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and looking around here and there and admiring the former beauty of the temple from its remains—these were Demetrios Iatropoulos and the then logothete of the oikoi—they suddenly see standing in a corner the relic of a man long dead, both whole and entirely complete, naked from head to toe. And it had on its mouth the reed of a shepherd's pipe, placed thus in mockery by some who cared for their flocks. And when they saw it they marveled at the completeness of the relic, but they were at a loss as to whose that solidified and still bodily constituted dust might be, they see on the right the cenotaph and upon it written verses identifying the one lying there. And this was, as the letters revealed, Basil the Bulgar-slayer. And when they returned and reported what they had seen to the emperor, the emperor immediately took pity and, 177 sending silk, gold-embroidered robes, and moreover dispatching the hymn-writers with not a few archons, with great honor and a bodyguard, with psalms and hymns, he transfers the relic in a precious casket to Galata; and there he orders his brother the sebastokrator to place the casket in his own tent, placing it next to his bed, with golden robes under a sleepless light, to honor it with the fitting rites, until, as they were departing from there to Selymbria, they transferred it with honor and splendor, and deposited it in the monastery of the Savior. From there, therefore, they returned to Nymphaion and settled matters in the west as far as Orestias and beyond, as the emperor's fame went before them and quelled the unrest.

22. How the patriarch Nicephorus together with the emperor occupies Nymphaion. And having occupied Nymphaion with great speed, the patriarch, being with the emperor, since the [bishop] of Thessaloniki and the [bishop] of Sardis, remaining unchangeably in their opinions, were out of the way in exile, he substitutes others for them in the churches and appoints Ioannikios Kydones, head of the monastery of Sosandra, to Thessaloniki, and Iakobos Chalazas, who had come over to the emperor from the west, to Sardis. And he also had Isaac in mind for the vote of Smyrna, himself also a venerable man, hailing from the monastery of Mesopotamos in the west. But in the meantime before his ordination, the patriarch happens to fall ill, and at his own urging—or rather that of the one serving him, for this is also said, since he was unconscious, breathing his last—Niketas of Thessaloniki is ordained to Dyrrachion 179. But then the lady death came upon the patriarch; and the monk Theodosius of Pelops, of princely stock, a pious man who had practiced asceticism for very many years, and who was also sweet and charming in company and varied in conversation, so that anyone who just saw him, even if he were greatly grieving, would depart full of joy, and, being well-born, called an uncle of the emperor, is entrusted by the emperor with the stewardship of the one who was about to die, since he was also rich with much money from Ephesus. Then, it is said, the steward urged the one lying there, if somehow he would choose to be clothed in monastic garb; but he not only was not persuaded, but also took the suggestion badly, as he would die a high priest; and indeed when he departed from men as quickly as possible, his corpse is transported to Ephesus and is given to the tomb in the metropolis, a man awesome in his life, undaunted by rulers, a despiser of fearsome things, accustomed to virtue from childhood, but seeming burdensome to many at that time, not so much because of the transfer but because, while a legitimate patriarch was alive, he himself was transferred.

23. How the emperor divested the young John. The emperor, however, having accomplished as much as he had in mind, with no one opposing—for the child was gradually being neglected and was weak for rule, so that he bore the very symbols of imperial power as an empty burden; for it was determined that he should also cast these off, for this reason

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καὶ τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περιβλεπόμενοι καὶ τό ποτε τοῦ ναοῦ κάλλος ἐκ τῶν λειψάνων θαυμάζοντεςἦσαν δ' οὗτοι οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἰατρόπουλον ∆ημήτριον καὶ λογοθέτην τότε τῶν οἰκειακῶν, ὁρῶσιν αἴφνης κατὰ γωνίαν ἱστάμενον ἀνδρὸς πάλαι τεθνεῶτος λείψανον ὁλόκληρόν τε καὶ τὸ πᾶν ὁλομελές, γυμνὸν ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς. Εἶχε δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ στόματος καλάμην ποιμενικῆς σύριγγος, εἰς χλεύην τινῶν οὕτω ποιη σάντων οἷς ἔμελε τῶν θρεμμάτων. Ὡς δ' ἰδόντες ἐθαύμαζον μὲν τὴν τοῦ λειψάνου ὁλομέλειαν, διηπόρουν δὲ οὗτινος ἂν καὶ εἴη ὁ πεπηγὼς ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἔτι εἰς σῶμα συνιστάμενος χοῦς, ὁρῶσιν ἐκ δεξιῶν τὸ κενήριον καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ γεγραμμένους στίχους δηλοῦντας τὸν κείμενον. Ἦν δ' οὗτος, ὡς ἐδήλουν τὰ γράμματα, ὁ Βουλγαροκτόνος Βασίλειος. Ὡς δ' ὑποστρέψαντες τὸ θεαθὲν σφίσι τῷ βασιλεῖ προσανέφερον, οἰκτίζεται αὐτίκα ὁ βασιλεὺς καί, 177 πέμψας σηρικὰ χρυσόσημα πέπλα, ἔτι δ' ἐξαποστείλας τοὺς ὑμνοπόλους σὺν οὐκ ὀλίγοις ἄρχουσιν, ὑπὸ πολλῇ τιμῇ καὶ δορυφορίᾳ, ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις, ἀνακομίζει ἐν θήκῃ τιμίᾳ πρὸς τὸν Γαλατᾶν τὸ λείψανον· κἀκεῖ προστάττει τῷ αὐταδέλφῳ σεβαστοκράτορι ἐνθεῖναι τῇ σφετέρᾳ σκηνῇ τὴν θήκην, πέπλοις τε χρυσοῖς ὑπ' ἀκοιμήτῳ φωτί, ἐχόμενα τῆς ἐκείνου στρωμνῆς θέντα, τιμᾶν τοῖς προσήκουσιν, ἕως, ἐκεῖθεν ἀναχωρούντων αὐτῶν εἰς Σηλυβρίαν, ἐντίμως καὶ λαμπρῶς μετακομίσαντες, ἐν τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος κατατιθεῖσι μονῇ. Ἐκεῖθεν τοίνυν ἐπανακάμπτουσι πρὸς τὸ Νύμφαιον καθιστῶντο τὰ κατὰ δύσιν ἄχρι καὶ Ὀρεστιάδος καὶ τὸ ἐπέκεινα, προφθασάσης τῆς βασιλέως φήμης καὶ καταστελλούσης τὸ ἀνορμοῦν.

κβʹ. Ὅπως ὁ πατριαρχεύων Νικηφόρος συνάμα βασιλεῖ καταλαμβάνει τὸ Νύμφαιον. Καταλαβόντων δὲ σὺν πολλῷ τάχει τὸ Νύμφαιον, ὁ πατριαρχεύων, συνὼν τῷ κρατοῦντι, ἐπεὶ ὁ Θεσσαλονίκης καὶ ὁ τῶν Σάρδεων, τοῖς δόξασι σφίσιν ἀμεταθέτως ἐμμένοντες, ἐκποδὼν ἦσαν ἐξωρισμένοι, ἀντικαθιστᾷ τούτων ἑτέρους ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καὶ τὸν μὲν Κυδώνην Ἰωαννίκιον, τῆς τῶν Σωσάν δρων μονῆς ἐξάρχοντα, Θεσσαλονίκης, τὸν δέ γε Χαλαζᾶν Ἰάκωβον, ἐκ δύσεως προσχωρήσαντα τῷ κρατοῦντι, Σάρδεων ἀποδείκνυσιν. Εἶχε δὲ καὶ εἰς ψῆφον Σμύρνης τὸν Ἰσαάκ, ἄνδρα καὶ αὐτὸν γεραρόν, ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὴν δύσιν τοῦ Μεσοποτάμου μονῆς ὁρμώμενον. Ἀλλ' ἐν τοσούτῳ τῆς ἐκείνου χειροτονίας φθάνει πεσὼν εἰς νόσον ὁ πατριάρχης, καὶ προτροπαῖς ἰδίαις ἢ μὴν καὶ τοῦ ἐξυπηρετοῦντος αὐτῷκαὶ τοῦτο γὰρ λέγεται· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἠναισθήτει, τὰ λοίσθια πνέων, ὁ ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης Νικήτας ∆υρραχίου 179 χειροτονεῖται. Ἀλλ' ἡ κυρία τότε τοῦ θανάτου ἐφίσταται τῷ πατριαρχεύοντι· καὶ ὁ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πέλοπος μοναχὸς ἐκ πριγκίπων Θεοδόσιος, ἀνὴρ εὐλαβὴς καὶ ἐπὶ πλείστοις χρόνοις ἀσκήσας, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν συνουσίαν ἡδὺς καὶ χαρίεις καὶ ποικίλος τὴν ὁμιλίαν, ὡς μόνον ἐκεῖνον ἰδόντα τινά, κἂν τὰ μέγιστα λυποῖτο, χαρᾶς ἔμπλεων ἀπαλλάττειν, καί, ὡς εὖ ἔχων τοῦ γένους, θεῖος τοῦ κρατοῦντος ὀνομαζόμενος, τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ ὅσον οὔπω τεθνηξομένου παρὰ τοῦ ἄνακτος ἐπιτρέπεται, ἐπεί τοί γε καὶ χρήμασιν ἐπλούτει ἐκ τῆς Ἐφέσου πολλοῖς. Τότε γοῦν νύξαι τὸν κείμενον λέγεται τὸν ἐπίτροπον, εἴ πως αἱροῖτο ἐπενδυθῆναι τὰ μοναχῶν· ὁ δὲ οὐχ ὅπως ἐπείσθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαρέως τὴν ὑπόμνησιν ἤνεγκεν, ὡς τεθνηξείων ἀρχιερεύς· καὶ δὴ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γεγονότος ὡς τάχος, ὁ νεκρὸς ἐκείνου διακομίζεται πρὸς τὴν Ἔφεσον κἀν τῇ μητροπόλει τῷ τάφῳ δίδοται, ἀνὴρ τὸν βίον μὲν φοβερός, ἀκατάπληκτος δὲ τοῖς ἄρχουσι, τῶν δέ γε φοβερῶν ὑπερόπτης, κατ' ἀρετὴν παιδιόθεν συνήθης, δόξας δὲ τότε τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐπαχθής, οὐ διὰ τὴν μετάθεσιν τόσον ὅσον τό, ζῶντος πατριάρχου γνησίου, αὐτὸν μετατίθεσθαι.

κγʹ. Ὅπως ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν νέον Ἰωάννην ἀπεσκευάσατο. Ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεύς, ὅσον εἶχε διὰ γνώμης κατωρθωκώς, μηδενὸς ἀντιπράττοντοςτὸ γὰρ παιδίον κατ' ὀλίγον παρέρριπτο καὶ ἠσθένει πρὸς τὴν ἀρχήν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὰ δὴ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας σύμβολα ἄχθος φέρειν κενόν· ὥριστο γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα ἀποβαλεῖν, διὰ τοῦτο