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The one pointed out to the emperor was Joseph of Galesios, who was not so much sympathetic to Arsenios as he was hostile to Germanos on account of his leap from throne to throne, from a humble one to the highest. Therefore he was indeed in schism, and he also suggested to the emperor unwholesome thoughts about him, that he would not resolve it, even if he were to resolve it; for this would be neither sufficient nor adequate before God, nor beyond reproach among men. So, as the one appointed as a father to the emperor said these things and was readily persuading him, for other reasons sufficient for appearance, but especially because he was fully convinced on many points by him, since he was considered a father and was otherwise renowned for his spiritual labors, the ruler was in the greatest of thoughts, and all the more because the schism had become greater on account of the transfer, even if the latter disregarded the insult to himself and troubled no one about anything, even if everyone reported it. Having changed his mind, therefore, the emperor was very much striving on account of these things for Germanos to step down from the throne, and if he would not step down of his own accord, then at least for another to be emboldened to advise him to withdraw. And Joseph was immediately ready for this, yet inconspicuously and so that one might think the emperor was unaware; for he guarded against this suspicion to the very end.

18. How Joseph advised Germanos to lay aside the patriarchate. And indeed, with the emperor yielding, Joseph, approaching Germanos in secret in the guise of a good counselor, advised him to lay aside 381 the patriarchate; for the turmoil was great, and it would not be possible for him to hold out for long, however much he might be supported by the emperor; for the emperor himself would give up, having learned of the schism. ‘Do you not see how many have conspired around Hyakinthos, and how many again around Theodosia and her full brother John son of Martha, and their half-sister the Nostongonissa? Do you not see the monks who have departed from the monasteries, in which they had grown old and toiled in ascetic labors? But if you have confidence in Eylogia, yet look at her sister Martha, look at her daughters, how they have attached themselves to Arsenios and disregard you as a nobody. And the lay people, but I cannot tell you how they are devoted to Hyakinthos and to the nun Nostongonissa, whom you know is the sister of the aforementioned Theodosia and John. What then will be left for you, if even the emperor gives up and abandons you? Hasten to depart with honor, as you have the opportunity to act on your own, lest, when the time comes upon you in which you are forced to act against your will, you also incur ridicule, withdrawing from the church even unwillingly.’ These things, then, he strung together in the manner of a suggestion to the one in the patriarchate; but the desire of the listener was opposed, and the speaker did not persuade. For how did it enter his mind that the emperor also consented to these things and that the advice of Joseph had been instigated from that quarter? He remained, therefore, and even heaped up more, ordaining clerics and hierarchs, looking to the favor of the ruler. But this, it turned out, was mockery and laughter, and to hope in him was equal to one who, having fallen from a ship, is confident of being saved in the seaweed of the sea. But the ruler, wishing to avert suspicion, both pretended to support him and acted benevolently and gave him very many things, in order that he might give and buy the opinions of the many, so that also 383 when the festival of Palms arrived, when the customary procession from dawn is performed, he himself, having sent, received from the ruler very many coins of silver and bronze and, having prepared what are usually called *epikompia* to be tied in cords and he himself extending the procession as far as the Forty Martyrs, ordered them to be thrown to the people. And such were the emperor's concealments toward him, so that it might not be known in any way that he wished for his departure.

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βασιλεῖ ὁ δηλωθεὶς Γαλησίου ἦν Ἰωσήφ, ὃς οὐ τοσοῦτον ὑπερεπάθει τοῦ Ἀρσενίου ὅσον τῷ Γερμανῷ ἀπηχθάνετο διὰ τὴν ἐκ θρόνου εἰς θρόνον, ταπεινοῦ εἰς τὸν ὑπέρτατον, ἐπιπήδησιν. Τῷ τοι καὶ ἐσχίζετο μὲν ἐκεῖνος, ὑπέτεινε δὲ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ οὐ καλὰς ἐννοίας περὶ ἐκείνου ὡς οὐ λύσοντος, ἄν γε καὶ λύοι· οὔτε γὰρ ἱκανὸν εἶναι τοῦτο παρὰ Θεῷ καὶ αὔταρκες, οὔτ' ἀκατάγνωστον ἐν ἀνθρώποις. Ὡς γοῦν ταῦτ' ἔλεγεν ὁ εἰς πατέρα τεταγμένος τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πείθειν ἦν ἐκεῖνον ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου καὶ δι' ἄλλα μὲν πρὸς τὸ δοκεῖν ἱκανά, μάλιστα δὲ καὶ ὅτι ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ πεπλη ροφόρητο τὰ πολλά, πατρί γε νομιζομένῳ καὶ ἄλλως ἐν πνευματικαῖς ἐργασίαις διαβεβοημένῳ, ἐν ἐννοίαις μεγίσταις ὁ κρατῶν ἦν, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ σχίσμα πλέον ἐγένετο διὰ τὴν μετάθεσιν, κἂν ἐκεῖνος κατωλιγώρει τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ὕβρεως καί γε οὐδὲν οὐδενὶ ἠνώχλει, κἂν πάντες προσήγγελλον. Μεταβαλὼν γοῦν τῆς γνώμης, ὁ βασιλεὺς πολὺς ἦν ὀριγνώμενος διὰ ταῦτα ἐκστῆναι τοῦ θρόνου τὸν Γερμανόν, κἂν μὴ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ μαθὼν ὑπεκσταίη, ἀλλ' οὖν ἄλλον ἐπιθαρρῆσαι συμβουλεύειν ἐκείνῳ τὴν ὑποχώρησιν. Ἕτοιμος δ' ἦν εἰς τοῦτο παραυτίκα ὁ Ἰωσήφ, πλὴν ἀνεμφάτως καὶ ὡς ἂν οἰηθείη τις ἀγνοοῦντος τοῦ βασιλέως· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ καὶ εἰς τέλος τὴν ὑποψίαν ταύτην διεφυλάττετο.

ιηʹ. Ὅπως ὁ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ Γερμανῷ συνεβούλευεν ἀποθέσθαι τὴν πατριαρχίαν. Καὶ δή, τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνδόντος, ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ὁ Ἰωσὴφ τῷ Γερμανῷ προσιὼν ἐν σχήματι συμβούλου χρηστοῦ τὴν πατριαρχίαν συνεβούλευεν 381 ἀποθέσθαι· πολὺν γὰρ εἶναι τὸν τάραχον, καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τ' ἔσεσθαι ἐς μακρὰν ἀντισχεῖν ἐκεῖνον, κἂν ὅσον παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως συνέχοιτο· ἀπαυδήσειν γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸν βασιλέα, μαθόντα τὸ σχίσμα. «Ἦ οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὁπόσοι τε ἀμφὶ τὸν Ὑάκινθον, ὁπόσοι τ' αὖθις ἀμφὶ τὴν Θεοδοσίαν καὶ τὸν αὐτά δελφον αὐτῆς τὸν Ἰωάννην τὸν τῆς Μάρθας καὶ τὴν ἑτεροθαλῆ ἀδελφὴν αὐτῶν τὴν Νοστογγόνισσαν συνέστησαν; Οὐ βλέπεις τοὺς μοναχοὺς ἀπο φοιτήσαντας τῶν μονῶν, αἷς ἐγγηράσαντες τοῖς ἀσκητικοῖς ἐνίδρωσαν πόνοις; Εἰ δ' ἐπὶ τῇ Εὐλογίᾳ θαρρεῖς, ἀλλ' ἴδε τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς Μάρθαν, ἴδε τὰς αὐτῆς θυγατέρας, ὅπως τῷ Ἀρσενίῳ προστετήκασι καὶ σοῦ ὀλιγωροῦσιν ὡς μηδενός. Οἱ δὲ κοσμικοί, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔχω σοι λέγειν ὅπως τῷ Ὑακίνθῳ πρόσκεινται καὶ τῇ Νοστογγονίσσῃ μοναχῇ, ἣν ἀδελφὴν οἶδας οὖσαν Θεοδοσίας καὶ Ἰωάννου τῶν εἰρημένων. Τί σοι γοῦν λοιπὸν ἐναπο λειφθήσεται, εἴ γε καὶ βασιλεὺς ἀπειπὼν ἀπολείψοι σε; Σπεῦσον μετὰ τιμῆς ἐξελθεῖν, ὡς καιρὸν ἔχεις τοῦ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ πράττειν, μήπως, ἐπιστάντος σοι τοῦ καιροῦ καθ' ὃν ἀβουλήτως πράττειν ἀναγκασθήσῃ, καὶ γέλωτα ὄφλοις, ἀποχωρῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ ἄκων.» Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνος ἐν ὑποθήκης τρόπῳ πρὸς τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ πατριαρχείου συνεῖρεν· ἀλλ' ἡ ὄρεξις προσίστατο τοῦ ἀκούοντος, καὶ ὁ λέγων οὐκ ἔπειθε. Ποῦ γὰρ καὶ εἰς νοῦν ἐκείνῳ ὡς καὶ βασιλεὺς ἐπινεύει πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τῆς συμβουλῆς Ἰωσὴφ ἐκεῖθεν προανακέκρουσται; Ἔμεινε γοῦν καὶ ἔτι καὶ ἐπεστοίβασε κληρικούς τε καὶ ἱεράρχας χειροτονῶν, ἀφορῶν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος εὐμένειαν. Τὸ δ' ἦν ἄρα χλεύη καὶ γέλως, καὶ τὸ εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἐλπίζειν ἶσον καὶ τῷ ἐν μνίοις θαλάσσης, ἐπεὶ τῆς νεὼς ἀποπέσοι, θαρροῦντι σῴζεσθαι. Ἀλλ' ὁ κρατῶν, τὴν ὑποψίαν ἐκκλίνειν ἐθέλων, καὶ συνέχειν προσεποιεῖτο καὶ εὐμενῶς προσεφέρετο καὶ παρεῖχεν ἐκείνῳ πλεῖστα, ἐφ' ᾧ διδοίη καὶ τὰς τῶν πολλῶν ἐξωνοῖτο γνώμας, ὥστε καὶ 383 τῆς τῶν Βαΐων ἑορτῆς ἐπιστάσης, ὅτε καὶ ἡ συνήθης ἐξ ὄρθρου λιτανεία τελεῖται, αὐτὸς πέμψας πλεῖστα ἐξ ἀργύρου καὶ χαλκοῦ νομίσματα πρὸς τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἐλάμβανε καί, ἁρπεδόσιν ἐνδεῖσθαι παρασκευάσας τὰ συνήθως λεγόμενα ἐπικόμπια καὶ αὐτὸς μέχρι καὶ ἐς τῶν Τεσσαράκοντα Μαρτύρων τὴν λιτὴν κατατείνων, ῥιπτεῖν ἐκέλευε τῷ λαῷ. Καὶ τοιαῦτ' ἦσαν τὰ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπικαλύμματα, ἐφ' ᾧ μὴ γνωσθείη μηδ' ἀμη γέπη τὴν ἐκείνου θέλων ἐξέλευσιν.