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seeming reasonable for not appearing. The emperor, therefore, willingly or unwillingly accepted the excuses and pretended peaceful intentions, and in return sending friendly messages to the patriarch, he feigned and seemed to be well-disposed towards him. To the archbishops, so that 297 they might understand—for he did not drop the charge—he secretly let them investigate the matter; for it was not right, he said in a public speech, that the emperor, the heart of the universe, should not have warmth from the church, but by receiving ill-will from there as some pestilential air, be in danger. And the emperor proposed these things and many others, dissimulating the seeming hostility towards the patriarch, but entrusting to them to investigate, as it was worthy for the matters in motion to be examined at leisure.

24. Concerning Bekkos and Xiphilinos, the rulers of the church. But something happened in the city, which indeed provoked the emperor to retaliation. The terrible event also touched the patriarch, even if indirectly, as others were suffering. For while Bekkos held the office of chartophylax—and it is a privilege that the sacred rites are performed at his prompting—a certain priest serving in the church near the Pharos of the great palace was celebrating a marriage rite for a bridal couple without the prompting of the chartophylax; and as soon as this was heard, the suspension of his priesthood was a penalty for him. This at least did not seem such a thing or any other moderate thing when reported to the emperor, but a downright excommunication of the imperial cleric. And at once—for he also suspected the patriarch of having allegedly collaborated, feeling insulted as if he were acting contemptuously—he was possessed by anger, and there was a common wrath against the officials of the church; and that the patriarch, he cried out and added, had wished these things, that the power of the empire be despised and the sacred palace be excommunicated. For this too was an assumption for the matter at hand, that the presbyter happened to be within the palace when the suspension was communicated to him by those whom the chartophylax sent. And indeed he did not have a way to retaliate against the patriarch, but he foresaw a different, deeper way both to retaliate against the one who had shown contempt and to grieve the patriarch, or rather to seem to retaliate and be able to do more. And sending quickly to the sebastokrator Tornikios, he ordered—for the affairs of the city had then been entrusted to him—to tear down the houses of both the chartophylax and the great oikonomos—this was Theodoros Xiphilinos—and to uproot their vines and to send them as prisoners to him. And he wished what 299 was being commanded, to frighten a lion with a dog, and indeed, when these men inclined towards the emperor through the suffering of the punishment, for the patriarch, being on his own, to be able to do nothing and thus for him too to be compelled to yield. The sebastokrator, therefore, arriving on the scene, was ready to act according to the orders; but they, having perceived the attack beforehand, fled with their wives and children to the holy place, so that they might have asylum from there. But when he, arriving at the church, tried to drag them out—for he knew he would be harmed if he did not succeed—the patriarch was a lion with a sword, immediately coming up to meet him, and he sternly sent the assailant away and: “What has possessed you,” he said, “that you try to blind our eyes, to cut off our hands, and to stop our ears?” And he cried out to both God and men that he was being wronged and treated unjustly; for it was not right for men consecrated to God to be called to account by laymen. But when he who a little before was arrogant, as if he would drag them out, even if something should happen, was dismayed at these things, the impulses of the men trampling the holy place were relaxed, not being afraid, and he turned to their houses. But it was not possible to attack the vines, because they did not have vines there. But he also turned away from the houses, as they were not truly theirs, but rather considered to belong to the church. Thwarted, therefore, in all things, that punisher sends to Nicaea and carries out the orders on their properties; but having been prevented from sending them as prisoners, as the command had it, he advised them to go unchained to the emperor

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δοκοῦσαν εὔλογον τοῦ μὴ παραγίνεσθαι. Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς ἑκὼν ἄκων τὰς ἀπολογίας ἐδέχετο καὶ προσεποιεῖτο τὰς εἰρηνικάς, καὶ πρὸς μὲν τὸν πατριάρχην ἀντιπέμπων τὰ φιλικὰ ὑπεκρίνετο καί οἱ εὐμενῶς ἔχειν ἐδόκει. Τοῖς μὲν ἀρχιερεῦσιν, ὡς 297 ἐννοεῖν ἦνοὐδὲ γὰρ ἠφίει τὸ ἔγκλημα, κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς ἠφίει τὰ περὶ τούτου ζητεῖν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐχρῆν, δημηγορῶν ἔλεγε, τὴν τοῦ παντὸς καρδίαν τὸν βασιλέα μὴ παρὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν θάλψιν ἔχειν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖθεν ὥς τινα φθοροποιὸν ἀέρα τὴν δύσνοιαν εἰσδεχόμενον κινδυνεύειν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ κρατῶν καὶ ἄλλα προὔτεινε πλεῖστα, ἀποπροσποιούμενος μὲν τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην δοκοῦσαν δυσμένειαν, ἐκείνοις δὲ προσανατιθεὶς ἐρευνᾶν, ὡς ἄξιον ὂν ζητεῖσθαι κατὰ σχολὴν τὰ κινούμενα.

κδʹ. Τὰ περὶ τοῦ Βέκκου καὶ Ξιφιλίνου τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀρχόντων. Συμβαίνει δέ τι κατὰ τὴν πόλιν, ὃ δὴ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα εἰς ἄμυναν ἐξηρέ θισεν. Ἥπτετο δὲ τὸ δεινὸν καὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου, κἂν πλαγίως, ὡς ἄλλων πασχόντων. Τοῦ γὰρ Βέκκου τὸ χαρτοφυλακικὸν ἀξίωμα ἔχοντοςπρο νόμιον δ' ἐστὶ τὸ προτροπαῖς ἐκείνου τὰς ἱερολογίας γίνεσθαι, τῶν τις ἱερέων ἐκδουλεύων ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν Φάρον ναῷ τῶν μεγάλων ἀνακτόρων νυμφίους ἱερολόγει δίχα τῆς τοῦ χαρτοφύλακος προτροπῆς· καὶ εὐθὺς ἀκουσθέν, ὡς πρόστιμον ἐκείνῳ ἡ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐπίσχεσις ἦν. Τοῦτο γοῦν οὐκ ἔδοξε τοιοῦτον ἤ τι ἄλλο μέτριον τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀγγελθέν, ἀλλ' ἀφορισμὸς ἄντικρυς τοῦ βασιλικοῦ κληρικοῦ. Καὶ εὐθύςσυνυπενόει γὰρ καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην ὡς δῆθεν συμπράξαντα, ὑβριοπαθῶν οἷον ὡς ὑπεροπτικῶς ἔχοντος, θυμῷ ἦν κάτοχος, καὶ ὀργὴ ἦν κατὰ τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας κοινή· καὶ ὡς ὁ πατριάρχης, κεκραγὼς ἐπῆγε, τεθέληκε ταῦτα, τὸ τῆς βασιλείας κράτος ἐξουθενεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ ἀνάκτορα ἀφορίζεσθαι. Ἦν γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο λῆμμα πρὸς τὸ παριστάμενον, ὅτι ἐντὸς τῶν ἀνακτόρων ἔτυχεν ὁ πρεσβύτερος, ὅτε οἱ, τοῦ χαρτοφύλακος πέμψαντος, διεμηνύετο ἡ ἐπίσχεσις. Καὶ δὴ τὸν μὲν πατριάρχην οὐκ εἶχεν ὅπως ἀμύνοιτο, ἄλλον δὲ τρόπον βαθύτερον καὶ τὸν καταφρονήσαντα ἀμυνεῖσθαι καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην λυπήσειν ἢ μὴν δόξειν ὡς ἀμυνεῖσθαι καὶ πλέον δύναιτο προὐνόει. Καὶ πέμψας διὰ ταχέων τῷ σεβαστοκράτορι Τορνικίῳ προσέταττεναὐτῷ γὰρ τότε τὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιτέτραπτοκαταχαλᾶν μὲν τὰς οἰκίας τοῦ τε χαρτοφύλακος καὶ τοῦ μεγάλου οἰκονόμουοὗτος δ' ἦν ὁ Ξιφιλῖνος Θεόδωρος, ἐκριζοῦν δὲ τὰς ἀμπέλους καὶ αὐτοὺς δεσμίους ὡς ἐκεῖνον πέμπειν. Ἠβούλετο δὲ τὸ 299 προσταττόμενον κυνὶ λέοντα ἐκδεδίττεσθαι καί γε, τούτων ἀποκλινάντων πρὸς βασιλέα διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τῇ τιμωρίᾳ προσπαθείας, μηδὲν οἷόν τ' εἶναι τὸν πατριάρχην, καθ' αὑτὸν ὄντα, πράττειν καὶ οὕτω κἀκεῖνον ὑποχαλᾶν ἀναγ κάζεσθαι. Ὁ γοῦν σεβαστοκράτωρ ἐπιστὰς ἕτοιμος ἦν κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτεταγμένα πράττειν· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι, τὴν ἔφοδον προαισθόμενοι, ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶ τῷ ἱερῷ προσφεύγουσιν, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν τὴν ἀσυλίαν ἕξοντες. Ὡς δ' ἐκεῖνος, ἐπιστὰς τῷ ναῷ, ἐκσπᾶν ἐπειρᾶτοᾔδει γὰρ βλαβησόμενος μὴ ἀνύσας, λέων ἦν μετὰ ξίφους ὁ πατριάρχης, αὐτίκα προσυπαντῶν, καὶ ἐμβριθῶς ἀπέ πεμπε τὸν ἐπιόντα καί· «Τί παθόντες, ἔλεγεν, ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ χεῖρας καὶ ἀκοὰς ἡμετέρας, τοὺς μὲν ἐκτυφλοῦν, τὰς δ' ἐκκόπτειν, τὰς δ' ἀποφράττειν πειρᾶσθε;» Ἐπεβοᾶτο δὲ καὶ Θεὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπους ὡς ἀδικοῖτο πλεονεκτού μενος· μηδὲ γὰρ δίκαιον εἶναι Θεῷ καθιερωμένους ἄνδρας εὐθύνεσθαι κοσμικοῖς. Ὡς δ' ἀπεπάγη πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ πρὸ μικροῦ ὑπέροφρυς, ὡς ἐκσπάσων, κἂν εἴ τι γένηται, τοῖς μὲν ἀνδράσιν τὸ ἱερὸν πατοῦσιν αἱ ὁρμαὶ ἀνεῖντο μὴ δεδιόσιν, ἐκεῖνος δὲ πρὸς τὰς οἰκίας τρέπεται. Ἀμπέλοις δ' ἐπιθέσθαι οὐκ ἦν, ὅτι οὐδ' ἦσαν ἐκείνοις ἄμπελοι τῇδε. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν ἀποτρέπεται, ὡς μὴ σφίσιν ἀληθῶς οὐσῶν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τῆς ἐκκλησίας λογιζομένων. Ἐκκρουσθεὶς οὖν τοῖς ὅλοις, ὁ ἐπιτιμητὴς ἐκεῖνος πέμπει Νικαίαζε καὶ τὰ προστεταγμένα ἐπὶ τοῖς σφῶν κτήμασι διαπράττεται· κωλυθεὶς δὲ ἀπο πέμπειν δεσμίους, ὡς ἡ πρόσταξις εἶχε, συνεβούλευε σφίσιν αὐτοὺς ἀνέτους ὡς βασιλέα