Theophanes the Confessor, Chronography

Shame, as it were, led some to be downcast at the strangeness of the slander, but the pleasure of applauding and rejoicing led others through lack of self-control. So the accusers were brought into the midst, and the woman was the proof of what was said. And he, at the same time as the woman's appearance, not shrinking back in any way, asked her for all to hear, 'How are you, lady?' (for she was well known to him for a long time on account of her virtue), and 'How are so-and-so and so-and-so?', asking about her husband and her relatives. Thus did his artlessness blossom. But they, shouting out all the more, exulted in their pleasure, exaggerating the points of the accusation and finally giving clear proof. But when he barely perceived the accusation, fired with zeal, so that the affairs of the church and of Christ might not be endangered through 159 him, saying that there is one time for modesty and another for reticence and solemnity, raising himself a little from his throne and gathering his garment to himself, he showed his private parts naked, having them miraculously wrought and not in a human way, and at the same time he recounted the miracle, how a long time before, when he was in old Rome, while his passions were still vigorous and at their peak, a certain lust burned him more hotly than even the impulse of passion. Since, therefore, he was in danger and was not able to overcome this, stretching out his two hands toward the church of Peter, the chief of the apostles, he implored to receive some assistance and aid. And indeed, having turned to sleep late from the weariness of prayer, the apostle appeared to him, touching that part and extinguishing the impulses of his passions, adding only this: "You are now released from the dominion of the passions, Methodios." With these words he convinced that great assembly, filling the enemies of the truth with shame. However, the *magistros* Manuel did not deem the accusations to be resolved by these things, but even threatened the woman that he would surely take her life if she did not teach the whole truth. And she straightway makes the whole plot known and clear, saying that she had been bribed with so-and-so much gold, 'and it is still in one of my chests, just as it was given, sealed and kept with their seal.' Therefore, sending immediately, they found 160 that gold in the chest, as the woman had said, and brought it. And these men, through the patriarch's sympathy and appeal to the rulers, were not deemed worthy of punishments and tortures, which they deserved, but of pardon, receiving only this for payment and punishment: that every year at the festival of Orthodoxy, they should process with candles from the venerable shrine of the Mother of God in Blachernae to the divine and renowned church of the Wisdom and have their own anathema resound in their ears on account of their hostility toward the divine icons; which was also observed for a long time and was kept up until their own lives. And such a heresy, which had grown for a considerable time, had such an end from God; and the divine forms of the holy icons shone forth again, not being worshiped and fashioned by us as divine, but relatively and venerably conveying through them to us honor toward the prototypes.11 Celebrating this feast with pleasure, Theodora once feasted the entire body of the church in the same place at the Karianos palace, which, as has been said by us before, Theophilos had built for the sake of his own daughters. Indeed, there was no one of the priests and confessors who was not present there. Numbered among these were both Theophanes of Smyrna and his brother Theodore. So when the feast was past its peak and the desserts along with the cakes were set out for eating, as the empress 161 was constantly gazing and observing the letters on the fathers' foreheads and sighing, it happened somehow that they, as if by agreement, looked up and saw her gazing at them. So when they said, 'What then, my lady, is the reason for your steady gaze toward us?' she said that she marveled at your endurance on account of the letters and the cruelty of the one who did these things

πρὸς τὸ ξένον τῆς λοιδορίας κατηφιῶντας οιον ἐνῆ- γεν αἰδώς, τοὺς δ' ἡ τοῦ κροτεῖν καὶ χαίρειν ὑπ' ἀκρασίας ἡδονή. ηγοντο γοῦν οἱ κατηγοροῦντες εἰς μέσον, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων ἡ αν- θρωπος ελεγχος. ὁ δὲ αμα τῇ παραστάσει τῆς γυναικός, οὐδὲν ὑποστειλάμενος οὐδαμῶς, οπως τε εχεις κυρία, ταύτην ἐπηρώτα εἰς ἐπήκοον (καὶ γὰρ ην αὐτῷ γνώριμος ἐκ πολλοῦ δι' ἀρετήν), καὶ οπως ὁ δεῖνα καὶ ὁ δεῖνα, περὶ τοῦ ταύτης ἀνδρὸς καὶ τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτῇ· ουτως τούτῳ ἐπήνθει τὸ απλαστον. οἱ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐκβοήσαντες ἐγαυρίων ὑφ' ἡδονῆς, τὰ τῆς κατηγορίας ἐπαύξοντες καὶ σαφῆ τὸν ελεγχον δόντες λοιπόν. ὡς δ' ουτος μόλις τῆς κατηγορίας ἐπῄσθετο, ζήλῳ πυρωθείς, ὡς αν μὴ δι' 159 αὐτοῦ τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας κινδυνεύοι καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, αλλον μὲν ειναι καιρὸν αἰδοῦς αλλον δὲ ὑποστολῆς καὶ σεμνότητος, μικρὸν ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου μετεωρίσας αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τὸν κόλπον συνα- γαγὼν γυμνὴν ἐδείκνυεν τὴν αἰδώ, τεθαυματουργημένην εχων καὶ οὐ κατ' ανθρωπον, καὶ αμα διηγεῖτο τὴν θαυματουργίαν, ὡς πρὸ πολλοῦ κατὰ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν ̔Ρώμην γενόμενος, σφριγώντων ετι καὶ ἐνακμαζόντων τῶν παθῶν, ερως τις αὐτὸν ἐξέκαιεν θερμό- τερον η  καὶ κατὰ πάθους ὁρμήν. ἐπεὶ γοῦν ἐκινδύνευεν καὶ πε- ριγενέσθαι τούτου οὐκ ην οιός τε, τὸν κορυφαῖον Πέτρον τὼ χεῖρε πρὸς τὸν ναὸν ἐκπετάσας ἐξελιπάρει τυχεῖν τινὸς ἐπικουρίας καὶ ἀρωγῆς. καὶ δὴ τῷ κόπῳ τῆς εὐχῆς ὀψὲ πρὸς υπνον κλιθείς, φανῆναί οἱ τὸν ἀπόστολον ἐκείνου τοῦ μέρους ἁπτόμενον καὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς σβεννύοντα τῶν παθῶν, τοῦτο μόνον προσεπιλέγοντα τὸ "ἀπολέλυσαι δὴ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐπικρατείας, Μεθόδιε." τούτοις ἐκεῖνος τὸν μακρὸν ἐκεῖνον πέπεικε σύλλογον, αἰσχύνης πλήσας τοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρούς. οὐ μὴν ὁ μάγιστρος Μανουὴλ τού- τοις ἠξίου λύεσθαι τὰς κατηγορίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ ἠπείλει η μὴν ἀπαγαγεῖν τῆς ζωῆς, εἰ μὴ τὴν πᾶσαν διδάξῃ ἀλήθειαν. καὶ η γ' εὐθέως εκπυστον καὶ σαφῆ τὴν πᾶσαν δραματουργίαν ποιεῖ, τόσου καὶ τόσου λέγουσα χρυσίου ἐξωνηθῆναι, καὶ ετι εν τινί μου τῶν κιβωτίων, ουτως ὡς ἐδόθη, σεσημασμένον ἐστὶ καὶ πεφύλακται σφραγῖδι αὐτῶν. αὐθωρὸν ουν ἀποστείλαντες ἐκεῖνό 160 τε, ὡς εφησεν ἡ γυνή, ευρον τὸ χρυσίον κατὰ τὴν κιβωτὸν καὶ ηγαγον. καὶ ουτοι τῇ τοῦ πατριάρχου συμπαθείᾳ καὶ παρακλή- σει πρὸς τοὺς κρατοῦντας οὐ ποινῶν καὶ βασάνων, ων ησαν αξιοι, ἀλλὰ συγγνώμης ἠξίωντο, τοῦτο μόνον εἰς εκτισιν λαβόντες καὶ τιμωρίαν τὸ ἀνὰ πᾶν ετος ἐν τῇ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας πανηγύρει μετὰ λαμπάδων ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν Βλαχέρναις σεβασμίου σηκοῦ τῆς θεομήτο- ρος πρὸς τὸν θεῖον καὶ περιώνυμον τῆς σοφίας ἀφικνεῖσθαι νεὼν καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐνηχεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς ὠσὶν ἀνάθεμα διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰς θείας εἰκόνας ἀπέχθειαν· ο  καὶ τηρούμενον ἐφάνη ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν μέχρις ἐταμιεύθη ζωῆς. καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐφ' ἱκανὸν αὐξηθεῖσα τοιαύτη αιρεσις τοιοῦτον δὴ ειχε καὶ τὸ πέρας ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ· ἀνέλαμψαν δὲ αἱ θεῖαι τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων μορφαί, οὐ θεϊκῶς ἡμῖν λατρευόμεναί τε καὶ τυπούμεναι, σχετικῶς δὲ καὶ σεβασμίως τὴν δι' αὐτῶν πρὸς τὰ πρωτότυπα ἡμῖν τιμήν πως διαπορθμεύουσαι.11 Ταύτην αγουσα τὴν ἑορτὴν ἡ Θεοδώρα δι' ἡδονῆς εἱστία ποτὲ ἐν ταὐτῷ τὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πλήρωμα πᾶν κατὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Καριανοῦ ἀνάκτορα, α, ὡς ειρηται πρότερον ἡμῖν, τῶν ἑαυ- τοῦ ενεκεν θυγατέρων ὁ Θεόφιλος ἐνεδείματο. οὐκ ην γοῦν οστις οὐ παρῆν ἐκεῖ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ ὁμολογητῶν. τούτοις ἐναρίθμιοι Θεοφάνης τε ὁ τῆς Σμύρνης καὶ ὁ αὐτοῦ Θεόδωρος ἀδελφός. ὡς ουν τὰ τῆς εὐωχίας παρήκμασεν καὶ εἰς βρῶσιν τὰ τραγήματα μετὰ τῶν πλακούντων παρέκειντο, συνεχῶς ἀτενιζούσης τῆς βασι- 161 λίδος καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ γράμματα τῶν πατέρων καθορώσης καὶ στεναζούσης συνέβη πως τούτους ὡς ἐξ ὁμολόγου ἀντοφθαλμῆ- σαι καὶ ταύτην ἐνιδεῖν ἀτενιζούσης αὐτοῖς. φησάντων γοῦν ὡς τίς αρα, δέσποινα, ἡ αἰτία τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς σου ὁράσεως ἀτενοῦς; τὴν ἐκ τῶν γραμμάτων εφη θαυμάζειν καρτερίαν ὑμῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ ταῦτα δράσαντος ἀπήνειαν