114

I sat enclosed in my cell. But as I was in doubt and praying to God about these things, a certain divine vision appeared to me, saying "3If you love me, Peter, feed my sheep."3 Therefore, on account of this, I ascended the throne again. But since the scandals were stirred up again even more, and the church was insulted because of 382 this, I again stepped down from the patriarchal cathedra for the sake of peace itself. But since what you know happened again, and an excommunication was pronounced by me against the one who would elevate the lord Athanasius to the patriarchal throne, because his elevation seemed grievous and burdensome to all, but you now do not accept this excommunication, that is, on the grounds that it was not pronounced canonically, as you say, behold, I myself absolve the excommunication, and I hold it completely dissolved, yet I do not approve his elevation. For how could I receive him as a hierarch, a man who has been accused and insulted and almost worse than I, even in regard to his very piety, and especially since he has resigned ecclesiastically and canonically? These things I say to all and I protest. If anything should happen after this, you will see; for I have made everything on my part clear. And may the God of peace, who gave his own blood for his holy church, himself bring about what is beneficial and peaceful and free from faction for her." The signature: "the abbas John."

7. So it was Friday, and the Attic month Maimakterion was on its twenty-first day, and the emperor received the letter. Which indeed he did not show 383 openly and to everyone. For the time being, having gathered the hierarchs and clerics, he announced the dissolution of the excommunication, intimating the letter also to some of them. And thereupon, since there was nothing else to hold back, as it seemed, the action, although many other things were secretly suspected, nevertheless, as if the pretext from that quarter had been removed for the hierarchs, he ordered everyone to assemble for this purpose on the following Saturday and Sunday in the divine and renowned church of the Holy Apostles, and taking no circuitous routes, to make paths of harmony and to take hold of these, as the time did not allow for delays. This happened according to the order, and gathering in the place, they were far apart in their opinions and could not agree. Since, therefore, the emperor sent to inquire what they were saying, on the twenty-third of the same month, around high noon, he mounted a horse and reached the divine church of the Apostles. And having conversed with them at length, since there was no agreement at all, he took those who accepted Athanasius, and leaving those who did not, he went straight to his monastery, and having vested him in hierarchical vestments as was possible, on foot 384 and at a walk under a fire-breathing sky and seasonal suffocation, together with the clerics who happened to be present and as many of the laity as had gathered, they reached the church, and again a bishop appears, as if hurled into the midst by some contrivance of the foreknowledge that had been reputed at the time of the earthquake, he who did not even choose to be able to take up the sacred office. And he, having obtained that for the sake of which those many daily counsels had been woven, diligently busied himself to the end with his duties and did not let up even beyond his strength; but half of the hierarchs, along with some of the reputed monks and some of the clerics, steadfastly resolved to be in schism. But on the following day, Patriarch John, having disguised his affairs toward greater obscurity in order to leave the city, without even taking leave of the emperor himself, departed from these parts with his followers and went to Sozopolis. And he was able to proclaim openly everywhere that he had been driven from the church and that he had suffered this and that, and to blame his absence for all the worldly troubles, and that the clerics were to be reproached as being responsible, if anything chanced to happen, and to be bold at common litanies from then on to correct what had gone wrong, as if it had happened from neglect and luxury, as if indeed to correct something

114

ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ μου περικλεισθεὶς ἐκαθήμην. ἀμφιβάλλοντι δὲ καὶ δεομένῳ θεοῦ περὶ τούτων ἐμφάνειά τις θεία ἐπέστη μοι λέγουσα "3εἰ φιλεῖς με, Πέτρε, ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου."3 πάλιν οὖν διὰ τοῦτο ἀνῆλθον εἰς τὸν θρόνον. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ αὖθις ἐκινοῦντο μειζόνως τὰ σκάνδαλα καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία διὰ 382 τοῦτο ὑβρίζετο, πάλιν τῆς καθέδρας ἐξέστην τῆς πατριαρχικῆς διὰ τὴν εἰρήνην αὐτήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ αὖθις ἐγένετο ὅσον γινώσκετε, καὶ ἀφορισμὸς ἐξεφωνήθη μοι κατὰ τοῦ ἀναβιβάσοντος ἐπὶ τὸν πατριαρχικὸν θρόνον τὸν κύριν Ἀθανάσιον διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀνάβασιν βαρεῖαν πᾶσι καὶ ἐπαχθῆ, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀρτίως οὐ δέχεσθε τοῦτον δηλαδὴ τὸν ἀφορισμὸν ὡς μὴ ἐκφωνηθέντα κα νονικῶς, ὡς λέγετε, ἰδοὺ καὶ αὐτὸς ὅσον τὸ τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ ἀπολύω, καὶ παντάπασι λελυμένον ἔχω αὐτόν, οὐ μέντοι τὴν ἀνάβασιν αὐτοῦ εὐδοκῶ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸν καὶ δέξομαι ὡς ἀρ χιερέα, ἄνθρωπον κατηγορηθέντα καὶ ὑβρισθέντα καὶ χείρονα ἢ ἐγὼ μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν εὐσέβειαν αὐτοῦ, ἄλλως τε καὶ παραιτησάμενον ἐκκλησιαστικῶς καὶ κανονικῶς; ταῦτα λέγω πᾶσι καὶ διαμαρτύρομαι. εἴ τι δὲ συμβῇ μετὰ ταῦτα, ὑμεῖς ὄψεσθε· τὸ γὰρ ἡμέτερον ἅπαν δεδήλωκα. ὁ δὲ θεὸς τῆς εἰρή νης, ὁ τὸ ἴδιον αἷμα δοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁγίας αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίας, αὐ τὸς ταύτης ποιήσοι τὸ συμφέρον καὶ εἰρηναῖον καὶ ἀστασίαστον." ἡ ὑπογραφὴ "ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἰωάννης."

7. Ἡμέρα μὲν οὖν παρασκευὴ ἦν, πρώτην δὲ μετ' εἰ κάδα ὁ κατ' Ἀθηναίους Μαιμακτηριὼν μὴν ἦγε, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸ γράμμα ἐδέχετο. ὃ δὴ καὶ εἰς προῦπτον μὲν καὶ πασίδηλον 383 οὐκ ἐδείκνυ. τέως συλλέξας ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ κληρικοὺς τὴν λύσιν ἐδήλου τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ, παρεμφαίνων καί τισιν ἐξ αὐτῶν τὸ γράμμα. καὶ τῷ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄλλο ἐφέξον, ὡς ἐδό κει, τὴν πρᾶξιν, πολλῶν ὑπονοουμένων καὶ ἄλλων κατὰ τὸ λεληθός, ὅμως ὡς δῆθεν περιαιρεθείσης τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι τῆς ἐκεῖ θεν προφάσεως, σαββάτου τοῦ ἐπιόντος καὶ κυριακῆς ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐν τῷ θείῳ δὴ πάλιν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων καὶ περιωνύμῳ ναῷ προσέταττε συνάγεσθαι πάντας, καὶ μηδὲν κύκλῳ περιβαλλομέ νους ὁμονοίας τρίβους ποιεῖν καὶ τούτων ἅπτεσθαι, ὡς οὐ τριβὰς τοῦ καιροῦ χωροῦντος. γέγονε τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν πρόσταξιν, καὶ τῷ τόπῳ συναγόμενοι ἀπεῖχον πολλῷ τὰς γνώμας καὶ ὁμονοεῖν οὐκ ἐδύναντο. ἐπεὶ οὖν πέμπων ὁ βασιλεὺς ὅ τι λέγοιεν ἐπυνθά νετο, εἰκοστῇ τρίτῃ μηνὸς τοῦ αὐτοῦ, περὶ τὸ τῆς μεσημβρίας μεσαίτατον, ἐπιβὰς ἵππου τὸν θεῖον καταλαμβάνει τῶν ἀποστό λων ναόν. καὶ τὰ πολλὰ συγγεγονὼς σφίσιν, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν τὸ παράπαν ὁμονοεῖν, λαβὼν ἐκεῖνος τοὺς δεχομένους τὸν Ἀθανά σιον, ἀφεὶς τοὺς μὴ δεχομένους, εὐθὺ τῆς μονῆς ἐκείνου γίνεται, καὶ ὡς οἷόν τ' ἦν ἐκεῖνον ἀρχιερατικῶς ἐπισκευασάμενοι, πεζῇ 384 καὶ βάδην ὑπ' ἀέρι πῦρ πνέοντι καὶ καιρικῷ πνίγει, ἅμα κληρι κῶν τοῖς παρατυχοῦσι καὶ τῷ λαῷ ὅσος συνείλεκτο, τὴν ἐκκλη σίαν καταλαμβάνουσι, καὶ πάλιν ἐπίσκοπος, ὥσπερ ἐκ μαγγάνου τινὸς τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ σεισμῷ δοξάσης προγνώσεως εἰς τὸ μέσον ῥιφείς, ἀναφαίνεται ὁ μηδ' οἷός τε εἶναι τὴν ἱερὰν ἀρχὴν ἀναλα βεῖν προαιρούμενος. καὶ ὁ μὲν τυχὼν οὗπερ χάριν καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐκεῖνα τῶν καθ' ἡμέραν βουλῶν ἐξυφαίνοντο, σπουδαιοτριβῶν ἐς τέλος τά οἱ προσήκοντα καὶ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν οὐκ ἀνίει· οἱ δέ γε τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἡμίσεις, σὺν οἷς καὶ τῶν ἐν μοναχοῖς δοκούντων τινὲς καὶ τῶν κληρικῶν ἔνιοι, καρτερῶς διέγνωσαν σχίζεσθαι. τῆς δ' ἐπιγενομένης ἡμέρας ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰωάννης τὰ καθ' αὑ τὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀδηλότερον μετασκευασάμενος ἐφ' ᾧ τῆς πόλεως ἐξελθεῖν, μηδ' αὐτῷ βασιλεῖ συνταξάμενος, ἅμα τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἀπαίρει τῶν τῇδε καὶ πρὸς Σωζόπολιν γίνεται. τῷ δ' ἦν ἑκάστης διαλαλεῖν ἐμφανῶς ὡς διωχθείη τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ ὡς τὸ καὶ τὸ πάθοι, καὶ πάντων κατὰ κόσμου δυσχερῶν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπουσίαν ἐπαιτιᾶσθαι, καὶ τοῖς κληρικοῖς ἐξονειδίζεσθαι ὡς αἰτίοις, εἴ πού τι καὶ ξυμβὰν ἔτυχε, καὶ ἐπὶ λιτανείαις κοιναῖς θαρρεῖν ἐν τεῦθεν διορθοῦν τὰ σφαλέντα ὡς δῆθεν καὶ ἀπ' ἀμελείας καὶ τρυφῆς ξυμβάντα, ὡς καί τινα διορθοῦν δῆθεν