Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

He made a great show of reverence, and of disparaging what was done thoughtlessly, and of it becoming a matter of greater condemnation. Some, at any rate, who were indeed thought to be very cautious, being high priests themselves and seeming to place the benefit of security in a secondary position, agreed with the opinion of the emperor and cooperated in what was fitting. But the majority, 200 all of them even beyond those, putting forward old custom and laws speaking about these things and jurisdictions of offices from of old, did not give in. But if they did, they nevertheless recognized, as was likely, a transgression lying in wait for the established laws and a fall resulting from it, and that a source of necessary livelihood happened to be closed off to the clergy. And saying many such things, they seemed to be at a complete loss. But they achieved nothing. Wherefore a new law also comes forth, and almost only concerning the candles themselves, how many and of what sort they would be, which having been lit for the ceremony of the ordination the priests present would use. The patriarch indeed signs this new law, and the hierarchs sign it, and all except two, the one of Smyrna and the one of Pergamum, give their consent. However, the whole of the loss falls not upon those who signed but upon the clerics, so that some were confirmed in their agreements, while others unwillingly fulfilled the agreements of those men. 4. But also the despot in the west, Nicephorus of the Angeloi, happened to end his life, leaving two underage children, 201 an infant male son Thomas and a daughter older than the male, Thamar. And their mother Anna, the daughter of Eudocia, with the sebastokrator John also being out of the way, holding the guardianships of both the children and the toparchy, being a woman unwarlike by nature, was exceedingly suspicious of men who were occupied with wars, namely the two sons of John, Doukas and Angelos (for she had already outwitted Michael Komnenos by a trick, and detained him and handed him over to the emperor), and she feared for her children and her rule; for their father John, while Nicephorus was alive, an illegitimate son against a legitimate one, had harmed him by taking away many of his possessions. For such reasons she devised a plan that was altogether impracticable; for she decided to send to the emperor, and to beseech him and to beseech the patriarch and the church to overlook the established laws, and to condescend to the necessity which held great advantage, so that the young emperor would become her son-in-law, and she would joyfully hand over her entire country and herself and her son as ancient arrears to the Roman state, as if she herself 202 were about to receive as much in return for them. The contract, therefore, which she wished to arrange, was of the sixth degree and of blood-kinship, and was forbidden more than anything else. Whence, having sought and received the rank of despot for Thomas, but despairing of security from that quarter, she looks towards the Italians, and takes Philip, the grandson of Charles, as a son-in-law, giving not a few of the country’s lands and cities as a dowry for her daughter.

5. But the emperor was preparing a suitable marriage for his son. And he sends the hieromonk Sophonias, a wise and intelligent man, to Apulia to negotiate the proposed marriage alliance. But when he had departed and was wasting time in the interim (for it was necessary for him to go also to the pope, even if he was not supplied with letters from the emperor for him, in which it was necessary to write ‘most holy’ to the pope and for it to be a matter of the greatest judgment, as it seemed to those who were secure in the faith), and there were many beseeching him from other quarters, on the one hand from the king in Cyprus and on the other also from the Armenians, considering the things at hand of more importance than those which were expected, and otherwise suspecting the arrogance 203 of the pope of Rome, having been released from that concern he decided to arrange the marriage alliance with one of the other petitioners. And indeed first Athanasius of Alexandria, who had returned from Rhodes again to the city of Constantine after the expulsion of Athanasius—for the terrible things from there touched him also; the cause was the monastery of the Lavra of the Archstrategos, and another, that of the Great Field, to the church

πολὺς ἦν δοκῶν καταιδεῖσθαι καὶ τὸ ἀπερισκέπτως γινόμε νον ἐκφαυλίζειν καὶ εἰς κρῖμα μεῖζον γίνεσθαι. τινὲς γοῦν οἷς δὴ καὶ ἦν διευλαβεῖσθαι δοκεῖν, ἀρχιερεῖς ὄντες καὶ οὗτοι καὶ τὸ κέρδος τοῦ ἀσφαλοῦς ἐν δευτέρῳ δοκοῦντες τίθεσθαι, συνῄροντο τῆς γνώμης τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὰ εἰκότα συνέπραττον. οἱ πλείους 200 δὲ καὶ παρ' ἐκείνους ξύμπαντες, καὶ παλαιὰν συνήθειαν προβαλ λόμενοι καὶ νόμους περὶ τούτων λέγοντας καὶ δικαιοδοσίας ἐκ πα λαιοῦ ὀφφικίων, οὐκ ἐνεδίδοσαν. εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλὰ παραβασίαν τοῖς κειμένοις ἐφεδρεύουσαν καὶ ὄλισθον ἐντεῦθεν ἀνηρτημένον ὡς εἰκὸς διεγίνωσκον, καὶ ὅτι πόρον ζωῆς ἀναγκαίας τοῖς κληρι κοῖς ἀποκεκλεῖσθαι ξυμβαίνει. καὶ πόλλ' ἄττα τοιαῦτα λέγον τες τοῖς ἀπεροῦσιν εἰς τέλος ἐῴκεσαν. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἤνυον. διὸ καὶ νεαρὰ προβαίνει νομοθεσία, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς μόνον οὐκ ἀκριβολο γουμένων κηροῖς, ὁπόσοι καὶ οἷοι ἐσοῦνται, οἷς ἡμμένοις ἐπὶ τῇ τελετῇ τῆς χειροτονίας χρήσαιντ' ἂν οἱ τῶν παρόντων ἱερωμένοι. ἣν δὴ νεαρὰν ὑποσημαίνεται μὲν πατριάρχης ὑποσημαίνονται δ' ἱεράρχαι, καὶ πάντες πλὴν δυοῖν, τοῦ τε Σμύρνης καὶ τοῦ Περγάμου, συγκάταινοι γίνονται. πλὴν τὸ πᾶν τῆς ἀκερδείας οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὑπογράψασιν ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῖς κληρικοῖς πίπτει, ὡς ἄλλους μὲν ἐμπεδωθῆναι ταῖς ὁμολογίαις, ἄλλους δὲ καὶ ἄκον τας τὰς ἐκείνων ὁμολογίας ἀποπληροῦν. 4. Ἀλλὰ φθάνει καὶ ὁ ἐν δύσει δεσπότης ὁ ἐξ Ἀγγέλων Νικηφόρος τελευτῆσαι τὸν βίον, ἐπὶ δυσὶν ὑπεξουσίοις τέκνοις, 201 παιδί τε ἄρρενι ἀτελεῖ τῷ Θωμᾷ καὶ θυγατρὶ προφερούσῃ τὴν ἡλικίαν τοῦ ἄρρενος τῇ Ἰθάμαρ. καὶ ἡ ἐκείνων μήτηρ Ἄννα καὶ τῆς Εὐλογίας θυγάτηρ, ἐκποδὼν γεγονότος καὶ τοῦ σεβαστοκρά τορος Ἰωάννου τὰς ἐπιτροπὰς τῶν τε παίδων καὶ τῆς τοπαρχίας ἔχουσα, τοὺς τοῦ Ἰωάννου παῖδας δύο, τὸν ∆ούκαν τε καὶ τὸν Ἄγγελον (τὸν γὰρ Κομνηνὸν Μιχαὴλ φθάνει κατασοφισαμένη αὕτη δόλῳ καὶ ἐπισχοῦσα καὶ παραδοῦσα τῷ βασιλεῖ), γυνὴ ἀπόλεμος φύσει ἄνδρας καὶ πολέμοις ἐσχολακότας ἐκτόπως ὑπώ πτευε, καὶ περὶ τοῖς παισὶ καὶ τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐδεδοίκει· ὁ γὰρ σφῶν πατὴρ Ἰωάννης ζῶντα τὸν Νικηφόρον, νόθος γνήσιον, τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἐκείνου προσαφαιρούμενος ἐζημίου. διὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ οὐκ ἀνυστὴν ὅλως βουλὴν ἐβουλεύετο· ἔγνω γὰρ ἀποστέλλειν πρὸς βασιλέα, καὶ λιπαρεῖν μὲν αὐτὸν λιπαρεῖν δὲ πατριάρχην καὶ ἐκ κλησίαν παριδεῖν νόμους κειμένους, καὶ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ συγκαταβῆ ναι ἐχούσῃ μέγα τὸ χρήσιμον, ὥστε τὸν νέον βασιλέα γαμβρὸν ἐκείνῃ γενέσθαι, καὶ πᾶσαν χώραν καὶ ἑαυτὴν καὶ παῖδα ὡς ἀρ χαῖα ἐλλείμματα Ῥωμαΐδος ἐγχειρίζειν χαίρουσαν ὡς εἰ καὶ αὐτὴ 202 ἐπ' ἐκείνοις τόσα λαβεῖν ἔμελλε. τὸ οὖν συνάλλαγμα, ὃ συνι στᾶν ἤθελεν, ἕκτου ἦν βαθμοῦ καὶ ἐξ αἵματος, καὶ παντός γε μᾶλλον ἀπεκωλύετο. ὅθεν καὶ τῷ μὲν Θωμᾷ τὸ δεσποτικὸν ἀξίωμα ζητήσασα καὶ λαβοῦσα, τὴν δ' ἐντεῦθεν ἀσφάλειαν ἀπελ πίσασα, πρὸς Ἰταλοὺς ἀφορᾷ, καὶ τὸν ἔκγονον τοῦ Καρούλου ἐπιγαμβρεύεται Φίλιππον, οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν τῆς χώρας καὶ πόλεις ἐς προῖκα δοῦσα τῇ θυγατρί.

5. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς πρέποντα γάμον τῷ παιδὶ παρεσκεύαζε. καὶ τὸν μὲν ἱερομόναχον Σοφονίαν, ἄνδρα σοφόν τε καὶ συνετόν, ἀποπέμπει πρὸς Πουλίαν τὸ κινούμενον κῆδος διαπρεσβεύσεσθαι. ὡς δ' ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ ἀπελθὼν περιήργει (ἐδέησε γὰρ καὶ εἰς πά παν ἐκεῖνον γενέσθαι, κἂν οὐχὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον γράμμασιν ἱκανοῦτο τοῖς ἐκ βασιλέως, οἷς ἔδει ἁγιώτατον γράφειν τὸν πάπαν καὶ κρῖμα τὸ μέγιστον γίνεσθαι, ὡς τοῖς ἀσφαλέσι τὴν πίστιν ἐδόκει), πολλοὶ δ' ἦσαν οἱ προσλιπαροῦντες ἄλλοθεν, ἔνθεν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ ἐν τῇ Κύπρῳ ῥηγὸς ἔνθεν δὲ καὶ ἐξ Ἀρμενίων, τὰ ἐν χερσὶ τῶν προσδοκωμένων ποιούμενος περὶ πλείονος, καὶ ἄλλως τὴν ἀπὸ 203 τοῦ πάπα τῆς Ῥώμης ὑπειδόμενος ὑπερηφανίαν, τῆς φροντίδος ἐκείνης ἀπαλλαγεὶς ἔγνω ἐπὶ θατέρῳ τῶν ἀξιούντων τὰ τοῦ κή δους συστήσασθαι. καὶ δὴ πρῶτον μὲν τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας Ἀθανάσιον, ἐκ Ῥόδου καὶ αὖθις τῇ Κωνσταντίνου ἐπανελθόντα μετὰ τὴν ἐκβολὴν Ἀθανασίουἥπτετο γὰρ τἀκεῖθεν δεινὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ· τὸ δ' αἴτιον ἡ τῆς Λαύρας τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου μονή, καὶ ἄλλη ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀγροῦ, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ