Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

of these disciples, who would have brought down fire from heaven to destroy those who disobeyed, the Master said, you know not of what spirit you are. For the spirit that called them, even if they did not yet know it, is full of goodness and love for humanity and condescension towards sinners, but not of punishment and indignation and chastisement. While they were saying these things and making the emperor waver, those who for certain reasons were ill-disposed 168 towards him seized the opportunity and caused a disturbance and, writing strange accusations, they presented them, and they surrounded him, isolated from the many, with unrestrained insults, so that even on one occasion when he was standing somewhere above, and after the hymns had been completed was giving the blessing as was customary, some standing below him shouted and uttered a condemnation against him, being emboldened beyond what was proper on account of their hatred.

22. When, therefore, Athanasius realized that he was isolated and that the accusations stemmed from himself and those around him, and that the insults were coming from many, so that they even wished to bring a trial, and that it would not be possible for him if he wished to retain his office (for from this quarter there was no one who would make peace or even pay attention), he relented and unwillingly gave up the leadership. For not a few even of those who yesterday and the day before had been deprived of their own property by his men, conspiring together, were utterly plundering his property. And some also attacked those who were receiving grain rations and mocked and jeered and cursed and condemned them without restraint. And others even threw stones when he appeared. So great 169 was the hatred. And the majority loathed him. But he, knowing from this that he would even be led off to trial, as seemed best to those in power, sent a message to the emperor that men should be sent to take over the patriarchate, and also that men should be sent to escort him on his way, so that he might not be in danger. In the meantime, having composed two documents, the one of his own resignation, the other containing many things both for the sake of his own standing in life and cursing those who had allegedly condemned him, he who had undertaken the imitation of Christ, hid the one in a secret place at the top of a certain column among those standing in the catechumena of the great church on the left as one enters, under the opening of a dovecote, like a thief, taking care that no one should know, having himself leaned a ladder against it and placed it there, yet not the bare document, but having put it in two cups, securing the writings with his own signature and a lead seal, having pierced it and bound it tightly with a cord, so that it might not be tampered with by any of the destroyers while lying there for a long time. But the other, that of his resignation, he sent to the emperor, asking that he send as quickly as possible those who would make the road safe for him. And the document in the cups contained the following words.

(23) "Two things appeared for the overthrow of the church, supposedly devised for its benefit, 170 through the plot of those who rejoice in such things: one, that Bekkos should come to debate and perhaps be condemned and defeated, which was impossible since the people were raging and were holding and calling the sweet bitter; second, when it was granted to Hyakinthos to summon from everywhere in the Roman lands against the church those whom he found not nurtured by conscience or by the laws of God, but certain charlatans and worthless fellows, and capable of destroying the church of Christ, and whatever it had received, with irrational audacity and slander and insolence, in which things those men had their strength. And still, as it seems, a third evil was about to spring up from those two, which also because of the multitude of our sins happened in our day and waged war against us. For having received the care of the church of Christ by judgements which He himself knows, we were not secured from punishing either those who were causing schism in the church of Christ and were its insolent abusers, or restraining those who had been caught in impurities, adulteries, and fornications. But we were ignorant that even patriarchs are subject to such reckonings from those who have been called to account for their own errors and from those

τούντων τῶν μαθητῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταγαγόντας πῦρ ἀφανίσαι τοὺς ἀπειθοῦντας, εἰπεῖν τὸν δεσπότην ὡς οὐκ οἴδατε ποίου πνεύ ματος ἐστέ. τὸ γὰρ καλέσαν ἐκείνους πνεῦμα, κἂν μήπω οἴδασι, πλῆρες ἀγαθωσύνης καὶ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ συγκαταβάσεως πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας, ἀλλ' οὐ τιμωρίας καὶ ἀγανακτήσεως καὶ κο λάσεως. ταῦτ' ἐκείνων λεγόντων καὶ ἀμφικλινῆ τὸν βασιλέα ποιούντων, καιροῦ δραξάμενοι οἱ κακῶς ἔκ τινων αἰτιῶν ἔχοντες 168 ἐκείνῳ ἐθορύβουν καὶ γράφοντες κατηγορίας ἀτόπους ἐδίδουν, καὶ ἀνέδην λοιδορίαις μονωθέντα τῶν πολλῶν περιέβαλλον, ὥστε καὶ μιᾷ ἱσταμένου ἄνω που, καὶ τῶν ὕμνων ἐξανυσθέντων ἐπευ λογοῦντος κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες, τινὰς ἐκείνου κάτωθεν ἱσταμένους κράζειν καὶ ἀπόφημα κατ' ἐκείνου λέγειν, ὡς ἂν πλέον τοῦ εἰκό τος διὰ τὸ μῖσος καταυθαδιζομένους.

22. Ἐπεὶ γοῦν Ἀθανάσιος ἔγνω μονωθεὶς καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ἐξ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ὡρμημένας, τὰς δὲ λοιδορίας ἀπὸ πολλῶν συμβαινούσας, ὡς καὶ κρίσιν θέλειν ἄγειν, καὶ οὐκ ἀνυστά οἱ γένοιτο εἰ βούλοιτο τὴν τιμὴν κατέχειν (μηδὲ γὰρ ἐν τεῦθεν εἶναι τὸν εἰρηνεύσοντα ἢ καὶ προσέξοντα), καθυφίει καὶ ἄκων τῆς προστασίας. οὐκ ὀλίγοι γὰρ καὶ τῶν χθὲς καὶ πρὸ τρί της τῶν ἰδίων παρὰ τῶν ἐκείνου στερηθέντων ὁμοῦ συμφρήσαν τες διεφόρουν ἄρδην τὰ ἴδια. οἱ δὲ καὶ τοῖς σιτῶσιν ἐπεχείρουν καὶ κατεγέλων καὶ ἐπετώθαζον ἀνέδην τε κατηρῶντο καὶ ἀπεφή μιζον. ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ λίθους ἔβαλον φανέντος ἐκείνου. τόσον 169 τὸ μῖσος. καὶ κατεστύγουν οἱ πλείους. αὐτὸς δὲ γνοὺς ἐντεῦ θεν καὶ εἰς κρίσιν ἀπαξόμενος, ὡς τοῖς δοκοῦσι μᾶλλον ἐδόκει, βασιλεῖ διαμηνύεται ἀποσταλῆναι μὲν τοὺς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον ἀνα δεξομένους, ἀποσταλῆναι δὲ καὶ τοὺς διακομίσοντας κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, ὡς μὴ κινδυνεύοι. ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ σχεδιάσας βιβλία δύο, τὸ μὲν ἓν τῆς αὐτοῦ παραιτήσεως, θάτερον δὲ πόλλ' ἄττα πε ριέχον καὶ ἰδίας κατὰ τὸν βίον συστάσεως χάριν καὶ καταρῶν τῶν ὡς δῆθεν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀποφημισάντων, ὁ μίμησιν ἀναδεξάμενος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὸν μὲν ἐν ἀφανεῖ κρύπτει ἐν κορυφῇ κίονός τινος τῶν κατὰ τὰ ἀριστερὰ εἰσιοῦσι κατηχουμενεῖα τοῦ μεγάλου νεὼ ἱσταμένων, ὑπ' ὀπὴν περιστερεῶνος, δίκην φωρός, ὡς μήτις εἰδείη προμηθευσάμενος, κλίμακά τ' αὐτὸς προσερείσας καὶ ἐπι θεὶς πλὴν οὐ γυμνὸν τὸν χάρτην, ἀλλὰ δυσὶν ἐκπώμασιν ἐμβα λών, ὑπογραφῇ ἰδιοχείρῳ καὶ βούλλῃ μολιβδίνῃ τὰ γράμματα ἐξασφαλισάμενος, τετρήνας καὶ σπαρτίῳ περισφίγξας, ὡς μή τινι ἐπιβουλευθείη τῶν λυμαντήρων ἐς μακρὰν ἐκεῖ κείμενος. θάτερον δὲ τὸν τῆς παραιτήσεως πέμπει πρὸς βασιλέα, ἀξιῶν τὴν ταχίστην τούς γε τὴν ὁδὸν ἀσφαλῆ οἱ θήσοντας ἀποστεῖ λαι. εἶχον δ' ἐπὶ λέξεως ὁ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἐκπώμασι χάρτης τάδε.

(23) "δύο τινὰ ἐφάνη πρὸς καταβολὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας, εἰς ὠφέ 170 λειαν δῆθεν αὐτῆς ἐπινοηθέντα, ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς τῶν ἐπιχαιρόντων τοιούτοις, ἓν μὲν τὸ τὸν Βέκκον ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸ διαλεχθῆναι καὶ τάχα καταγνωσθῆναι καὶ ἡττηθῆναι, ὃ ἀμήχανον ἦν τοῦ λαοῦ μεμηνότος καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ πικρὸν ἐχόντων τε καὶ λεγόντων, δεύτε ρον, ἡνίκα τῷ Ὑακίνθῳ ἐξεχωρήθη ἁπανταχοῦ τῆς Ῥωμαίων προσκαλεῖσθαι κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οὓς εὕρισκεν οὐ συνειδήσει, οὐ νόμοις θεοῦ τεθραμμένους, ἀλλ' ἀγυρτώδεις καὶ τριωβολι μαίους τινάς, καὶ ἱκανοὺς καταστρέψαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Χριστοῦ, καὶ ὅσα παρέλαβεν, ἀλόγῳ θράσει καὶ διαβολῇ καὶ ὕβρει, ἐν οἷς εἶχον ἐκεῖνοι τὸ ἰσχυρόν. καὶ ἔτι, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔμελλε τοῖς δυσὶν ἐκείνοις κακοῖς καὶ τρίτον ἀναφυῆναι, ὃ καὶ διὰ πλῆθος ἡμετέ ρων ἁμαρτιῶν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ συνέβη ἡμέρᾳ καὶ καθ' ἡμῶν ἐστρα τεύσατο. τῆς γὰρ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας οἷς αὐτὸς οἶδε κρίμασι τὴν φροντίδα δεξάμενοι, οὐκ ἐξησφαλίσθημεν τοῦ μήτε τοὺς σχιζο μένους τῆς ἐκκλησίας Χριστοῦ καὶ ὑβριστὰς αὐτῆς τιμωρεῖν μήτε τοὺς ἀκαθαρσίαις μοιχείαις τε καὶ πορνείαις ἑαλωκότας ἀναχαι τίζειν. ἠγνοήσαμεν δὲ ὅτι καὶ οἱ πατριαρχεύοντες τοιαύτας εὐ θύνας ὑπέχουσι παρὰ τῶν ἐπὶ σφάλμασιν αὐτῶν εὐθυνθέντων καὶ τῶν