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today, to perform all-night and earnest supplications in them, saying also the earnest prayer itself, for the preservation of every city and land from famine, plague, earthquake, inundation, and to do these things today and tomorrow and the day after, and almost forever propitiating the divine through continuous entreaty. For in this way, I think, God, having set aside his wrath, would be gracious to us. Having heard these things, I went to the metropolitan of Heraclea and shared the matter, and he immediately urged my arrival to your Majesty so that I might report what I heard from the man. I am here, therefore, and I speak, and as it seems best to your God-given Majesty, let it command and act. But if you take this matter with due concern, command the work to begin 361 immediately according to the instruction of the one who spoke. For he instructed me to pray to God, and to summon other pious men for this, as many as I might know as acquaintances." The emperor gladly accepts the message. And the monk, having spoken, departed, but the emperor, turning the message over in his mind and thinking about the dreadful threats of God from which the one who spoke had commanded to pray to God to be delivered in the customary way, dismissed famine and plague from his concern as things that happen over time and after a long period (for these things could not strike in three days), but taking up the idea of earthquake and inundation, he kept the matter in his thoughts. He also suspected the monk’s message, which blamed the passing of the opportune moment, as it would not be possible, as he said, to accomplish anything from then on, lest that man was speaking knowing something of what was about to happen. And these things the emperor thought; but the message, I think, wished to signify something else, namely that the missions to the monasteries should take place at the proper time, and not unseasonably, with the messengers arriving late at night altogether. For the time being, however, something else, deeper in meaning, was vexing the ruler, as he himself said later when addressing the people. And he orders the logothete of the general treasury to send to the monasteries those who would announce the emperor’s 362 command, for the purpose of immediately holding all-night supplications. However, as to declaring how they should perform the earnest prayer, and what they should say, at first he dismissed it, judging it to be superfluous; but immediately out of regret he called back the logothete, as he himself said when addressing the people, bringing him forward as a witness to these things, and he also ordered this to be announced by those being sent, to make it clear to the monks. And he himself, staying up all night and keeping watch, as it was his custom to do these things, was nevertheless also thinking of an earthquake, as he said. And as time passed and he was about to make his usual visit to his own mother, a soft earthquake immediately made itself felt, as he both knew and said, so slight as to be barely perceptible to one who was awake. This, then, was for the emperor a prelude to believing in the truth of what had been said; however, keeping silent, as he said, he was watching for and considering something more than what had happened. That night, then, passed, and the one after it again, and on the morning of the seventeenth a stronger earthquake struck, but not so strong as to cause anything dangerous from it. And immediately the emperor was moved to full conviction about the one who had said those things, and he could not be restrained from holding him in wonder and praise, even though for the time being his name was concealed. 363 35. In the morning, therefore, every holy man is summoned, high priest and clergy and the best of the monks, and the ruler, putting the matter to a general assembly, inquired with all diligence what they thought of the monk (for he did not yet say his name) who had come and declared such things, having delivered the message in this way. And to some it seemed to have happened one way, and to others another, since it was not possible to know the person. But whatever anyone might say, he did not yet say it, and he distrusted himself in speaking, not having any ground on which to stand and lean for the truth. For those who learned that the one who spoke was for the time a monk confessed the matter to be a divine prophecy, if for the time being he had spoken clearly and as it was heard; for if any of the

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σήμερον, παννύχους τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς καὶ ἐκτενεῖς ἱκετείας ἐπιτελεῖν, λέγοντας καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐκτενῆ δέη σιν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαφυλαχθῆναι πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ χώραν ἀπὸ λι μοῦ λοιμοῦ σεισμοῦ καταποντισμοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα πράττειν καὶ τὴν σήμερον καὶ τὴν αὔριον καὶ τὴν μετ' ἐκείνην, καὶ ἐς ἀεὶ σχε δὸν ἐξιλεουμένους τὸ θεῖον διὰ τῆς συνεχοῦς παρακλήσεως. οὕτω γάρ, οἶμαι, καὶ θεὸς ἀνεὶς τὴν ὀργὴν εὐμενὴς ἡμῖν γένοιτο. ταῦτ' ἀκούσας ἐγὼ ἐλθὼν τῷ Ἡρακλείας μητροπολίτῃ τὸν λόγον ἐκοινωσάμην, καὶ ὃς παρευθὺς ἐπείγει μοι τὴν πρὸς τὴν βασι λείαν σου ἄφιξιν ἐφ' ᾧπερ ἀνενεγκεῖν ὅσον παρὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἤκουσα. πάρειμι τοίνυν καὶ λέγω, καὶ ὡς δόξει τῇ ἐκ θεοῦ βα σιλείᾳ σου, κελευέτω τε καὶ πραττέτω. πλὴν εἰ ἐν φροντίδι ποιεῖς τὸν λόγον τῇ προσηκούσῃ, αὐτόθεν ἄρχεσθαι τὸ ἔργον κέ 361 λευε γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ εἰπόντος παραγγελίαν. κἀμοὶ γὰρ προσέταττε θεοῦ δέεσθαι, καὶ ἄλλους εἰς τοῦτο παρακαλεῖν εὐλα βεῖς ἄνδρας, ὅσους ἂν καὶ συνήθεις εἰδείην." δέχεται τὸν λό γον ἀσμένως ὁ βασιλεύς. καὶ ὁ μὲν μοναχὸς εἰπὼν ἀπηλλάττετο, βασιλεὺς δ' εἰς νοῦν στρέφων τὸ ἀγγελθέν, καὶ περὶ τῶν φρικω δῶν ἀπειλῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐννοούμενος ὧν ῥυσθῆναι κατὰ τὸ σύνη θες λέγοντας προσέταττεν ὁ εἰπὼν θεοῦ δέεσθαι, λιμὸν μὲν καὶ λοιμὸν ὡς ἐν χρόνῳ καὶ διὰ μακροῦ ξυμβαίνοντας τῆς φροντίδος ἐξῇρε (μηδὲ γὰρ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ταῦτ' ἐνσκῆψαι οἷά τ' εἶναι), σεισμοῦ δὲ καὶ καταποντισμοῦ ἀναλαμβάνων ἔννοιαν δι' ἐννοίας εἶχε τὸν λόγον. ὑπώπτευε δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ μοναχοῦ μήνυμα, τὴν τοῦ καιροῦ αἰτιωμένου παραδρομήν, ὡς μηδὲ οἷόν τ' ἐσομένου, ὡς ἔλεγεν, ἐντεῦθεν ἀνύσαι, μή πως ἐκεῖνος εἰδώς τι τῶν ἤδη γενησομένων ἔλεγε. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν βασιλεύς· ἐβούλετο δ', οἶ μαι, ὁ λόγος καὶ ἄλλο τι δηλοῦν, τὸ κατὰ καιρὸν δηλαδὴ τὰς ἀποστολὰς εἰς τὰς μονὰς γίνεσθαι, καὶ μὴ ἐξώρους ἐς ἅπαν ὀψὲ τῶν νυκτῶν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐφισταμένων. τέως δ' ὅμως ὑπέ κνιζε τὸν κρατοῦντα καὶ ἄλλο τι βαθύτερον ἐννοούμενον, ὡς αὐ τὸς δημηγορῶν ὕστερον ἔλεγε. καὶ τῷ μὲν λογοθέτῃ προστάσ σει τῶν γενικῶν πέμπειν ἐπὶ μονὰς τοὺς ἐροῦντας τὴν τοῦ βασι 362 λέως πρόσταξιν, ἐφ' ᾧπερ αὐτόθεν παννύχους ἱκεσίας ποιεῖν. τὸ μέντοι γε καὶ τὴν ἐκτενῆ ὅπως ποιοῖεν, καὶ τί λέγοιεν ἂν προ δηλοῦν, πρῶτον μὲν περιττὸν οἷον κρίνων ἠφίει· εὐθὺς δ' ἐκ μεταμελείας τὸν λογοθέτην ἀνακαλούμενος, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς δημη γορῶν ἔλεγε, παράγων κἀκεῖνον ἐπὶ τούτοις μάρτυρα, καὶ τοῦτο προσέτασσε παραγγέλλειν τοῖς πεμπομένοις παραδηλοῦν τοῖς μο ναχοῖς. αὐτὸς δὲ διανυκτερεύων καὶ γρηγορῶν, εἰωθὸς ὂν ἐκεί νῳ τὸ ταῦτα ποιεῖν, ὅμως καὶ ἐν ἐννοίᾳ σεισμοῦ ἦν, ὡς ἔλεγεν. ὡς δὲ χρόνος παρῆλθε καὶ αὐτὸς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν μητέρα τὴν πρόσοδον ποιεῖν κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ἔμελλεν, ἐπισημαίνει παρα χρῆμα, ὡς ἐκεῖνον καὶ γνῶναι καὶ λέγειν, σεισμὸς μαλακός, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δῆλος ὥστε καὶ γνωσθῆναι μόλις τῷ γρηγοροῦντι. ἦν οὖν τοῦτο τῷ βασιλεῖ εἰς δόξαν ἀληθείας τῶν λεχθέντων προοίμιον· ὅμως ἐχεμυθῶν, ὡς ἔλεγε, καὶ πλέον τι τοῦ συμ βάντος παρετήρει καὶ ὑπεσκέπτετο. νὺξ μὲν οὖν ἐκείνη παρῴ χετο, καὶ ἡ μετ' αὐτὴν αὖθις, καὶ τῇ ἑπτακαιδεκάτῃ πρωΐας σεισμὸς προσήραξε κραταιότερος, οὐ μὴν δὲ ὥστε καί τι τῶν ἐς κίνδυνον ἐκ τούτου γενέσθαι. καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν πληρο φορίᾳ ὥρμα γενέσθαι τοῦ ἐκεῖνα λέγοντος, καὶ καθεκτὸς οὐκ ἦν θαύματος καὶ ἐπαίνου ἐκεῖνον τιθέμενος, κἂν τέως τοὔνομα ὑπεκρύπτετο. 363 35. ∆ιαλαλεῖται τοίνυν πρωΐας πᾶς ἀνὴρ ἱερός, ἀρχιε ρεὺς καὶ κλῆρος καὶ μοναχῶν οἱ κράτιστοι, καὶ εἰς κοινὴν ὁ κρα τῶν τὸν λόγον τιθεὶς μετ' ἐπιμελείας πάσης διεπυνθάνετο τί ἂν καὶ δοκοίη τούτοις ὁ μοναχὸς (οὔπω γὰρ ἔλεγε τοὔνομα) ὃς περὶ τοιούτων φθάσας ἐδήλωσεν, οὕτω πως διαμηνυσάμενος. καὶ τοῖς μὲν οὕτως τοῖς δ' ἐκείνως, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν εἰδέναι τὸ πρόσω πον, ἐδόκει τὰ περὶ τούτων ξυμβῆναι. πλὴν ὅ τι τις εἴποι, οὔπω γε ἔλεγε, καὶ διηπίστει ἑαυτῷ λέγοντι, μὴ ἔχων ὅπῃ στῇ καὶ ἀπερείσεται πρὸς ἀλήθειαν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ μοναχὸν τῷ τέως τὸν εἰπόντα μανθάνοντες θείαν τὸ πρᾶγμα πρόρρησιν ὡμολό γουν, εἰ τέως προδήλως καὶ ὡς ἠκούετο εἴπειεν· εἰ γάρ τινα τῶν