106

the priest at all. But they, awaiting the restoration from both synod and emperor, were not at all persuaded to keep silent about the name of John. 33. To the emperor, however, seeing on the one hand the readiness of John to resign frequently, and on the other hand again suspecting the ultimate resistance of the Arsenites, as they would not make peace otherwise unless the affairs of the church came to be under their own control (for even after Hyacinthus had departed from among men, they, residing at the monastery of Mosele, had 354 many supporters outside, and they honored their own dead equally with the confessors, and from this they attracted many), a certain thought occurred to him, one which had already settled in his reasonings, that perhaps their affairs were pleasing to God, while he was pursuing things far off, and that, if these were perhaps accomplished, nothing beneficial would come of it, and that for these reasons the divine guidance was producing in John a numbness towards being patriarch, as he resigned easily and from any chance pretext. And so, struggling with his conscience over these things, and because it was otherwise necessary for a third patriarch to be proclaimed after two, now that he was resigning, and being shamed by the impropriety, he decided to approach them first, and sending in secret for the Tarchaneiotissa from Nostongon, who was a blood relative of John Comnenus and who had supported their cause from the beginning, he brings her to him, and shares his plan with her, and through her he sends an embassy to them, and he seeks their leaders, and especially the blind ones, Lazarus the Gorianites and Macarius the Peristeres, in order that he might deliberate with them about these matters. And so the old nun came before the monks, who were glad, and from among them the leaders of the others were chosen along with the blind men, and being numbered at five, they were sent forth. And when they had an audience with the emperor late at night with no one else knowing, the discussions concerning 355 these matters were set in motion; and the emperor, having nothing else more important than that they should have blamelessness in their actions, namely in the ordination of a patriarch and in the other matters, and that they should also preserve the bishops in their honors (for the commemoration of Joseph had already been granted), was insistent in demanding these things, lest, he says, when one part has been settled, another part might be stirred up again and the scandals revive, but that a complete peace for all matters might be established; for this, he says, is the matter of concern. The monks, however, concerning the matter of the future patriarch, how he might be elected and how he might be ordained and who he might be and of what sort, said they had someone who was fittingly worthy for the position, but they forbade the bishops from conducting his election and ordination at all; for it was not holy, they said, to lay the foundation when it had been shaken from the beginning. But that those men should be completely inactive and keep quiet, until, after a legitimate 356 patriarch was established, their own cases might be examined, and that they themselves and 356 others whom they had as associates should vote; and that the bishop of the Marmaritzioi, summoned from the west, should perform the ordination, a man now old and of that ancient ordination, who was thought not to have participated at all in the events that had taken place in the meantime. They also extended good hopes to the bishops, saying that they would not completely disregard them to the point that they would be inactive, but that they should be preserved according to the practice of the divine Tarasius, except for those whom a canonical examination by the future patriarch would, as is likely, reject. But when the ruler inquired about the man of Marmaritzioi, and learned of the man's great indifference in many matters, that he made the priesthood for sale for money, and that he would ordain many at the same time in a single sacred ceremony to the same rank in the priesthood, and that he did certain other things discordant with ecclesiastical statutes, and especially that the bishops from the great synod had died out in the west on account of the successive ecclesiastical scandals. So when the ruler heard these things and proposed them to the monks, they, putting forward the difficulty of the times and the rarity of those who had been preserved in such times, were trying to gain time

106

τὸν ἱερέα παντάπασιν. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι τὴν ἀπό τε συνόδου καὶ βασιλέως ἀποκατάστασιν ἐκδεχόμενοι κατασιγᾶν οὐδ' ὅλως ἐπείθοντο τὸ Ἰωάννου ὄνομα. 33. Τῷ μέντοι γε βασιλεῖ ἔνθεν μὲν ὁρῶντι τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ παραιτεῖσθαι πολλάκις εὐκολίαν τοῦ Ἰωάννου, ἔνθεν δ' αὖθις ὑπονοουμένῳ τὴν τῶν Ἀρσενιατῶν ἐς ἔσχατον ἀντοχήν, ὡς οὐδ' ἂν εἰρηνευσόντων ἄλλως εἰ μή γε καθ' αὑτοὺς τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πράγματα γένοιντο (καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦ Ὑακίνθου ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γε γονότος ἐκεῖνοι τῇ τοῦ Μωσελὲ μονῇ προσκαθήμενοι πολλοὺς εἶ 354 χον ἐξωτέρω τοὺς σπουδαστάς, καὶ τοὺς αὐτῶν νεκροὺς ἴσα καὶ ὁμολογητὰς ἐτίμων, καὶ πολλοὺς ἐντεῦθεν ἐπήγοντο), ἔννοιά τις ἐπῄει, ἤδη καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς αὐτοῦ προκαθίσασα, μήπως θεῷ δοκοῦν τὰ τούτων ὁ δὲ τὰ πόρρω διώκοι, καὶ ὧν ἴσως τελεσθέν των οὐδὲν ὀνήϊστον γένοιτο, καὶ διὰ ταῦθ' ὁδηγοῦν τὸ θεῖον τὴν τοῦ Ἰωάννου πρὸς τὸ πατριαρχεύειν ἐμποιεῖ νάρκην, εὐχε ρῶς παραιτουμένου κἀκ τῆς τυχούσης προφάσεως. τῷ τοι καὶ γνωσιμαχῶν ὑπὲρ τούτων, καὶ ὅτι ἄλλως ἀνάγκη ἦν καὶ τρίτον ἐπὶ δυσὶ πατριάρχην ἐπικηρύττεσθαι αὐτοῦ γε παραιτουμένου ἤδη, καὶ τὸ ἀπρεπὲς δυσωπούμενος, ἔγνω προκαταλαμβάνειν ἐκείνους, καὶ πέμψας ἐν ἀπορρήτοις τὴν ἐκ Νοστόγγων Ταρχα νειώτισσαν ὁμαιμονοῦσαν τῷ Κομνηνῷ Ἰωάννῃ καὶ τὰ ἐκείνων ἐξ ἀρχῆς φρονοῦσαν ἄγει παρ' ἑαυτῷ, καὶ κοινοῦται ταύτῃ τὸ σκέμμα, καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνους διὰ ταύτης πρεσβεύεται, καὶ ζητεῖ τοὺς ἐκείνων πρώτους, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς τυφλούς, Λάζαρόν τε τὸν Γοριανίτην καὶ τὸν Περιστέρην Μακάριον, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ περὶ τούτων σφίσι συνδιασκέψασθαι. καὶ δὴ ἐφίσταται μὲν ἡ μονα χὴ γραῦς ἀσμένοις τοῖς μοναχοῖς, ἐκλέγονται δὲ παρ' αὐτῶν τοῖς τυφλοῖς συνάμα οἱ τῶν ἄλλων προέχοντες, καὶ εἰς πέντε ποσω θέντες ἐξαποστέλλονται. ὧν δὴ καὶ τῶν νυκτῶν ἀωρὶ μηδενὸς ἄλλου συνειδότος προσόδου πρὸς βασιλέα τυγχανόντων, οἱ περὶ 355 τούτων κινοῦνται λόγοι· καὶ βασιλεὺς οὐδὲν ἄλλο προυργιαίτερον ἔχων ἢ ὅπως μὲν τὸ ἐπὶ ταῖς πράξεσιν ἀμώμητον σχοῖεν, ἐπί τε χειροτονίᾳ δηλαδὴ πατριάρχου καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς, ὅπως δὲ καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς περιποιοῖντο ἐν ταῖς τιμαῖς (τὸ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ μνημό συνον καὶ προπέποτο), πολὺς ἦν ἀξιῶν πρὸς ταῦτα, μή πως, φησί, καταστορεθέντος μέρους μέρος αὖθις ἀνασοβοῖτο καὶ πά λιν ἀναζῷεν τὰ σκάνδαλα, ἀλλ' ὅλη τις καὶ ἐφ' ὅλοις εἰρήνη ἐπισχεθείη τοῖς πράγμασι· τοῦτο γάρ, φησί, καὶ τὸ σπουδαζόμε νον. οἱ μέντοι γε μοναχοὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τοῦ γενησομένου πα τριάρχου, ὅπως ἂν ψηφισθείη καὶ ὅπως χειροτονοῖτο καὶ τίς οὗ τος δὴ καὶ ὁποῖος, τὸν μὲν ἔχειν ἔλεγον καὶ ἐπιεικῶς ἐπὶ τῷ πρά γματι ἄξιον, τὴν ψῆφον δ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν χειροτονίαν μὴ πράτ τειν ὅλως ἀπέλεγον τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς· μηδὲ γὰρ ὅσιον εἶναι κατασε σεισμένον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑποτιθέναι τὸν θέμεθλον. ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν ἀπρακτεῖν τὸ πάμπαν καὶ ἡσυχάζειν, ἔστ' ἂν καταστάντος 356 πατριάρχου νομίμου τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐξετάζοιντο, αὐτοὺς δὲ καὶ 356 οὓς κοινωνοὺς εἶχον ἑτέρους ψηφίζεσθαι· χειροτονεῖν δὲ τὸν τῶν Μαρμαριτζίων ἐπίσκοπον προσκληθέντα ἐκ δύσεως, ἄνδρα γη ραιὸν μὲν ἤδη καὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς ἐκείνης χειροτονίας, οὐδ' ὅλως δὲ τοῖς μεταξὺ πραχθεῖσι κεκοινωνηκέναι δόξαντα. ὑπέτεινον δὲ καὶ χρηστὰς ἐλπίδας ἀρχιερεῦσι, λέγοντες μὴ τελέως αὐτῶν ἀφει δεῖν ἐς ὃ καὶ ἀργοῖεν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θείου Ταρασίου πρᾶ ξιν περιποιεῖσθαι, πλὴν ἐκείνων ὅσον ἐκ τοῦ γενησομένου πα τριάρχου κανονικὴ ἐξέτασις, ὡς εἰκός, ἀποδοκιμάσειεν. ὡς δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Μαρμαριτζίων ἐζήτησεν ὁ κρατῶν, καὶ πολλὴν ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδιαφορίαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κατεμάνθανεν, ὅτι τε χρημάτων ὤνιον τὴν ἱερωσύνην ποιοίη, καὶ ὅτι συνάμα πολλοὺς χειροτονοίη ἐν μιᾷ ἱερᾷ τελετῇ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τῇ ἱερωσύνῃ τάξεως, καὶ ἄλλ' ἄττα τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν θεσμῶν ἀπᾴδοντα πράττοι, καὶ μᾶλ λον ὅτι ἐκλελοιπότων κατὰ δύσιν καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς μεγάλης συνό δου ἀρχιερέων διὰ τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν σκανδάλων ἐπάλληλα. ὡς γοῦν ταῦτ' ἀκούων τοῖς μοναχοῖς προέτεινεν ὁ κρατῶν, τὴν τοῦ καιροῦ ἐκεῖνοι προβαλλόμενοι δυσκολίαν καὶ τὸ τῶν φυλα χθέντων σπάνιον ἐπὶ τοιούτοις καιροῖς, παρέλκειν