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to the chief dyad of the apostles, Peter and Paul, and I begged them to help me in my danger. While sleeping one night, then, I see the two men standing over me, and Peter seemed to me to touch my private parts with his fingers and to say not to be afraid, but my genitals seemed to me to be consumed by fire, so that from the pain I even let go of my sleep. From then on, therefore, these parts of mine have been deadened and the burning has no longer troubled me.” Having both seen and heard these things, the *magistros* Manuel immediately had the woman brought before him and asked from what motive she had launched into the slander against the holy man, and he threatened, if she did not make the truth clear to all, to hand her over to tortures at once, by which she would be forced to reveal the villainy clearly. And she hid nothing, but reported the chief perpetrators of the drama and her own deceit and, concerning the gold, the giving of some and the promise of the rest. The evildoers, therefore, were about to be subjected to the penalties for 387 slanderers, but the great Methodius saved them from the punishment; and so these things happened. But the ruler of the Bulgarians, having learned that the empire of the Romans was being governed by a woman and a young boy, sends some of his men with threats to withdraw from the treaties and take up arms against the rule of the Romans. In response to this, then, the empress declares to him: “I too will certainly oppose you, and if, God granting it, I prevail, you will have been conquered by a woman, and consider how great will be your imminent shame; but if you yourself perhaps are victorious, your success will not be a proud one, having conquered a woman.” When these things were therefore reported to the barbarian, they checked his impulse, and he judged it advantageous to renew the treaties; and these were renewed. But a sister of the ruler of Bulgaria, having once been taken captive and living in the palace, was perfected by holy baptism and was initiated into letters. Her brother requested that she be returned to him; and she was given to him, and he gave in exchange a man of the learned class, Theodore Koupharas. 388 And the sister of the ruler of the Bulgarians, having come to her brother, was leading him to the religion of the Christians, constantly conversing with him about it and extolling the Christian mysteries. And he had been pre-catechized in these things also by Koupharas, but was not yet persuaded to abandon his ancestral customs. But a famine that befell the Bulgarians converted both him and the nation to piety. For it was pressing the whole nation, and there was no escape from the evil, and destruction of the nation was occurring, and their leader was for this reason greatly distressed, and being at a loss he flees to the god announced to him by his sister and called upon him as a deliverer from the famine and from the destruction of the nation. And when the invocation was effective and they were delivered from their troubles, he recognized the power of the one invoked and requests that someone be sent to him who will initiate him into the mystery of the Christians and perfect him with holy baptism. And a bishop was sent to him; and he was both initiated and baptized. But the Bulgarians, because he had abandoned the ancestral faith, rose up against their leader and sought to kill him. 389 But he, taking courage in the sign of the cross that went before him, conquers those who opposed him, and so all chose the ways of the Christians. Then their ruler sent an embassy to the empress, asking that Roman land be ceded to him, for his nation was short of space, and promising perpetual treaties with the Romans and a military alliance. And the empress fulfilled the request and ceded to him the land from the so-called Sidera, which formerly divided the Romans and Bulgarians, as far as Debeltos; which the Bulgarians, having obtained it, have called Zagora. And from this, peace came to the western regions. And in the east the race of the Manichaeans was very numerous, who are also called Paulicians more rustically by the common crowd, their name being composed from Paul and John; these two men became famous among the Manichaeans, even if they were not heresiarchs and originators of the false belief, but zealots for it and

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κορυφαίᾳ τῶν ἀποστόλων δυάδι Πέτρῳ καὶ Παύλῳ, καὶ ταύτης ἐδεόμην ἀμῦναί μοι κινδυνεύοντι. ὑπνώττων τοίνυν νυκτὸς ὁρῶ τὼ ἄνδρε μοι ἐφεστῶτε, καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔδοξέ μοι τοῖς δακτύλοις ἅψασθαι τῆς αἰδοῦς καὶ λέγειν μὴ πτοεῖσθαι, πῦρ δέ μοι ἐδόκει τὰ παιδογόνα μόρια βόσκεσθαι, ὡς ἐκ τῆς ἀλγηδόνος καὶ τὸν ὕπνον ἀνεῖναί με. ἔκτοτε οὖν μοι τὰ μόρια ταῦτα νενέκρωται καὶ πύρωσις οὐκέτι μοι παρηνώχλησε." ταῦτα ὁ μάγιστρος Μανουὴλ καὶ θεασάμενος καὶ πυθόμενος αὐτίκα τὴν γυναῖκα παραστησάμενος ἠρώτα ὅθεν εἰς τὴν κατὰ τοῦ ἁγίου συκοφαντίαν ὥρμητο, καὶ ἠπείλει, εἰ μὴ πᾶσι θεῖτο τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔκδηλον, αὐτίκα βασάνοις αὐτὴν παραδοῦναι, δι' ὧν ἂν ἐκβιασθείη ἐκκαλύψαι λαμπρῶς τὸ σκαιώρημα. ἡ δὲ οὐδὲν ἀπεκρύψατο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς τοῦ δράματος ἀπήγγειλε πρωτουργοὺς καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀπάτην καὶ τοῦ χρυσίου τοῦ μὲν τὴν δόσιν, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. ἔμελλον οὖν οἱ κακοῦργοι ταῖς τῶν 387 συκοφαντῶν ὑποβληθῆναι ποιναῖς, ἀλλ' ὁ μέγας Μεθόδιος αὐτοὺς τῆς τιμωρίας ἐρρύσατο· καὶ τὰ μὲν οὕτω γέγονεν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχων γυναικὶ τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείαν καὶ παιδὶ νεαρῷ κυβερνωμένην μαθὼν στέλλει τινὰς τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπειλῶν ἀφίστασθαι τῶν σπονδῶν καὶ ἆραι ὅπλα κατὰ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς. πρὸς ταῦτα τοίνυν δηλοῖ αὐτῷ ἡ βασίλισσα ὡς "ἀντιτάξομαί σοι πάντως κἀγώ, καὶ εἰ μὲν θεοῦ διδόντος ὑπερέξω, ἔσῃ νικηθεὶς ὑπὸ γυναικός, καὶ ὅσον σοι τὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης ὑπόγυον λόγισαι· εἰ δὲ νικήσεις ἴσως αὐτός, οὐκ ἔσται σοι σεμνὸν τὸ εὐτύχημα γυναῖκα νικήσαντι." ὡς οὖν ταῦτα τῷ βαρβάρῳ ἠγγέλθησαν, ἀνέστειλαν αὐτῷ τὴν ὁρμήν, καί οἱ συμφέρον ἔκρινεν ἀνανεώσασθαι τὰς σπονδάς· καὶ αὗται ἀνεκαινίσθησαν. ἀδελφὴ δὲ τοῦ ἄρχοντος Βουλγαρίας αἰχμαλωτισθεῖσά ποτε καὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις διάγουσα τῷ θείῳ τε ἐτελέσθη βαπτίσματι καὶ γραμμάτων ἐν μυήσει ἐγένετο. ταύτην ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἀναδοθῆναί οἱ ἠξίωσε· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐδόθη αὐτῷ, ὁ δ' ἀντέδωκεν ἄνδρα τῶν λογίμων Θεόδωρον τὸν Κουφαρᾶν. 388 ἡ δὲ τοῦ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχοντος ἀδελφὴ ἀφικομένη πρὸς τὸν ὁμαίμονα ἐνῆγεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν τῶν χριστιανῶν θρησκείαν διὰ παντὸς αὐτῷ περὶ αὐτῆς διαλεγομένη καὶ τὰ χριστιανῶν μυστήρια ἐκθειάζουσα. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Κουφαρᾶ προκατήχητο, ἀλλ' οὔπω ἐπέπειστο τῶν πατρίων ἀποστῆναι ἐθῶν. λιμὸς δὲ τοῖς Βουλγάροις συμβὰς καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ ἔθνος εἰς θεοσέβειαν μετερρύθμισεν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἔθνος ἅπαν ἐπίεζε, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀποφυγὴ τοῦ κακοῦ, φθορὰ δὲ τοῦ ἔθνους ἐγίνετο, καὶ ὁ σφῶν ἀρχηγὸς ἦν διὰ τοῦτο περιαλγής, καὶ ἀπορήσας εἰς τὸν παρὰ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῷ καταγγελλόμενον καταφεύγει θεὸν καὶ τοῦτον τοῦ λιμοῦ λυτῆρα καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἔθνους φθορᾶς ἐπεκέκλητο. ὡς δ' ἐνεργὴς ἦν ἡ ἐπίκλησις καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἀπηλλάγησαν, ἔγνω τοῦ ἐπικληθέντος τὴν δύναμιν καὶ ἀξιοῖ σταλῆναι αὐτῷ τινα τὸν τὸ μυστήριον αὐτὸν μυήσοντα τῶν χριστιανῶν καὶ τελέσοντα τῷ θείῳ βαπτίσματι. καὶ ἀπεστάλη μὲν ἀρχιερεὺς πρὸς αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐμυήθη καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη. οἱ Βούλγαροι δὲ ὡς τῆς πατρίου δόξης ἀποστάντος κατεξανίστανται τοῦ σφῶν ἀρχηγοῦ καὶ ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἀνελεῖν. 389 ὁ δὲ τῷ τοῦ σταυροῦ σημείῳ θαρρήσας προπορευομένῳ αὐτοῦ νικᾷ τοὺς ἀντιστάτας αὐτῷ, καὶ οὕτω πάντες εἵλοντο τὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν. εἶτα διεπρεσβεύσατο ὁ τούτων ἐξάρχων πρὸς τὴν βασίλισσαν, αἰτῶν γῆς αὐτῷ παραχωρηθῆναι Ῥωμαϊκῆς, στενοχωρεῖσθαι γὰρ τὸ ἔθνος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀϊδίους σπονδὰς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους καὶ ὁμαιχμίαν ἐπαγγελλόμενος. καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς τὴν αἴτησιν ἐξεπλήρωσε καί οἱ τῆς ἀπὸ τῆς λεγομένης Σιδηρᾶς παρεχώρησε χώρας, ἣ τὰ Ῥωμαίων καὶ Βουλγάρων διώριζε πρίν, μέχρι τῆς ∆εβελτοῦ· ἣν λαχόντες οἱ Βούλγαροι κεκλήκασι Ζαγορᾶν. κἀντεῦθεν εἰρήνη γέγονε περὶ τὰ ἑσπέρια. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἑῴαν τὸ τῶν Μανιχαίων γένος ἦν παμπληθές, οἳ καὶ Παυλικιάνοι ἀγροικότερον πρὸς τοῦ δημώδους ὄχλου καλοῦνται, ἐκ Παύλου καὶ Ἰωάννου τῆς κλήσεως συγκειμένης αὐτοῖς· τὼ δ' ἄνδρε τούτω παρὰ Μανιχαίοις ἐγενέσθην ὀνομαστώ, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἤστην αἱρεσιάρχα καὶ τῆς κακοδοξίας γεννήτορε, ζηλωτὰ δὲ ταύτης καὶ