Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

Again coming together to those things which they were managing, and having barely recognized only the bare foundations from some faint signs, they are rebuilt more lavishly, while the emperor was absent, so that the event came to him only by reports, but not also by his own sight. For he comes upon them having been rebuilt more splendidly, and the fresh sights of his vision washed away the bitter report, when he saw them with gladness.

26. And he, intending to make a marriage contract with the protovestiarios and great logothete, so that the emperor's own brother Theodore might take to wife the daughter of Mouzalon, since, the girl having been betrothed, something happened out of bastardy with one of her relatives, with the inquiry raising a dispute as to whether the contract was forbidden, he gathered high priests and he gathered also the learned men of the clergy, and with them also the patriarch, the protovestiarios also being there; for his illness did not permit him to lodge anywhere far from the palace, but rather 181 he was entirely somewhere in one of the royal chambers. Therefore, when they were assembled there, deliberations took place as to whether it was permissible for the contract to be established, that fornication having occurred; and since to some it seemed so, but to others not at all, the emperor, wishing to please him whom he used as a most effective collaborator and counsellor in all things, having conceded the ambiguous point, on the one hand joined in marriage his brother to the daughter of the pinkernes Libadarios, ennobled by her protovestiarios grandfather, and on the other hand, he betrothed the daughter of the protovestiarios Mouzalon to his own son Constantine. But Constantine was not yet a despot by rank, but was celebrated conspicuously only for being the son of the emperor, nor indeed did the protovestiarios see the wedding while he was alive, but he ended his life in hopes and expectations alone. But the matter came to its conclusion when Constantine was also proclaimed despot, which Theodore had not been deemed worthy of. For his mother, greatly desiring to see him proclaimed despot by his brother and emperor, and pressuring her son much, did not obtain her desire, not because the ruler was disobedient to his mother, but because his piety and reverence for God prevented it; for the ruler, as it happened, 182 had previously forbidden the rank to him by oaths, and for this reason, observing the sworn oath, he was unwilling to install him as despot. But when he offered the rank of sebastokrator because of this, the other did not accept it. And hence he was without honor, as far as office and rank, but was celebrated only for being and being called the son of an emperor and the brother of an emperor, and lord of the Romans.

27. And since the church of God also needed someone to preside over it, a search was made for one who seemed worthy. A certain monk, Cosmas, was found in the city, drawing his lineage from Sozopolis, and having lived for years with a wife and having fulfilled a priestly life in a private capacity, whom he had long since left and chose to live as a monk along with his brother and son; and indeed having later come down to the city, in the emperor's monastery of the Archistrategos he fulfilled other services and that very one of ecclesiarch. This man, being of a good old age and a gentle man and altogether humble and mild, at that time of the scandal, since the emperor, sending men, also wished to learn how those of his own monastery were disposed concerning what was being done, both what sort of men were inclined to his will, so as to remain in the monastery still, and what sort and how many were oppositely disposed, so as to be driven from the monastery at once, 183 he also becomes part of those who resisted, and after a long voluntary confinement in persevering with the enclosed, having been released through the mediation of the Patriarch of Alexandria, having his former time in his own place, he lodges there in a monastic cell on an island of that sea. However, at that time the great konostaulos Tarchaneiotes Glabas, whom the emperor afterwards also made protostrator, spending much time in the places there (for the affairs there had been entrusted to him by the emperor) having seen him also, being otherwise and especially a friend of monks

αὖθις συνελ θόντες οἷς ἐκεῖνα διέφερον, καὶ μόλις γυμνὰ μόνα τὰ ἐδάφη γνω ρίσαντες ἀπό τινων ἀμυδρῶν σημείων, δαψιλέστερον ἐποικοδο μοῦνται, βασιλέως ἀπόντος, ὥστ' ἐπὶ μόναις ἀκοαῖς ἐκείνου τὸ πάθος στῆναι, οὐ μὴν δὲ καὶ αὐταῖς ὄψεσιν. ἐφίσταται γὰρ ἀνοικοδομηθεῖσι λαμπρότερα, καὶ ἁλμυρὰν ἀκοὴν αἱ πότιμοι τῆς ὄψεως ὀπωπαὶ ἰδόντος μεθ' ἱλαρότητος ἀπεκλύσαντο.

26. Αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου καὶ μεγάλου λογοθέτου κήδους συνάλλαγμα ποιησόμενος, ὥστε τὸν τοῦ βα σιλέως αὐτάδελφον Θεόδωρον εἰς γάμον ἀγαγέσθαι τὴν τοῦ Μου ζάλωνος, ἐπεί γε κατηγγυημένης οὔσης τῆς κόρης συνέβη τι ἐκ νοθείας πρός τινα τῶν ταύτης συγγενῶν, φερούσης ἀμφισβήτη σιν τῆς ζητήσεως εἰ κεκώλυται τὸ συνάλλαγμα, συνῆγε μὲν ἀρ χιερεῖς συνῆγε δὲ καὶ τοὺς τοῦ κλήρου λογίους, καὶ συνάμ' ἐκεί νοις καὶ πατριάρχην, ἐκεῖσε ὄντος καὶ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ νόσος εἴα μακράν που τῶν ἀνακτόρων κατασκηνοῦν, ἀλλ' 181 αὐτό που διόλου ἔν τινι τῶν βασιλικῶν οἰκημάτων. ἐκεῖ τοίνυν συναγομένων αἱ σκέψεις ἐγίνοντο, εἰ ἐγχωρεῖ πορνείας ἐκείνης προβάσης συνίστασθαι τὸ συνάλλαγμα· καὶ ἐπεὶ τοῖς μὲν τοῖς δ' οὐδ' ὅλως ἐδόκει, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀγάλλειν ἐθέλων ἐκεῖνον ᾧ δὴ καὶ συνέργῳ καὶ συμβούλῳ πρὸς πάντ' ἐχρᾶτο πρακτικωτάτῳ, τὸ ἀμφίβολον παρεικώς, τῷ μὲν ἀδελφῷ τὴν τοῦ πιγκέρνη Λι βαδαρίου θυγατέρα ἐκ πρωτοβεστιαρίου ἐξευγενιζομένην πάππου συνεζεύγνυ πρὸς γάμους, τὴν δὲ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου Μουζά λωνος τῷ ἰδίῳ παιδὶ Κωνσταντίνῳ κατηγγυᾶτο. ἀλλ' οὔτε ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος δεσπότης ἦν πω ἐξ ἀξιώματος, μόνῳ δὲ τῷ υἱὸς βασιλέως εἶναι περιφανῶς ἐκλεΐζετο, οὔτε μὴν ὁ πρωτοβεστιάριος ζῶν εἶδε τοὺς γάμους, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐλπίσι μόναις καὶ προσδοκίαις ἐτε λεύτα τὸν βίον. τὸ δέ γε εἰς τέλος ἐξέβη προβληθέντος καὶ δε σπότου τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, οὗ δὴ ὁ Θεόδωρος οὐκ ἠξίωτο. ἐκεῖ νον γὰρ καὶ λίαν ἡ μήτηρ ὀρεγομένη δεσπότην κατιδεῖν παρὰ τἀ δελφοῦ καὶ βασιλέως φημισθέντα, καὶ πολλὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἀναγκά ζουσα, οὐκ ἐτύγχανε τῆς ἐφέσεως, οὐχ ὅτι ἦν τῇ μητρὶ ἀπειθὴς ὁ κρατῶν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸ εὐλαβὲς καὶ θεοσεβὲς διεκώλυεν· ἔφθασε 182 γὰρ ὁ κρατῶν οὕτω συμβὰν ὅρκοις ἀπειπεῖν αὐτῷ τὸ ἀξίωμα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τηρῶν τὴν ὁρκωμοσίαν οὐκ ἤθελε δεσπότην ἐγκα θιστᾶν. διδόντος δὲ διὰ ταῦτα τὸ σεβαστοκρατορικὸν ἀξίωμα, ἐκεῖνος οὐ κατεδέχετο. κἀντεῦθεν ἀγέραστος ἦν, ὅσον ἐξ ὀφφι κίου καὶ ἀξιώματος, μόνῳ δὲ τῷ βασιλέως μὲν υἱὸς βασιλέως δ' ἀδελφὸς εἶναί τε καὶ κεκλῆσθαι, καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων δεσπόσυ νος, ἐκλεΐζετο.

27. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ προστησομέ νου ἔδει, ἐζητεῖτο ὁ δοκῶν ἄξιος. εὑρίσκετό τις ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν Κοσμᾶς μοναχός, ἐκ Σωζοπόλεως μὲν τὸ γένος ἕλκων, ἐπὶ χρό νοις δὲ καὶ συζύγῳ συζήσας καὶ βίον ἱερατικὸν ἰδικῶς ἐξηνυκώς, ἣν δὴ καὶ πάλαι καταλιπὼν μονάζειν αἱρεῖται συνάμ' ἀδελφῷ καὶ παιδί· καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐς πόλιν ὕστερον καταντήσας, ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀρ χιστρατήγου τοῦ βασιλέως μονῇ ἄλλας τε διακονίας ἐξήνυε καὶ αὐτὴν δὴ τὴν τοῦ ἐκκλησιάρχου. οὗτος εὔγηρως ὢν καὶ πραῢς ἀνὴρ καὶ τὸ σύνολον ταπεινός τε καὶ ἥμερος, κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν τοῦ σκανδάλου, ἐπεὶ καὶ πέμπων ὁ βασιλεὺς μαθεῖν ἤθελε τοὺς τῆς οἰκείας μονῆς ὅπως ἐπὶ τοῖς πραττομένοις γνώμης ἔχουσι, καὶ ὁποῖοι μὲν οἱ τῷ θελήματί οἱ προσκείμενοι, ὡς προσμενοῦντες τῇ μονῇ καὶ ἔτι, ὁποῖοι δὲ καὶ ὅσοι οἱ ἐναντίως ἔχοντες, ὡς αὐτίκα τῆς μονῆς ἀπελαθησόμενοι, μέρος γίνεται 183 καὶ οὗτος τῶν ἀνθισταμένων, καὶ μετὰ χρονίαν ἑκούσιον φυλα κὴν ἐν τῷ συγκαρτερεῖν τοῖς ἐγκλείστοις μεσιτείαις τοῦ Ἀλεξαν δρείας ἀπολυθείς, τὸν πρώην καιρὸν ἔχων ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ τόπῳ κελλίον μοναχικὸν ἐν νήσῳ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐκείνης ἐκεῖ κατασκηνοῖ. ὁ μέντοι γε τηνικάδε μέγας κονοσταῦλος ὁ Ταρχανειώτης Γλαβᾶς, ὃν καὶ πρωτοστράτορα ὁ κρατῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ἐποίει, πολὺ τοῖς τῇδε τόποις ἐνδιατρίβων (καὶ γὰρ ἐπετέτραπτό οἱ τἀκεῖ πρὸς βα σιλέως) ἰδὼν κἀκεῖνον, ἄλλως τε καὶ φιλομόναχος