Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle I

of those appointed as rulers of the church, the rest rejected his communion. Nevertheless, some willingly, and others unwillingly, except for a few, submitted, but being shaken in their opinions, they strengthened by their actions those who did not obey. But the lay multitude, utterly feigning ignorance of the new shepherd, sought the legitimate one. 169 So with affairs thus in turmoil, when he also learned that the emperor was about to wage a very great battle against the fortress of Galata, so as to capture it, even if he should suffer something—for from there he hoped also for the capture of the great city, having remained a short while in Nicaea, he set out at once and having arrived at the gate, shaking the dust from his shoes as if for a testimony, he departed; and through the sea strait at Helenopolis he hastened to him, at the same time to rejoice there in the emperor's consolation, and also hoping for great things, seeing the battle being joined against the city, as he would immediately mount the throne of the church upon its capture, having been delivered from Nicaea and the things there. While he was completing the journey in between, the emperor was still in Selybria, when it happened that Andronikos of Sardis was also present there; for of the two who were in schism, himself and Manuel of Thessaloniki, the latter gave himself into exile and was exiled.

18. How the bishop of Sardis was tonsured as a monk in Selybria. But the bishop of Sardis, thinking he was doing something wise, if he did not contend with the emperor, by defecting from the patriarch, decided to get the better of the emperor by another route. And so, since Ioannikios of Philadelphia was celebrating the liturgy in the monastery of the Savior, at the emperor's urging, and the emperor was present and the bishop of Sardis was also present, he himself approached the emperor, reminding him about himself, that he was going to take up the monastic state at the hands of the bishop of Philadelphia. And he was not unaware of the insincerity of the speaker's mind, that he would have, at some point, if he chose, the pretext of the sovereign's presence, as having taken the habit by force from him; for he did not wish it by choice—he asked him what had happened that he wanted to change his habit and with what in view he was choosing the quiet and inactive life; however, no one, he said, would prevent it, if he so wished. But as he was stringing together the reasons and through many words refuting the appearance of the suspected scandal, the emperor interrupted, and since the liturgy was also finished, he approached the celebrant and was blessed, taking the holy fragment for 171 sanctification, and leaving them, he immediately went out of the church, so that they might do whatever they wished in his absence. But he thus approached and received the habit, being named Athanasios instead of Andronikos.

19. How many of the ecclesiastics died in a short time. One might marvel at Justice then; for one would not suppose the death of so many ecclesiastical rulers to have happened by chance; for nearly ten of them died, within nine months, men possessing much gravity and dignity, about whom the one who saw the dream spoke before they died; this was John Bekkos, who, having later become patriarch after the chartophylax, suffered many terrible things, as the account will relate in due course. He who saw the dream reported it thus: for it seemed that the rulers, passing on horseback over a rugged plain, having completed a long journey, stood at the bank of a very great and fearful river flowing by, and they began to cross in the order of the death that would befall them, first this one and second that one and the rest in succession; for they did not cross two by two or three by three, but each one by himself. So as the one watching stood and observed, he was astounded, and he too being thoughtful of how he would cross, he heard a voice coming from somewhere: ‘Why are you anxious? You will not cross the river now; for there is a time when you too will of necessity cross; but now depart and save yourself, being preserved for a day of affairs.’ Thus spoke the one who saw the dream after some time, and we hearing

τῶν εἰς ἄρχοντας τεταγμένων τῆς ἐκκλησίας, οἱ λοιποὶ τὴν ἐκείνου κοινωνίαν ἀπέστεργον. Ὅμως οἱ μὲν ἑκόντως, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἀκόντως, πλὴν ὀλίγων, καθυπεκλίνοντο, διασεσεισμένοι δ' ὄντες τὰς γνώμας, πράξει τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους ὠχύρουν. Τὸ δὲ λαϊκὸν πλῆθος, τὸν νέον ποιμένα καὶ λίαν ἀποπροσποιούμενοι, ἐζήτουν τὸν γνήσιον. 169 Οὕτω γοῦν τεταραγμένων τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν κρατοῦντα ἐμάνθανε μάχην μέλλειν συγκροτεῖν μεγίστην κατὰ φρουρίου τοῦ Γαλατᾶ, ὥσθ' αἱρήσειν, κἂν εἴ τι καὶ πάθοιἐκεῖθεν γὰρ καὶ τὴν τῆς μεγαλοπόλεως ἤλπιζεν ἅλωσιν, ὀλίγον κατὰ Νίκαιαν διαμείνας, ὁρμήσας αὐτίκα καὶ κατὰ τὴν πύλην γεγονώς, τὸν κονιορτὸν τῶν βλαυτῶν ἀποτιναξάμενος ὡς εἰς μαρτύ ριον δῆθεν, ἐξῄει· καὶ διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλενόπολιν τῆς θαλάσσης πορθμοῦ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἠπείγετο, ἅμα μὲν ἐνασμενίσων ἐκεῖθεν τῇ ἐκ βασιλέως παρα μυθίᾳ, ἅμα δὲ καὶ μεγάλα ἤλπιζε, συγκροτουμένην μάχην βλέπων κατὰ τῆς πόλεως, ὡς ἁλούσης αὐτίκα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιβησόμενος, ἀπαλλαγεὶς Νικαίας καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ. Ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ τὴν μεταξὺ πορείαν διήνυεν, ἐν Σηλυβρίᾳ καὶ ἔτι ἦν ὁ κρατῶν, ὅτε συνέβη καὶ Ἀνδρόνικον τὸν Σάρδεων ἐκεῖσε παρεῖ ναι· δυοῖν γὰρ σχιζομένοιν, αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ Θεσσαλονίκης Μανουήλ, ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἐξορίαν ἐδίδου καὶ ἐξωρίζετο.

ιηʹ. Ὅπως ὁ Σάρδεων κατὰ Σηλυβρίαν μοναχικῶς ἀπεκείρατο. Ὁ δὲ Σάρδεων, σοφόν τι οἰόμενος πράττειν, εἰ μὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ διαμάχοιτο, τοῦ πατριαρχεύοντος ἀφιστάμενος, ἔγνω δι' ἄλλης ὁδοῦ ὑπελθεῖν τὸν κρα τοῦντα. Καὶ δή, ἐπεὶ ὁ μὲν Φιλαδελφείας Ἰωαννίκιος κατὰ τὴν μονὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἱερούργει, τοῦ βασιλέως προτρεψαμένου, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς παρῆν καὶ ὁ Σάρδεων συμπαρῆν, προσελθὼν αὐτὸς βασιλεῖ, περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ὑπεμίμνῃσκεν ὡς τὰ τῶν μοναχῶν ἀναληψόμενος ταῖς τοῦ Φιλαδελφείας χερσί. Καὶ ὅς οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠγνόει τὸ τῆς γνώμης τοῦ λέγοντος ὕπουλον, ὡς ἕξοντός ποτε, εἰ αἱροῖτο, πρόφασιν τὴν τοῦ ἄνακτος παρουσίαν, ὡς βίᾳ τῇ ἐκεῖθεν λαβόντος τὸ σχῆμα· μηδὲ γὰρ θέλειν ἐκ προαιρέσεωςἐκεῖνον μὲν καὶ τί παθὼν διηρώτα μετασχηματίζεσθαι βούλοιτο καὶ εἰς τί βλέπων τὸν ἡσύχιον καὶ ἀπράγμονα βίον αἱροῖτο· πλὴν οὐδείς, ἔλεγεν, ὁ κωλύσων, εἰ οὕτω βούλεται. Ἐκείνου δὲ τὰς αἰτίας συνείροντος καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὑπονοουμένου σκανδάλου δόξαν διὰ πολλῶν ἀναιροῦντος, ὁ βασιλεὺς διακόψας, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ τῆς λειτουργίας ἤνυστο, προσέρχεται μὲν τῷ λειτουργήσαντι καὶ σφραγίζεται, λαβὼν εἰς 171 ἁγιασμὸν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν κλάσμα, ἐκείνους δ' ἀφείς, παραυτίκα ἐξέρχεται τοῦ νεώ, ὡς ὅ τι θέλοιεν, ἀπόντος ἐκείνου, πράξοντας. Ὁ δὲ καὶ οὕτως προσέρχε ται καὶ τὸ σχῆμα δέχεται, Ἀθανάσιος ἀντ' Ἀνδρονίκου ὀνομασθείς.

ιθʹ. Ὅπως πολλοὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν δι' ὀλίγου θνῄσκουσιν. Θαυμάσειε δ' ἄν τις καὶ τὴν ∆ίκην τότε· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτομάτου γενέσθαι τὸν τόσων ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἀρχόντων ὑποτοπάσειε θάνατον· θνῄσκουσι γὰρ ἐγγὺς τῶν δέκα, ἐννέα μηνῶν, ἄνδρες πολὺ τὸ σεμνὸν καὶ ἀξιοπρεπὲς ἔχοντες, ἐφ' οἷς ἔλεγεν ὁ τοὖναρ ἰδὼν πρότερον ἢ θανεῖν ἐκείνους· ὁ Βέκκος δ' ἦν οὗτος Ἰωάννης, ὅς, ἐσύστερον καὶ μετὰ τὸν χαρτοφύλακα πατριαρχεύσας, πολλὰ πέπονθε τὰ δεινά, ὡς ὁ λόγος κατὰ καιρὸν ἐρεῖ. Τὸ γοῦν ὄναρ ἐκεῖνος ἰδὼν ἐξήγγελλεν οὕτως· ἔδοξε γὰρ ἐπ' ἀγχωμάλου πεδίου διερχομένους ἐφίππους τοὺς ἄρχοντας, πολλὴν ἐξηνυκότας ὁδόν, κατὰ χεῖλος στῆναι μεγίστου καὶ φοβεροῦ ποταμοῦ παραρρέοντος, ἄρξασθαι δ' ἐκείνους κατὰ τὴν τάξιν τοῦ σφίσιν ἀποβησομένου θανάτου περᾶν, πρῶτον τόνδε καὶ δεύτερον τόνδε καὶ ἐφεξῆς τοὺς λοιπούς· οὐδὲ γὰρ σύνδυο καὶ σύντρεις ἐπεραιοῦντο, ἀλλ' εἷς ἕκαστος καθ' αὑτόν. Ὡς γοῦν ὁ βλέπων ἱστάμενος καὶ θεωρῶν ἐξεπλήττετο, ἔμφροντις ὢν κἀκεῖνος ὅπως περαιωθήσεται, ἀκούει φωνῆς ἔκποθεν διικνουμένης· «Τί φροντίζεις; Οὐ σὺ νῦν διαβήσῃ τὸν ποτα μόν· ἔνι γὰρ καιρὸς καθ' ὃν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἀνάγκης περαιωθήσῃ· νῦν δ' ἀπελθὼν σῴζου, ἐν πραγμάτων ἡμέρᾳ διατηρούμενος.» Οὕτως ἔλεγεν ὁ τοὖναρ ἰδὼν μετὰ χρόνους, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀκούοντες