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You at least know how you will conduct yourselves regarding the present situation, as you will either be for good things by remaining quiet, or you will be punished for seeking such things that do not concern you at all.” The emperor, therefore, having given these and other such proclamations to the people, dismisses each one to go to their own homes.

12. How Germanos of Adrianople is elected to the patriarchate and what sort of man he was. The hierarchs, however, having received permission to elect the one who seemed best to them and suitable for the highest office, all came together in the same place at the sacred and great precinct of Blachernae and, with one proposing one man and another another, finally all agreed on one, Germanos of Adrianople, a man of liberal character and suited to sacred duties, and one who, moreover, had long enjoyed the emperor’s favor. For the man was in truth a lover of beauty and of learning to the highest degree; but knowing everything good that might be useful in practical matters, not only for virtue, he often preferred for praise the man of resourcefulness who possessed security of soul over the one living with bare virtue alone, if he lived in the world and not in the desert. Therefore, though he was not learned, he treated learned men with respect and propriety, and he loved to hear discourses and was a great friend to such men, so that he himself possessed half of what is good. But the man possessed a virtue not such as those present might praise, or rather those who think they 365 surpass others, those who are scrupulous about foods and drinks and who assign appropriate days to each of these beyond what is reasonable, choosing to traverse the roads on foot and walking, with unwashed feet, sleeping on the ground, and wearing a single tunic, while placing in second order pity and love, and furthermore philanthropy and compassion, and, to put it simply, discretion, being harsh and critical and fault-finding towards others, as if choosing to acquire virtue for themselves and for themselves alone, whatever they might do, but of a virtue that is truly human, by which a true man would be characterized, and especially one in authority, for whom moderation is owed more than impassibility; from whose life if you take away discretion, you have destroyed the whole from one thing. Adorned, therefore, with such a virtue, which some call political and the life according to it political, being a mean between the contemplative and the hedonistic, the aforementioned hierarch of Orestias, being preferred to the others—for it was said that he had for a long time practiced the greatest asceticism at the Black Mountain in the east and in the monastery there—was deemed worthy by the rest to undertake the leadership of Constantinople. Along with them, the emperor, accepting the vote, supplicated the man and, approaching him for whole days with appeals, urged and requested him not to reject the summons.

13. How Germanos is elevated to the patriarchate and what he does. And so, having been entreated, he yielded; and in the month of Maimakterion, on the feast of the Holy Spirit, by a common tomos having been made, he is proclaimed patriarch and, having concelebrated with them, he sits upon the sacred throne and presides over the others. As soon as he ascended the throne, it was for him a task above all other business 367 to honor in appropriate ways those who seemed to excel others in virtue or in learning, some with dignities, others with all kinds of kindnesses and various gifts. For he was also a great despiser of gold, so that he did not even possess a purse, but ordered that whatever was brought from anywhere be placed upon his couch, so that it might be ready for the needs of beneficence, wherever he might command. But since he was such a man, the advantage of his simplicity turned into an accusation of indifference, and that of his reverence and deference to the emperor turned openly into a charge of flattery and falsehood in the eyes of the many. For to the simplicity, guilelessness, and liberality of his character—in using what was at hand himself and allowing his own people to use it—he had acquired that of abusing.

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Ὑμεῖς γοῦν οἴδατε ὅπως ἕξετε πρὸς τὰ παρόντα, ὡς ἢ τῷ ἡσυχάζειν ἐπ' ἀγαθοῖς ἐσόμενοι, ἢ τῷ τοιαῦτα ζητεῖν, μηδὲν ὅλως ὑμῖν προσήκοντα, τιμωρηθησόμενοι.» Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεύς, τούτοις τε καὶ ἄλλοις τοιούτοις τὰς προαναφωνήσεις δοὺς τῷ λαῷ, ἀπολύει ἐπ' οἴκων πορεύεσθαι τῶν οἰκείων ἕκαστον.

ιβʹ. Ὅπως ψηφίζεται ὁ τῆς Ἀδριανοῦ Γερμανὸς εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον καὶ ὁποῖος οὗτος. Οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς δέ, τὸ ἐνδόσιμον λαβόντες ψηφίζεσθαι τὸν δοκοῦντα σφίσιν καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ μεγίστῃ προστασίᾳ τὸν ἐπιτήδειον, ἐν ταὐτῷ συνίασι πάντες κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ μέγα τῶν Βλαχερνῶν τέμενος καί, ἄλλον ἄλλου προ βαλλομένου, τέλος ἐφ' ἑνὶ πάντες συμφωνοῦσι, τῷ Ἀδριανουπόλεως Γερμανῷ, ἀνδρὶ ἐλευθέρῳ τὸν τρόπον καὶ ἱεραῖς διεξαγωγαῖς πρέποντι, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐκ βασιλέως ἐκ παλαιοῦ πλουτοῦντι διάθεσιν. Ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ ταῖς ἀληθείαις φιλόκαλος μὲν καὶ φιλολόγος ἐς ἄκρον· καλὸν δ' ἅπαν εἰδὼς ὃ ἂν καὶ εἰς τὰ πράγματα χρησιμεύοι, μὴ μόνον εἰς ἀρετήν, ἐν προτι μήσει πολλάκις τῶν ἐπαίνων ἐτίθει τὸν μετ' ἐντρεχείας καὶ τὸ ἐς ψυχὴν ἀσφαλὲς ἔχοντα τοῦ ὅλως ἀρετῇ συζῶντος γυμνῇ, εἰ κατὰ βίον καὶ μὴ ἐπ' ἐρημίας διάγοι. Ὅθεν λόγιος μὲν οὐκ ἦν, λογίοις δὲ μετ' αἰδοῦς καὶ τοῦ πρέποντος προσεφέρετο καὶ λόγους ἀκούων ἠγάπα καὶ φίλος ἦν ἐς τὰ μάλιστα τῶν τοιούτων, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ καλοῦ τὤμισυ ἴσχειν. Ἀρετῆς δὲ μετῆν τῷ ἀνδρὶ οὐχ ἣν ἂν οἱ παρόντες αἰνοῖεν, ἢ μᾶλλον οἱ παρ' ἑαυτοῖς 365 προὔχειν δοκοῦντες τῶν ἄλλων, βρώματα καὶ πόσεις φιλοκρινοῦντες καὶ ἡμέρας τούτων ἑκάστῳ πρεπούσας καὶ παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς προσνέμοντες, πεζῇ τε καὶ βάδην αἱρούμενοι διέρχεσθαι τὰς ὁδούς, ἀνιπτόποδες καὶ χαμαιεῦναι καὶ μονοχίτωνες, ἐν δευτέρῳ δὲ τούτων τὸν οἶκτον καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην τιθέμενοι, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ τὴν συμπάθειαν καί, τὸ ὅλον εἰπεῖν, τὴν διάκρισιν, σκληροί τινες ὄντες καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις μωμητικοὶ καὶ μεμψίμοιροι, ὡς ἑαυτοῖς σφίσι καὶ μόνοις τὴν ἀρετὴν περιποιεῖν αἱρούμενοι, κἂν ὅ τι ἐκεῖνοι καὶ πράττοιεν, ἀλλ' ἀρετῆς τῆς κατ' ἄνθρωπον ὄντως, καθ' ἣν ἂν καὶ ὁ ἀληθινὸς χαρακτηρίζοιτο ἄνθρωπος, καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ ἐπ' ἐξουσίας, ᾧ δὴ καὶ τὸ μετριοπαθὲς τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς μᾶλλον ὀφείλεται· οὗ δὴ βίου εἰ ἐξαρεῖς τὴν διάκρισιν, τὸ πᾶν ἀπώλεσας ἐξ ἑνός. Τοιαύτῃ τοίνυν κοσμούμενος ἀρετῇ, ἣν δὴ καὶ πολιτικήν τινες λέγουσι καὶ τὸν κατ' αὐτὴν βίον πολιτικόν, μέσον ὄντα θεωρητικοῦ τε καὶ ἀπολαυστικοῦ, ὁ δηλωθεὶς τῆς Ὀρεστιάδος ἀρχιερεύς, προκριθεὶς τῶν ἄλλωνκαὶ γὰρ ἐλέγετο κἀν τῷ κατ' ἀνατολὴν ὄρει τῷ Μέλανι καὶ τῇ κατ' ἐκεῖνο μονῇ ἐγχρονίσας ἀσκῆσαι τὸ πάλαι τὰ μέγιστα, παρὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἠξιοῦτο τὴν προστασίαν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀναδέξασθαι. Σὺν οἷς καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν ψῆφον ἀποδεξάμενος κατηντιβόλει τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ ἐφ' ἡμέραις προσιὼν ὅλαις ὁρμαῖς παρώτρυνε καὶ ἠξίου μὴ ἀποπέμψασθαι τὰ τῆς κλήσεως.

ιγʹ. Ὅπως ἀνάγεται Γερμανὸς εἰς τὸ πατριαρχεῖον καὶ τί διαπράττεται. Καὶ δὴ παρακληθεὶς εἶξε· καὶ μηνὸς μαιμακτηριῶνος ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἑορτῇ, ὑπὸ τόμῳ κοινῷ γεγονότι, πατριάρχης ἐπικηρύσσεται καί, σφίσιν ἅμα συλλειτουργήσας, τῷ ἱερῷ ἐφιζάνει θρόνῳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προΐσταται. Ἅμα δὲ τῷ προσβῆναι τῷ θρόνῳ, ἔργον ἐκείνῳ ἀσχολίας πάσης 367 ὑπέρτερον τιμᾶν τε τοῖς προσήκουσι τοὺς ἀρετῇ δοκοῦντας ἢ καὶ λόγῳ προέχειν τῶν ἄλλων, τοὺς μὲν ἀξιώμασι, τοὺς δὲ φιλοτησίαις ἁπάσαις καὶ δώροις παντοίοις. Ἦν γὰρ καὶ περιφρονητὴς χρυσίου τὰ μάλιστα, ὡς μηδὲ κεκτῆσθαι βαλάντιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ προσαγόμενον ἔκποθεν ἐπὶ τῆς στιβάδος ἐκείνου κελεύειν τίθεσθαι, ὡς ἕτοιμον εἶναι ταῖς χρείαις τῆς εὐποιίας, ὅπου ἂν ἐκεῖνος κελεύσοιε. Τοιούτῳ δ' ὄντι ἐκείνῳ τὸ τῆς μὲν ἁπλότητος πλεονέκτημα εἰς κατηγορίαν ἀδιαφορότητος περιίστατο, τὸ δὲ τῆς εἰς βασιλέα αἰδοῦς τε καὶ κυβερνήσεως εἰς ἔγκλημα κολακείας καὶ ψεύδους πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἄντικρυς. Τῷ γὰρ ἁπλῷ τοῦ τρόπου καὶ ἀνυπούλῳ καὶ ἐλευθερίῳ πρὸς τὸ τοῖς παροῦσι χρήσα σθαι μὲν καὶ αὐτόν, ἐφεῖναι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις χρᾶσθαι, τὴν τοῦ καταχρᾶσθαι προσειλήφει