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And Theophilus, being astonished, ordered the work to be brought forward. Therefore, when late in the night the men arrived holding the hammers, and 156 John concealing himself in lay clothing, so that he might not be conspicuous, John by himself, having uttered the elemental words and transferred the power inherent in the rulers to the statue, or rather, having cast down the power that was previously in the statue from the power of those who had enchanted it, orders each one to strike youthfully and powerfully. And two of them, using the most powerful blows, cut off the two heads of the statue; but the other, making the blow more gently, bent it a little, but did not sever the whole head from the body. Therefore, the things concerning the leaders followed these events. For when a mighty strife and civil war fell upon them, two of the leaders fell at the hands of one according to the cutting off of the heads, with the third alone being saved, but not soundly. Thus the nation, having come to be nothing, set out again for their own lands in flight and disaster. But the matters of sorcery were thus, (8) And this sorcerer had a brother in the flesh, named Arsaber, who had been honored with the rank of patrician by Theophilus. This man, then, possessed a suburban estate on the left side of the Euxine as one sails out, in the monastery of Saint Phokas, having very great buildings and luxurious porticoes and a bath and in addition to these, cisterns. There indeed the patriarch, making frequent stays, is said to have constructed a certain underground dwelling similar to that of Trophonius, and behind the opening door, close at hand, there was a certain small gate 157 leading those who wished thither down by no few steps. That, at any rate, was his evil workshop. There indeed some were kept by him as chambermaids, both nuns and other women who did not corrupt their beauty, with whom he was corrupted; and now divinations through liver-reading and bowl-divination and sorcery and necromancy were practiced, using these women as associates and assistants. Whence it often happened that he foretold certain true things through the cooperation of demons, not only to Theophilus but also to others of his way of thinking. But this abominable dwelling of his was late at one time sold by his brother to Basil, who was then *parakoimomenos*, and was converted into a holy monastery, not only that but also the rest, as they belonged to him; and from its foundations the monastery of the holy great-martyr was established. 9 At that time he and all his faction, as has been said, having been subjected to deposition, did not see fit to pass their own life in quiet, but still acted insolently against the holy icons. After his deposition, then, being in exile in a certain monastery, with a certain icon painted on the ceiling and staring intently at him, as it were, this man, not bearing to see its gaze coming down upon him, orders it to be taken down by a certain servant and its eyes to be gouged out, saying only this, that "I cannot look upon its form." 158 These things were heard, then, by the empress, and he was subjected to a fitting scourge and punishment by the rod. (10) But not even thus was it his pleasure to love quietness, but they also tried to attach some blame to Methodius, who is among the saints, and blame concerning the corruption of a woman who had an only-begotten child (this was Metrophanes, who not long after became the leader of Smyrna), whom they both bought off with sufficient gold pieces and at the same time promised that if only she would agree with them in these things, they alleged many things to the empress and to the guardians of her son. So straightway a tribunal and a court full of horror was assembled from both civil and ecclesiastical men. No one of the pious was absent, nor of the impious, nor of those who had undertaken the monastic life, nor anyone else of those able to hear or to speak; for the

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καὶ ἐκπλα- γεὶς ὁ Θεόφιλος ἐκέλευσε τὸ εργον ἐπαγαγεῖν. ὡς ουν παρῆσαν πόρρω δὴ τῶν νυκτῶν οἱ μὲν ανδρες τὰς σφύρας κατέχοντες, ὁ δὲ 156 ̓Ιωάννης διὰ λαϊκοῦ ἐνδύματος ἑαυτὸν περικρύπτων, ὡς αν μὴ κατάδηλος γένηται, καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁ ̓Ιωάννης τοὺς στοιχειωτικοὺς λόγους ὑπειπὼν καὶ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν τοῖς αρχουσι δύναμιν εἰς τὸν ἀν- δριάντα μεταγαγών, η  μᾶλλον τὴν ουσαν πρότερον ἐν τῷ ἀνδριάν- τι καταβαλὼν ἐκ τῆς τῶν στοιχειωσάντων δυνάμεως, παίειν εκα- στον προστάττει νεανικῶς τε καὶ ἰσχυρῶς. καὶ οἱ μὲν δύο ἰσχυ- ροτάταις χρησάμενοι καταφοραῖς τὰς δύο τοῦ ἀνδριάντος κεφαλὰς ἀπέκοψαν· ὁ δ' ετερος μαλακώτερον ποιήσας τὴν πληγὴν μικρὸν μὲν κατέκλινεν, οὐ μὴν καὶ ολην τοῦ σώματος ἀπέτεμεν τὴν κεφα- λήν. τούτοις ουν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐπηκολούθει. ερι- δος γάρ τινος κραταιᾶς ἐπεισπεσούσης αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμφυλίου μάχης, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἑνὸς οἱ δύο τῶν ἡγεμόνων πίπτουσι κατὰ τὴν κεφαλῶν ἐκτομήν, τοῦ τρίτου μόνου διασωθέντος μέν, οὐχ ὑγιῶς δέ. ου- τως εἰς τὸ μηδὲν ειναι τὸ εθνος χωρῆσαν πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα αυθις μετὰ φυγῆς ἀφώρμα καὶ συμφορᾶς. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν τῆς γοητείας ουτως, (8) τῷ δὲ γόητι τούτῳ ἀδελφὸς ην σαρκικός, ονομα ̓Αρ- σαβήρ, τὴν τύχην πατρίκιος παρὰ Θεοφίλου τιμηθείς. τούτῳ γοῦν προάστειον κατὰ τὸ εὐώνυμον μέρος τοῦ ἐκπλεομένου Εὐξεί- νου ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Φωκᾶ προσῆν, οἰκοδομὰς μεγίστας εχον καὶ πολυτελεῖς στοάς τε καὶ βαλανεῖον καὶ πρὸς τούτοις δεξαμενάς. ἐκεῖσε δὴ ὁ πατριάρχης συχνὰς ποιῶν καταγωγὰς λέγεταί τι ὑπό- γειον κατασκευάσαι ἐνδιαίτημα τῶν Τροφωνίου παρόμοιον, οπισθεν δὲ τῆς ἀνοιγομένης θύρας κατὰ τὸ πρόχειρον πυλίδα ειναί τινα 157 διὰ βαθμίδων οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐκεῖσε δὴ τοὺς θέλοντας παραπέμπου- σαν. ἐκεῖνο γοῦν αὐτοῦ πονηρὸν ἐργαστήριον. ἐκεῖσε δὴ τούτῳ τινὲς νῦν μὲν ἐταμιεύοντο θαλαμηπολούμεναι, μονάζουσαί τε καὶ αλλως τὸ κάλλος γυναῖκες μὴ διαφθείρουσαι, αις συνεφθείρετο· νῦν δὲ μαντεῖαι δι' ἡπατοσκοπίας καὶ λεκανομαντείας καὶ γοητείας καὶ νεκυομαντείας ἐνηργοῦντο, ταύταις προσχρωμένου κοινωνοῖς τε καὶ βοηθοῖς. οθεν πολλάκις καί τινα προλέγειν τούτῳ συνέβαινε τῇ τῶν δαιμόνων συνεργείᾳ ἀληθῆ, οὐ τῷ Θεοφίλῳ μόνῳ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέροις τοῖς τούτου ὁμόφροσιν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν τούτου τὸ μιαρὸν ἐνδιαίτημα ὀψέ ποτε πρὸς Βασίλειον τὸν τηνικαῦτα παρα- κοιμώμενον ἀπεμποληθὲν παρὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ εἰς ἱερὸν μετηνέχθη φροντιστήριον, οὐκ ἐκεῖνο μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ λοιπά, καθὼς αὐτῷ διαφέροντα ην· καὶ ἐκ βάθρων ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου μεγαλομάρτυρος ἀνι- δρύθη μονή. 9 Τότε δὲ ουτος καὶ πᾶσα ἡ αὐτοῦ, ὡς ειρηται, συμμο- ρία τῇ καθαιρέσει ὑποβληθέντες οὐχ ἡσυχῇ παραπέμπειν τὸν ἑαυ- τῶν βίον ἐδοκίμαζον, ἀλλ' ετι καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων ἐνεα- νιεύοντο. μετὰ γοῦν τὴν καθαίρεσιν ὑπερορίας εν τινι μονῇ γε- γονώς, εἰκόνος μιᾶς κατὰ τὸν οροφον ἱστορημένης καὶ ἀτενῶς οιον ἀτενιζούσης αὐτῷ, μὴ φέρων ουτος ὁρᾶν τὴν ἐκείνης πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπικατιοῦσαν θέαν, καθαιρεῖσθαι ταύτην διά τινος οἰκέτου προσ- τάττει καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς κατορύττεσθαι, τοῦτο μόνον ἐπιλέ- γων, ὡς τὴν ταύτης οὐ δύναμαι μορφὴν ἐνορᾶν. ηκουστο γοῦν 158 ταῦτα τῇ δεσποίνῃ, καὶ τῇ προσηκούσῃ μάστιγι καὶ παιδείᾳ διὰ σκυτάλης καθυποβέβλητο. (10) ἀλλ' οὐδ' ουτως ην ἀγαπητὸν αὐτῷ τῆς ἡσυχίας ἐρᾶν, μῶμον δέ τινα καὶ ως ἐπειρῶντο τῷ ἐν ἁγίοις Μεθοδίῳ προσάπτειν, καὶ μῶμον εἰς γυναικὸς φθορὰν παῖδα κεκτημένης μονογενῆ (Μητροφάνης ουτος ην, ὁ μετ' οὐ πολὺ τῆς Σμύρνης καθηγησάμενος), ην καὶ χρυσίων ἱκανῶν ἐξω- νησάμενοι καὶ αμα καθυποσχόμενοι εἰ μόνον τούτοις συμφήσειεν, πολλὰ κατελέγοντο πρὸς τὴν δέσποιναν καὶ τοὺς ἐπιτροπεύοντας τοῦ παιδὸς αὐτῆς. βῆμα γοῦν εὐθέως καὶ κριτήριον φρίκης γέ- μον ἐκ πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν συγκροτούμενον καὶ ἐκκλησιαστικῶν. οὐ τῶν εὐσεβῶν τις ἀπῆν, οὐ τῶν ἀσεβῶν, οὐ τῶν μονήρη βίον ἐπειλημμένων, οὐκ αλλος τις τῶν ἀκούειν η  λαλεῖν δυναμένων· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἡ