62

cast out to a strange place? For what reason is your honor, along with the brothers, imprisoned in Thessalonica, and Theosostos the abbot persecuted with his disciples from the same city, and another abbot from there immeasurably scourged? For what reason are the brothers Naucratius and Arsenius securely imprisoned until now, and Basil and Gregory likewise? For what reason is Stephen the virtuous abbot an exile with fifty disciples from his own school, along with one hundred and ten with a bishop, having previously anathematized the adulterous synod for annulling the gospel, as the letter sent by him contains? For what reason is Antony the most pious abbot under guard in Amorion, like the former, with his own brotherhood, having anathematized the adulterous synod? For what reason were those with the brother Aemilianus in Thynia bound and led away by the man of Nicomedia, having experienced scourgings and mockings, while their attackers plundered the monastery's property as spoils of war? For what reason was Leo the most God-fearing bishop, surnamed Balelades, persecuted in Cherson, and Antony the honored abbot imprisoned with two others? For what reason are our brothers kept in prison in Lipari beyond Sicily? For what reason were those with Litoius guarded in Cherson and from there sent in custody to the emperor, then imprisoned in Byzantium and kept together in monasteries? Shall I speak again of the things concerning us three? For what reason were the things declared to us at Agathou by the emperor through the spatharii, namely "4you are anathematized and deposed by the synod"5? For what reason the imprisonment of the three of us isolated at Saint Mamas? For what reason the arrival there of the same spatharii with three men from the opposing opinion, bearing a written text of our deposition and anathematization again? And since we stopped our ears from hearing, for what reason were we exiled, each to a different place, and shut up, both the oikonomos and Arsenius the brothers, and the persecution of the others twelve miles from Constantinople, so that some hid in a cave because of their secret service to us, having changed into lay clothing, while others hid under a rock all day and, since it was not possible to appear by day, ran about to one another by night? For what reason were those who were found seized by soldiers and imprisoned in the praetorium, and then exiled from the city? And to speak of the things at the beginning, for what reason was the Stoudios monastery guarded by a band of soldiers who came suddenly, so that we could not even breathe, and the arrival there of the bishops of Nicaea and Chrysopolis so that we would receive the adulterer, on the grounds that he had been permitted by the preceding patriarch to commit the adulterous union? and "4since"5, he says, "4the one who permitted it is a saint like Chrysostom, it is the economy of a saint, and you must accept it"5. For what reason were the four of us seized by night from there by a magistrate and soldiers and led away to Symeon, whom I know not how to describe, and the things declared by him from the emperor that we, having repented, should accept what we have opposed until now, on the grounds that an economy had occurred? For what reason were we again shut up in Saint Sergius and again the arrival of Symeon there from the emperor for this very purpose? For what reason was our appearance by means of magistrates in the crowded synod, where three of the greatest dignitaries were also seated? For what reason was I, the humble one, insulted there and surrounded on all sides and hearing, "4You do not know what nonsense you are spouting, what you are saying"5? while I was crying out, "4The Forerunner falls, the gospel is annulled, this is not an economy"5, and they were saying at great length, that "4it is an economy"5 and "4thus the saints practiced economy and the holy predecessor; see, there are witnesses, that he permitted the adulterous union"5, even if they did not say it in this way, but at the mention of "adulterer" they gnashed their teeth as if

62

ξενίᾳ παραρριφείς; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡ τιμιότης σου σὺν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ φρουρουμένη, Θεόσωστός τε ὁ ἡγούμενος διωκόμενος σὺν τοῖς φοιτηταῖς ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως, ἕτερός τε ἡγούμενος ἀμέτρως μαστιγωθεὶς τῶν ἐκεῖσε; ὑπὲρ τίνος Ναυκράτιός τε καὶ Ἀρσένιος οἱ ἀδελφοὶ ἕως δεῦρο ἀσφαλῶς καταφρουρούμενοι, Βασίλειός τε καὶ Γρηγόριος ὡσαύτως; ὑπὲρ τίνος Στέφανος ὁ ἐνάρετος ἡγούμενος σὺν πεντήκοντα μαθηταῖς μετανάστης ἐκ τοῦ οἰκείου φροντιστηρίου, σὺν ἑκατόν τε δέκα ἅμα ἐπισκόπῳ, πρότερον ἀναθεματικὼς τὴν μοιχοσύνοδον ὡς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον λύσασαν, καθὰ περιέχει τὸ ἀποσταλὲν παρ' αὐτοῦ γραμματεῖον; ὑπὲρ τίνος Ἀντώνιος ὁ εὐλαβέστατος ἡγούμενος ἐν φρουρᾷ εἰς τὸ Ἀμόριν, ὁμοίως τοῦ προτέρου σὺν τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν ἀδελφότητι ἀναθεματικὼς τὴν μοιχοσύνοδον; ὑπὲρ τίνος οἱ περὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Αἰμιλιανὸν ἐν Θυνίᾳ παρὰ τοῦ Νικομηδέως δεθέντες καὶ ἀχθέντες, πεῖράν τε μαστίγων καὶ ἐμπαιγμῶν λαβόντες, καταληϊσαμένων τῶν ἐπιπεσόντων αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς μονῆς ὡς πολεμικὰ λάφυρα; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἐν Χερσῶνι δεδιωγμένος Λέων ὁ θεοσεβέστατος ἐπίσκοπος τὸ ἐπίκλην Βαλελάδης, Ἀντώνιός τε ὁ τετιμημένος ἡγούμενος σὺν δυσὶν ἄλλοις πεφρουρισμένος; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἐν Λιπάρει τῇ ὑπερέκεινα Σικελίας ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν ἐν φυλακῇ τηρούμενοι; ὑπὲρ τίνος οἱ περὶ Λιτόιον ἐν Χερσῶνι παραφυλαχθέντες κἀκεῖθεν ἐν φυλακῇ παραπεμφθέντες πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, εἶτα φυλακισθέντες ἐν τῷ Βυζαντίῳ καὶ συντηρούμενοι ἐν μοναστηρίοις; Εἴπω πάλιν τὰ εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς τρεῖς; ὑπὲρ τίνος εἰς τὰ Ἀγαθοῦ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως διὰ τῶν σπαθαρίων δηλωθέντα ἡμῖν, ὡς "4ὑμεῖς ἀναθεματισμένοι ἐστὲ καὶ καθῃρημένοι παρὰ τῆς συνόδου"5; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡ εἰς τὸν Ἅγιον Μάμαντα φυλακὴ μεμονωμένων τῶν τριῶν; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡ ἐκεῖσε παρουσία τῶν αὐτῶν σπαθαρίων σὺν τρισὶ τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ ἀντιδόξου ἐπιφερομένοις ὑπαναγνωστικὸν καθαιρέσεως καὶ ἀναθεματίσεως ἡμῶν πάλιν; καὶ ἐπεὶ περιεφράξαμεν τὰ ὦτα καὶ τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι, ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡμεῖς μὲν ἐξόριστοι ἄλλος ἀλλαχοῦ καὶ ἐναπόκλειστοι, ὅ τε οἰκονόμος καὶ ὁ Ἀρσένιος οἱ ἀδελφοί, διωγμὸς δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπὸ δυοκαίδεκα μιλίων τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ὡς τοὺς μὲν ἐν σπηλαίῳ κατακρυβῆναι διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς λανθανόντως διακονίαν, μεταμφιασαμένων ἐσθῆτα λαϊκῶν, τῶν δὲ ὅλην ἡμέραν ὑπὸ πλάκαν ὑποδύντων καί, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐμφανίσαι, νυκτὶ εἰς ἀλλήλους περιτρεχόντων; ὑπὲρ τίνος οἱ εὑρισκόμενοι κρατούμενοι ὑπὸ στρατιωτῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ πραιτωρίῳ φυλακισθέντες, εἶτα ἐξορισθέντες τῆς πόλεως; Καὶ ἵνα τὰ κατ' ἀρχὰς εἴπω, ὑπὲρ τίνος τὰ Στουδίου ὑπὸ στίφους στρατιωτῶν ἄφνω ἐπελθόντων φρουρούμενα, ὡς μηδὲ ἀναπνεῖν ἡμᾶς, τήν τε ἐκεῖσε ἄφιξιν τοῦ Νικαίας καὶ Χρυσοπόλεως εἰς τὸ δέξασθαι ἡμᾶς τὸν μοιχοζεύκτην, ὡς παρὰ τοῦ προηγησαμένου πατριάρχου ἐπιτραπέντα ποιῆσαι τὴν μοιχοζευξίαν; καὶ "4ἐπεί"5, φησίν, "4ἅγιος ὁ ἐπιτρέψας ὡς ὁ Χρυσόστομος, ἁγίου ἐστὶν οἰκονομία, καὶ δέξασθε ταύτην"5. ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡ ἐν νυκτὶ ἄρσις ἡμῶν τῶν τεσσάρων ἐκ τῶν ἐκεῖσε δι' ἄρχοντος καὶ στρατιωτῶν καὶ ἀπαγωγῆς πρὸς τὸν Συμεών, τὸν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως εἴπω, καὶ τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δηλωθέντα εἰς τὸ δέξασθαι ἡμᾶς μετανενοηκότας καὶ εἰς ὅπερ ἕως δεῦρο ἐνέστημεν, ὡς οἰκονομίας γεναμένης; ὑπὲρ τίνος πάλιν κατάκλειστοι εἰς τὸν Ἅγιον Σέργιον καὶ πάλιν τοῦ Συμεὼν ἐκεῖσε παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἄφιξις εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἡ δι' ἀρχόντων παράστασις ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ πολυανθρώπῳ συνόδῳ, συγκαθεζομένων καὶ τριῶν τῶν μεγίστων ἀξιωμάτων; ὑπὲρ τίνος ἐγὼ ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐκεῖσε ὑβριζόμενος καὶ κυκλόθεν περιστοιχιζόμενος καὶ ἀκούων, "4οὐκ οἶδας τί φλυαρεῖς, τί λαλεῖς"5; βοῶντός μου, "4πίπτει ὁ Πρόδρομος, λύεται τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, οὐκ ἔστιν οἰκονομία"5, κἀκείνων τὸ ἐπιλέγειν πολύ, ὅτι "4οἰκονομία"5 καὶ "4οὕτως οἱ ἅγιοι ᾠκονόμησαν καὶ ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις προηγησάμενος· ἴδε μάρτυρες, ὅτι ἐπέτρεψεν τὴν μοιχοζευξίαν"5, κἂν οὐκ ἔλεγον αὐτὴν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν μοιχοζεύκτην διεπρίοντο τοὺς ὀδόντας τοῦ οἱονεὶ