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having been tonsured, the empress with her son approached him, blaming him for his withdrawal. But he said, "Would that I had never sat on the throne of the high priesthood in the first place, with the church being tyrannized and a schism existing between it and the other catholic thrones." Then she again sent chosen men from the senate, asking what might be suitably arranged. But he answered that "unless the error is corrected by a catholic council and a union of the churches 289 comes about, there is no salvation for you." And the senators said, "Why then did you yourself agree, when you were being ordained, not to venerate the icons?" But he replied, "Because of the madness of the rulers and your own harshness. But for this reason I lament and through repentance have fled to the mercies of God, praying not to be judged as a high priest." He then, amidst these things, ended his life; but the rulers appointed the renowned Tarasios, who was an asekretis, as patriarch, and the entire populace approved. But he refused, saying he was not able to preside over the church, since it was separated from the other churches and subject to anathema by them. But as the emperors and the people were insisting, he said, "If you agree for an ecumenical council to be assembled and for a union of the churches to take place, I myself will also accept the appointment." When everyone agreed to this, the divine Tarasios was ordained, and he and the rulers sent to elder Rome, where Adrian was presiding, and to the other patriarchs, ask290ing that some be sent by them who would be present at the council; and they were sent by all. And when the other high priests and monks had also been gathered in Nicaea of Bithynia, the patriarch Tarasios also came forth, and the seventh ecumenical council was convened there, and it was affirmed that the holy icons should both be venerated and revered, and the three who had presided over the church in Constantinople, Anastasios, Constantine, and Niketas, were condemned with an anathema, and the decisions of the holy council were inscribed in a tome. And the members of the council, having gone from Nicaea to the queen of cities and arrived at the palace, with the rulers also presiding, read the tome in the hearing of all; which was also ratified by the rulers, who signed it, and thus the sacred images were set up in the divine temples, and all the churches were united. So until this time, the affairs of the empire were directed by the empress and those attached to her. But now the 291 emperor Constantine, having passed boyhood and begun to become a young man (for he was twenty years old) and seeing that everything was managed by his mother and that Staurakios the patrician and logothete was all-powerful, while he himself was considered of no account, was vexed and, with some from both the senate council and those who served him, planned to depose Staurakios from power and send him into exile. But when the plot became known, the empress, having flogged all the emperor's servants who had participated with him and shaved their heads, exiled them to various places, and having cast dishonor upon those from the senate, she ordered some not to leave their own houses, and for others she even decreed exile. Moreover, having abused and reviled her son, she forbade him to go out. And she compelled the armies to swear not to accept her son as sole ruler, while she was alive. And while the others swore, even unwillingly, those of the Armeniakon theme did not submit, 292 but said they recognized Constantine as emperor, who had been proclaimed before his mother from the beginning, and thus they wished him to be acclaimed again. When Irene learned these things, she sent the spatharios Alexios and Mouseles, the droungarios of the Vigla, in order that he might bring them over to her will. But they arrested their own strategos and put him under guard, and chose Mouseles as commander of the theme and acclaimed Constantine alone as autokrator.

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ἀποκαρέντος, ἡ βασιλὶς μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτῆς προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ, αἰτιώμενοι αὐτὸν τῆς ὑποχωρήσεως. ὁ δὲ "εἴθε" εἶπε "μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης ἐκάθισα, τῆς ἐκκλησίας τυραννουμένης καὶ σχίσματος ὄντος μέσον αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καθολικῶν θρόνων." εἶτ' αὖθις ἐκ τῆς συγκλήτου λογάδας ἀπέστειλεν, ἐρωτῶσα ὅ,τι ἂν εἰς δέον οἰκονομηθείη. ὁ δὲ ἀπεκρίνατο ὡς "εἰ μὴ διὰ συνόδου καθολικῆς τὸ σφάλμα διορθωθῇ καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προβαίη ἕνω289 σις, οὐκ ἔστιν ὑμῖν σωτηρία." καὶ οἱ συγκλητικοί, "διὰ τί οὖν" εἶπον "αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ χειροτονεῖσθαι συνέθου τὰς εἰκόνας μὴ προσκυνεῖν;" ὁ δὲ ἀντεπήγαγε "διὰ τὴν τῶν κρατούντων μανίαν καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀπήνειαν. ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο θρηνῶ καὶ διὰ μετανοίας πρὸς τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς κατέφυγον τοῦ θεοῦ, δεόμενος μὴ ὡς ἀρχιερεὺς κριθῆναι." ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν τούτοις τὸν βίον κατέλυσεν· οἱ δὲ κρατοῦντες τὸν ἀοίδιμον Ταράσιον ἀσηκρῆτις ὄντα πατριάρχην προεχειρίζοντο, καὶ ὁ λαὸς ἅπας ἐπεψηφίζετο. ὁ δὲ ἀνένευε, μὴ δύνασθαι λέγων προστῆναι τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπεσχισμένης τῶν λοιπῶν τυγχανούσης ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ ὑπ' ἐκείνων ὑποβαλλομένης τῷ ἀναθέματι. ἐγκειμένων δὲ καὶ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ, "εἰ συντίθεσθε" εἶπε "σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν ἀθροισθῆναι καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν γενήσεσθαι ἕνωσιν, δέξομαι καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν προχείρισιν." συνθεμένων δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο πάντων, ἐχειροτονήθη ὁ θεῖος Ταράσιος καὶ στέλλει αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ κρατοῦντες εἴς τε τὴν πρεσβυτέραν Ῥώμην, Ἀδριανοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ προεδρεύοντος, καὶ εἰς τοὺς λοιποὺς πατριάρχας, ζη290 τοῦντες σταλῆναί τινας παρ' αὐτῶν τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ συνόδῳ παρουσιάσοντας· καὶ παρὰ πάντων ἐστάλησαν. ἀθροισθέντων δὲ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ μοναχῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ τῆς Βιθυνίας καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης ἐξῆλθε Ταράσιος, καὶ συνέστη ἐκεῖ οἰκουμενικὴ σύνοδος ἑβδόμη, καὶ ἐκυρώθη τὰς σεπτὰς εἰκόνας καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι καὶ σεβάζεσθαι, ἀναθέματι δὲ κατεκρίθησαν καὶ οἱ τρεῖς οἱ τῆς ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει προεδρεύσαντες ἐκκλησίας, ὅ τε Ἀναστάσιος καὶ ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ ὁ Νικήτας, καὶ τόμῳ τὰ τῇ ἱερᾷ συνόδῳ δόξαντα ἐνεγράφησαν. ἐκ δὲ Νικαίας εἰς τὴν τῶν πόλεων βασιλεύουσαν ἐνδημήσαντες οἱ τῆς συνόδου καὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις γενόμενοι, προκαθημένων καὶ τῶν βασιλευόντων, εἰς ἐπήκοον πάντων τὸν τόμον ἀνέγνωσαν· ὃς καὶ παρὰ τῶν κρατούντων κεκύρωτο ὑποσημηναμένων αὐτόν, καὶ οὕτως τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκτυπώματα ἐν τοῖς θείοις ναοῖς ἀνεστήλωντο, καὶ αἱ ἐκκλησίαι ἅπασαι ἥνωντο. Τὰ μὲν οὖν μέχρι τοῦδε παρὰ τῆς βασιλίσσης καὶ τῶν αὐτῇ προσῳκειωμένων τὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἰθύνοντο. ἤδη δὲ τὸν 291 μείρακα παρελάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ εἰς νεανίαν τελεῖν ἠργμένος (εἰκοσαέτης γὰρ ἦν) καὶ ὁρῶν ἅπαντα παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς οἰκονομούμενα καὶ Σταυράκιον τὸν πατρίκιον καὶ λογοθέτην τὰ πάντα δυνάμενον ἑαυτὸν δὲ μηδενὸς ἀξιούμενον λόγου, ἤχθετο καὶ μετά τινων τῶν τε τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς καὶ τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων αὐτῷ ἐμελέτησε τὸν Σταυράκιον τῆς ἀρχῆς καθελεῖν καὶ ποιήσασθαι ὑπερόριον. γνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ βουλεύματος, τοὺς μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως θεράποντας τοὺς αὐτῷ συμμετέχοντας τύψασα πάντας καὶ ψιλώσασα τῶν τριχῶν ἡ βασίλισσα ἄλλους ἄλλῃ ἐξώρισε, τοὺς δ' ἐκ τῆς συγκλήτου ἀτιμίᾳ περιβαλοῦσα τοὺς μὲν ἀπροΐτους τῶν ἰδίων οἴκων εἶναι κεκέλευκε, τῶν δὲ καὶ ὑπερορίαν κατεψηφίσατο. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αἰκισαμένη καὶ λοιδορησαμένη προϊέναι κεκώλυκε. τὰ δὲ στρατεύματα ὀμνύειν ἠνάγκαζε μὴ δέξασθαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς εἰς αὐταρχίαν, ζώσης ἐκείνης. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι καὶ ἄκοντες ὤμνυον, οἱ δὲ τοῦ θέματος τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν οὐχ ὑπέκυψαν, 292 ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλέα γινώσκειν εἶπον τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον, καὶ πρὸ τῆς μητρὸς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀναγορευόμενον, καὶ οὕτως αὖθις αὐτὸν ἤθελον εὐφημεῖσθαι. ταῦτα ἡ Εἰρήνη μαθοῦσα ἔστειλε τὸν σπαθάριον Ἀλέξιον καὶ δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλας τὸν Μωσηλέ, ἵν' αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ αὐτῆς μετάθηται θέλημα. οἱ δὲ τὸν μὲν στρατηγὸν ἑαυτῶν συνέσχον ὑπὸ φρουράν, τὸν δὲ Μωσηλὲ ἄρχοντα τοῦ θέματος εἵλοντο καὶ μόνον τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον εὐφήμησαν αὐτοκράτορα.