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in no way fitting, finally they demanded that the patriarch defend those suffering the ultimate injustices. But he, I know not how, appeared cold and unmoved at these things. And when the clergy often pressed and implored him, he was speechless and seemed exactly like one who had nothing to say. Finally, avoiding the pressure from the many, he dismissed them, ironically delegating the punishment to the accuser, adding the words of Pilate to the Jews when he handed over the Lord for crucifixion, "Take him yourselves and crucify him." This occurred to him to say by chance, with a disposition of soul unknown to many, but to others it seemed extremely harsh and provoked their impulses, and these, being additionally grieved, were divided, so that they neither assembled with him nor prayed with him, referring the judgment concerning these matters to the emperor. And the emperor, as the disease was pressing the *protovestiarios*, so that the pains did not even allow him to breathe, by his consideration and counsel, raised Nikephoros Choumnos the quaestor to the office of *mystikos* and set him in the midst, assigning to him as a partner (for he did not yet trust him alone) John Glykys, the official in charge of petitions. And indeed in the same 165 year, bringing also the condemned men, his brother in a cage (a portable prison, one might say) and Strategopoulos in chains, he left Nymphaion on the twenty-eighth of Maimakterion and entered the great city. From that point on, therefore, there was a certain muted anger from the emperor towards the men of the church, and the charge brought against them was disaffection, and the preparations for this were their reservations from the patriarch, as they were supposedly vexed at the charge of disaffection, of which they had also been accused by Sabas. So that, having gathered them together on one occasion, he constructed a charge of disaffection against all of them from some who were suspected, thereby supposedly protecting the patriarch’s servant. For he used the whole sea and an outflow from it as an example, as it is the nature of the whole to be known from a taste of what it is like for that. And that these were not all, but from some who were perhaps suspected, all were brought under the accusations. But these things were more despotic than true, as he wished to appease the patriarch. 21. And they would have experienced still more indignation from the emperor because of these things, if some other deeds had not occurred which 166 disturbed the emperor, but moved the high priests to seek the reasons for which these things were done, seeming foreign to the laws of the church; for neither must a physician punish but heal the one who is suffering, nor a high priest chastise but cure the one who is sinning. For this reason, having gathered, they consulted in common, and decided to inform him and indeed to inquire (for the terrible events had also touched the high priests). And the message, as they sat in the church office, was that he should permit them to meet with him to ask and to learn how these things were being done; for the things being done were not ecclesiastical but tyrannical. Saying these things, they added also the deeds that were done, both those outside and those within. But he, upon hearing, took no notice at all, but said that this was a pretext for apostasy from him, and because of this he had decided it was not just to make a defense to them. And when, trying again, they did not persuade him, these too judged it right to separate themselves from him; for to have fellowship when such things were being done offered no ground of defense to those who were 167 rightly finding fault. And those around Gennadios and the man of Sylaeum were persuading the emperor not to allow these things to go unexamined, but to support the high priests who were speaking well. For it was they who had recommended with good testimonies the one who was raised to the patriarchate, and it was they again to discern that he who had been testified as not bad in other respects was faltering in his pastoring; for God does not give all things to all men. These things are from God, as all know. And often the one who is not rejectable in moral matters limps in administrative ones, and again, one who excels in this does not attain the virtue required for civic matters. And that to check wickedness was good and proper, but within the measures and laws of Christ. And the law of Christ is surely the holy gospel. but there to seek

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προσηκούσας μηδ' ὁπωσοῦν, τέλος ἠξίουν πατριάρ χην ἀμύνειν ἀδικουμένοις τὰ ἔσχατα. ὁ δέ, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως, ψυ χρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις κατεφαίνετο καὶ ἀκίνητος. ὡς δὲ πολλάκις οἱ τοῦ κλήρου ἐπέκειντο καὶ προσελιπάρουν, ὁ δ' ἄφωνος ἦν καὶ τῷ μή τι λέξειν ἔχοντι ἀκριβῶς ἐῴκει. τέλος ἐκκλίνων τὴν ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν βίαν ἀπέπεμπε κατειρωνευσάμενος τὴν τιμωρίαν τῷ κατειπόντι, τὴν τοῦ Πιλάτου πρὸς Ἰουδαίους φωνὴν ἐπειπὼν παραδιδόντος εἰς σταύρωσιν τὸν δεσπότην, "λάβετε αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς καὶ σταυρώσατε." τοῦτο ἐπῆλθε μὲν ἐκείνῳ ἐκ τοῦ τυχόντος εἰπεῖν ἀγνώστῳ πολλοῖς διαθέσει ψυχῆς, τοῖς δὲ καὶ λίαν δόξαν βαρὺ παρώξυνε τὰς ὁρμάς, καὶ προσλυποῦντες καὶ οὗτοι ἐσχί ζοντο, ὥστε μήτε συνέρχεσθαί οἱ μήτε μὴν συνεύχεσθαι, βασι λεῖ προσανατιθέντας τὴν περὶ τούτων ἐκδίκησιν. βασιλεὺς δὲ τῆς νόσου κατεπειγούσης τὸν πρωτοβεστιάριον, ὡς μηδ' ἀναπνεῖν ἐώσης τοῖς πόνοις, σκέψει καὶ βουλῇ τούτου τὸν Χοῦμνον κοιαί στορα Νικηφόρον εἰς μυστικὸν ἀνάξας ἐπὶ τοῦ μέσου καθίστησι, προσνείμας αὐτῷ κοινωνὸν (οὔπω γὰρ ἐκείνῳ καὶ μόνῳ ἐθάρρει) καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεων Γλυκὺν Ἰωάννην. καὶ δὴ τοῦ αὐτοῦ 165 ἔτους, ἐπιφερόμενος καὶ τοὺς κατακρίτους, τὸν μὲν ἀδελφὸν ἐν κλοβῷ (εἱρκτῇ φορητῇ τις εἴπῃ) τὸν δὲ Στρατηγόπουλον δέσμιον, ἐξελθὼν Νυμφαίου εἰκοστῇ ὀγδόῃ Μαιμακτηριῶνος τὴν μεγαλό πολιν εἴσεισιν. ἦν οὖν τοὐντεῦθεν κωφή τις ὀργὴ παρὰ βασιλέως τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐπαγόμενον ἔγκλημα δύσνοια, αἱ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο κατασκευαὶ αἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατριάρχου σφῶν ἦσαν ὑποστολαί, ὡς κακῶς δῆθεν τὴν τῆς δυσνοίας αἰτίαν, ἣν καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Σάβα κατηγόρηντο, δυσχεραινόντων. ὥστε καὶ μιᾷ συναγαγὼν ἐκείνους ἔκ τινων ὑποπτευομένων τὴν κατὰ πάντων συνίστα δύσνοιαν, περιποιούμενος δῆθεν ἐντεῦθεν τὸν τοῦ πα τριάρχου θεράποντα. θάλασσαν γὰρ συνόλην καὶ ἀπορροὴν ἐκείνης παρεδειγμάτιζεν, ὡς φύσιν ἔχοντος τοῦ παντὸς ἐκ τοῦ γεύματος οἷον ἐστὶν ἐκείνῳ γινώσκεσθαι. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τούτους οὐ πάντας, ἀλλ' ἐκ τινῶν ἴσως ὑποπτευομένων τοὺς πάντας ὑπά γεσθαι ταῖς αἰτίαις. ἦσαν δὲ ταῦτα δεσποτικὰ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθῆ, θέλοντος θεραπεύειν τὸν πατριάρχην. 21. Κἂν ἐπὶ πλέον τῆς ἀπὸ βασιλέως διὰ ταῦτα ἐπει ρῶντο ἀγανακτήσεως, εἰ μὴ καὶ ἕτερ' ἄττα πραχθέντα βασιλέα 166 μὲν ἐθορύβει, ἀρχιερέας δ' ἐκίνει ζητεῖν αἰτίας καθ' ἃς ταῦτα πράττεται ξένα τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας νόμων δοκοῦντα· μήτε γὰρ ἰατρὸν χρῆναι τιμωρεῖν ἀλλ' ἰατρεύειν τὸν πάσχοντα, μήτ' ἀρ χιερέα κολάζειν ἀλλὰ θεραπεύειν τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ συναχθέντες κοινῇ σκέπτονται, καὶ διαμηνύειν ἐκείνῳ καί γε διαπυνθάνεσθαι (ἥψαντο γὰρ τὰ δεινὰ καὶ ἀρχιερέων) ἐγνώκε σαν. τὸ δὲ μήνυμα, καθημένων ἐν τῷ ἐκκλησιαρχείῳ, ἐφ' ᾧ σφίσιν ἐφείη συνελθεῖν ἐκείνῳ ἐρωτῆσαί τε καὶ μαθεῖν πῶς ταῦτα πράττοιντο· μηδὲ γὰρ ἐκκλησιαστικὰ εἶναι ἀλλὰ τυραννικὰ τὰ πραττόμενα. ταῦτα λέγοντες προσετίθουν καὶ τὰ πραχθέντα, ὅσα τε ἔξω ὅσα τε ἐντὸς ἐπράττοντο. τὸν δ' ἀκούσαντα τὸ πα ράπαν μηδὲ φροντίσαι, ἀλλὰ σκήψεις τοῦτ' εἶναι φάναι ἀποστα σίας τῆς ἀφ' αὑτοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὰ μηδὲ δίκαιον ἐγνωκέναι πρὸς τούτους ἀπολογεῖσθαι. ὡς δὲ καὶ αὖθις πειρῶντες οὐκ ἔπειθον, διιστᾶν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκείνου ἐδικαίουν καὶ οὗτοι· τὸ γὰρ τοιούτων πραττομένων συγκοινωνεῖν μὴ ἔχειν λόγον ἀπολογίας τοῖς μεμφο 167 μένοις δικαίως. ἔπειθον δὲ καὶ οἱ περί τε τὸν Γεννάδιον καὶ τὸν Συλαιώτην βασιλέα μὴ ἐᾶν ἀνεξέταστα ταῦτα, ἀλλ' ἐπαρήγειν ἀρχιερεῦσι καλῶς λέγουσιν. αὐτοὺς γὰρ εἶναι πάντως τοὺς τὸν εἰς τὴν πατριαρχείαν ἀναγόμενον χρησταῖς μαρτυρίαις συστήσαν τας, αὐτοὺς δὲ καὶ πάλιν διαγινώσκειν ὡς ἐπιχωλαίνοι ὁ μαρτυ ρηθεὶς οὐ φαῦλος ἐπ' ἄλλοις τὴν ποίμανσιν· μηδὲ γὰρ πάντα πᾶσι διδόναι θεόν. ταῦτ' εἶναι θεοῦ, ὡς πάντας εἰδέναι. καί γε πολλάκις τὸν κατὰ τὸ ἠθικὸν οὐκ ἀπόβλητον κατὰ τὸ οἰκονομικὸν ὑποσκάζειν, καὶ αὖθις ἀριστεύοντα ἐπὶ τούτῳ μὴ φθάνειν τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πολιτικῷ ἀρετήν. ἀναστέλλεσθαι δὲ τὴν κακίαν καλὸν καὶ προσῆκον εἶναι, πλὴν ἐντὸς μέτρων καὶ νόμων Χριστοῦ. νό μον δὲ Χριστοῦ πάντως εἶναι τὸ ἱερὸν εὐαγγέλιον. ἐκεῖ δὲ ζη