τὰς τῶν ἐμβόλων στοάς, ὡς μὴ τὴν χιόνα καὶ τὸ ψῦχος ἐκεῖθεν ἐπεισιέναι τοῖς πένησι. τότε καὶ τὰς λεγομένας ἄρκλας ἐν πᾶσι κατεσκεύασε τοῖς ἐμβόλοις, ἄργυρόν τε κατὰ μῆνα τοῖς ἐν ταύταις κατακειμένοις πένησι δίδοσθαι διετάξατο, καὶ τὰ μηνιαῖα τριμίσια ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, ἀργύρου ἐγκεχαραγμένου χιλιάδας ιβʹ. οὐ μόνα δὲ ταῦτα ἡ συμπαθὴς ἐκείνη ψυχὴ διετυ πώσατο τῶν πενήτων προνοουμένη, ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν τρεῖς αὐτῷ συνεσθίειν πένητας διετάξατο, οἳ καὶ ἀνὰ ἓν ἐλάμβανον νό μισμα. τετράδι δὲ καὶ παρασκευῇ τρεῖς πένητες μοναχοὶ συνή σθιον, τὸ τετυπωμένον λαμβάνοντες νόμισμα ἕκαστος. ὅπερ δὲ ἐν τοῖς μοναστηρίοις εἰώθει γίνεσθαι, ὥστε ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἑστιά σεως ἀνάγνωσιν γίνεσθαι, τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίει, διπλῆν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς δαιτυμόσι τὴν τράπεζαν παρατιθείς, ὥστε τὸ μὲν σῶμα τρέφεσθαι τῇ συνήθει τροφῇ, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν τῇ καταλλήλῳ τῶν λόγων ἐπεντρυφᾶν ἡδονῇ, οἷς ἐκεῖνος ἐπιμελῶς προσέχων τὸν νοῦν κατενύσσετο τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ πολλὰς δακρύων ἠφίει πηγάς. 910 39. Τὴν δὲ πίστιν ἣν ἐκέκτητο πρὸς πάντας μὲν μονα χούς, μάλιστα δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ ἁγιωσύνῃ διαβοήτους καὶ εὐλαβείᾳ, τίς ἂν διηγήσαιτο; οὐκ ἐθεάσατο γάρ ποτε μοναχὸν ἀρετῆς ἀντε χόμενον, ᾧ τινὶ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ πράξεις σὺν πολλοῖς οὐκ ἐξηγόρευσε δάκρυσιν. πιστότατος δὲ ὢν καὶ ὀρθοδοξότατος πάσας τὰς τῆς πόλεως ἐκκλησίας πέπλοις διαφανέσι καὶ φωταγωγίαις λαμπραῖς κατεκόσμει καὶ κατεφαίδρυνεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι μο ναχοῖς, τῷ τε Ὀλύμπῳ καὶ τῷ Κυμηνᾷ καὶ τῇ Χρυσῇ κατονομα ζομένῃ πέτρᾳ καὶ τῷ τοῦ Βαραχέος ὄρει, οὐ διέλειπεν ἐτησίους ῥόγας ἐξαποστέλλειν, καὶ φροντίζων τούτων καὶ προνοούμενος, καὶ τοὺς ὀνομαστοὺς ἐπὶ πράξει καὶ θεωρίᾳ μετακαλούμενος ὡς αὐτόν, καὶ τῶν εὐχῶν αὐτῶν τὰς εὐλογίας τρυγῶν. οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς διὰ τὸν θεὸν ἐγκλείστοις καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἐν στενωτάτοις οἴκοις καθείρξασι καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς μοναστηρίοις τὰς ἐτησίους ῥόγας, ἃς διετύπωσεν, οὐ διέλειπεν ἐπιχορηγῶν. ταῦτα ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγα τῶν ἀπείρων αὐτοῦ κατορθωμάτων καὶ ἐλεημοσυνῶν διεξήλ θομεν. 40. Πέτρῳ δὲ τῷ Βουλγάρῳ ἐπέθετο Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων μεγιστάνων τοῦ Συμεών· καὶ φωραθέντων αὐτῶν ὁ μὲν Ἰωάννης τύπτεται καὶ ἐγκλείεται φυλακῇ, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τιμωρίαις οὐ ταῖς τυχούσαις ὑποβάλλονται. ταῦτα δῆλα ποιή σαντος Πέτρου τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμανῷ, ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν 911 μοναχὸν Ἰωάννην, ὃς ἐγεγόνει ῥαίκτωρ, προφάσει μὲν ὡς ποιή σασθαι ἀλλάγιον τῶν κρατουμένων αἰχμαλώτων, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ κατασχεῖν Ἰωάννην καὶ ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἀγαγεῖν. εἰσελθὼν γὰρ ἅμα τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ἐν πλοίῳ ἀπὸ Μεσημβρίας ἦλθεν ἐν τῇ πόλει· καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ τούτου τὸ μοναχικὸν σχῆμα ἀπορρίψαν τος καὶ γυναῖκα ἐπιζητήσαντος, δέδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς οἶκον καὶ κτήματα πάμπολλα καὶ γυναῖκα ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ πατρίδος τῆς τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν ὁρμωμένην, γάμον τε λαμπρὸν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Καί σαρος οἰκίᾳ πεποίηκεν, Χριστοφόρου βασιλέως καὶ Ἰωάννου μο ναχοῦ, τοῦ γεγονότος ῥαίκτορος, παρανυμφευσάντων. 41. Μαρτίῳ δὲ μηνὶ ἡμέρᾳ βʹ κοσμήτης ἔπεσεν ἐν τῷ φόρῳ ἐκ τῶν στοιχηδὸν ἱσταμένων ἐκεῖσε κίοσιν ἐπικειμένων, καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν ἄνδρας ʹ. γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἐμπρησμὸς μέγας καὶ φοβε ρὸς εἰς τὸν τοῦ φόρου ἔμβολον, πλησίον τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς ὑπεραγίας θεοτόκου, ὥστε κατακαῆναι τά τε κηροπωλεῖα καὶ τὰ γουνάρια τοῦ φόρου μέχρι τῶν Ψιχῶν. 42. Ἐτελεύτησε δὲ Χριστοφόρος ὁ βασιλεὺς μηνὸς Αὐ γούστου, ἰνδικτιῶνος δʹ, πολλὰ κοψαμένου αὐτὸν τοῦ πατρός, ὡς