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to those deliberating, the thoughts of their hearts suggested now this one, now that one; but to as many as delved into the mind of the ruler and correctly guessed his thoughts, to them one man and one alone seemed suitable for the office, one who was also pleasing to the emperor. At any rate, after deliberating together, they voted for Joseph of Galesios, a man both spiritual and good, simple and gentle in his manners, but also having some connection with the palace, since, living with his wife, he was enrolled among the clergy of the late lady Eirene and served as a reader, and giving sufficient proofs of his generosity. He loved to give to others what came into his hands, as much, one could safely declare, as others indeed love to be stingy. And the strange thing was that while delighting in the monastic life in psalmody, in vigils, often in fasting, in drinking water when it was necessary, in meekness and justice and good character and simplicity and in a way of life altogether blameless, he did not neglect human virtue either, such as greeting someone first and embracing them and conversing in a friendly manner and smiling and breaking into laughter, if something was said by someone in jest or done gracefully, and approaching powerful rulers and making requests on behalf of others and feasting many at lavish tables with various wines and sweetmeats, and especially those whose life was destitute and helpless and who needed assistance for themselves. When such a man accepted the vote, the emperor put him forward as patriarch, on the twenty-eighth of the month of Skirophorion of the tenth indiction of the year #22ψοεʹ; and on the first day of Hekatombaion he was ordained and consecrated as high priest. And concerning the ordination, something like this also happened.

24. How, since Pinakas of Heracleia was passed over as being from the ordination of Germanos, Gregory of Mitylene ordained Joseph. For the monk Pinakas, having received his ordination from Germanos, was chief shepherd of Heracleia in Thrace, who indeed has a prerogative 397 from ancient times, being entitled, as Byzantium was from the beginning under Heracleia, to ordain the patriarch. Joseph at any rate refused ordination from him. And the emperor, doing something wise, then summoned him to the palace, to serve in the church there; and indeed while that man was performing the liturgy for a great reward, Gregory of Mitylene, who held his ordination from of old, was chosen to ordain the patriarch. For that whole month, then, the emperor, since nothing was more urgent for him than the dissolution of the excommunication, gave the patriarch time with the bishops to consider how it might properly be done, himself anticipating each day by readily fulfilling everything the patriarch asked of him, to make the way smooth for the dissolution. For he heard him speak with such pleasure that also, by decrees sent to every part of the Roman dominion, he ordered those in authority to receive the very letters of the patriarch in place of his own commands, with punishments also being threatened to those who would not carry out what was commanded, concerning whomever he might write. Moreover he also opened prisons and freed many of the incarcerated from their bonds, he deemed convicts worthy of sympathy, he recalled exiles and he was reconciled to those with whom he was at enmity, with the patriarch mediating.

25. How the emperor was absolved from excommunication by Joseph. Then the second of the month of Lenaion arrived, on which the church also celebrates the feast of the Presentation; and the patriarch together with all the bishops, with the great light of the lamps and with hymns befitting the feast, and also with supplications to God for the emperor, having as was right and in a splendid manner held an all-night vigil, performed the holy liturgy. And when it was all finished, with the emperor standing in the imperial guard together with the entire senate 399 and the civil administration, approaching he drew near to the holy doors, of the bishops

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λογιζομένοις, ἔνθεν μὲν τοῦτον, ἔνθεν δ' ἐκεῖνον οἱ τῆς καρδίας ὑπέγραφον λογισμοί· ὅσοι δὲ καὶ εἰς νοῦν ἔβαπτον τοῦ κρατοῦντος καὶ κατηυστόχουν τῶν ἐννοιῶν, ἐκείνοις εἶς καὶ μόνος ἐδόκει ὁ εἰς τὴν προστα σίαν ἐπιτήδειος, ὁ καὶ θυμήρης τῷ βασιλεῖ. Κοινῶς γοῦν συνδιασκεψάμενοι, τὸν Γαλησίου Ἰωσὴφ ἐψηφίζοντο, ἄνδρα πνευματικόν τε καὶ ἀγαθόν, ἁπλοϊκὸν καὶ εὐήθη τοὺς τρόπους, φέροντα δέ τινα καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀνακτόρων, ἐπεί, γυναικὶ συζῶν, τῷ τῆς μακαρίτιδος δεσποίνης Εἰρήνης συνετάττετο κλήρῳ καὶ κατ' ἀναγνώστας ἐξυπηρέτει, καὶ ἐλευθερίας ἱκανὰ δείγματα. Ἠγάπα δὲ καὶ τὸ τῶν εἰς χεῖρας πεσόντων μεταδιδόναι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅσα καὶ ἀσφαλῶς ἀποφήνασθαι, ὡς ἄλλοι δὴ τὸ γλισχρεύεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ ξένον ὅτι καὶ τῇ μοναχικῇ πολιτείᾳ ἐνασμενίζων ἐν ψαλμῳδίαις, ἐν ἀγρυπνίαις, ἐν νηστείαις πολλάκις, ἐν ὑδροποσίαις ὅτ' ἔδει, ἐν πραότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἤθει χρηστῷ καὶ ἁπλότητι καὶ συνόλως ἀκαταγνώστῳ διαγωγῇ, οὐδὲ τῆς κατ' ἄνθρωπον ἀρετῆς ἠμέλει, τοῦ καὶ προεντυχεῖν τινι καὶ προσπτύξασθαι καὶ τὰ φιλικὰ συλλαλῆσαι καὶ μειδιᾶσαι καὶ διαχεθῆναι πρὸς γέλωτα, εἴ που ἐλέχθη παρά τινος κατ' ἄνεσιν ἢ καὶ ἐπράχθη εὔχαρι, καὶ ὑπελθεῖν ἄρχουσι δυναμένοις καὶ ζητεῖν ὑπὲρ ἄλλων καὶ ἁβραῖς τραπέζαις σὺν διαφόροις οἴνοις τε καὶ τραγήμασι τοὺς πολλοὺς ἑστιᾶν, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅσοις ὁ βίος ἄπορος καὶ ἀπάλαμνος καὶ τῆς καθ' αὑτοὺς ἀναδοχῆς ἔχρῃζον. Τοῦ γοῦν τοιούτου καταδεξαμένου τὴν ψῆφον, ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς πατριάρχην τοῦτον προβάλλεται, μηνὸς σκιροφοριῶνος εἰκοστῇ ὀγδόῃ τῆς δεκάτης ἐπινεμήσεως τοῦ #22ψοεʹ ἔτους· ἑκατομβαιῶνος δὲ νουμηνίᾳ χειροτονηθεὶς εἰς ἀρχιερέας τετέλεσται. Περὶ δέ γε τὴν χειροτονίαν καὶ τοιοῦτόν τι γίνεται.

κδʹ. Ὅπως, παρευδοκιμηθέντος τοῦ Ἡρακλείας Πινακᾶ ὡς ὄντος ἐκ τῆς χειροτονίας τοῦ Γερμανοῦ, ὁ Μιτυλήνης Γρηγόριος χειροτονεῖ τὸν Ἰωσήφ. Ὁ γὰρ Πινακᾶς μοναχός, παρὰ Γερμανοῦ τὴν χειροτονίαν δεξάμενος, Ἡρακλείας τῆς κατὰ Θρᾴκην ἦν ἀρχιποίμην, ᾧ δὴ καὶ προνόμιόν ἐστιν 397 ἐκ παλαιοῦ, δικαιουμένῳ ἐκ Βυζαντίου ὡς ἀνέκαθεν τελοῦντος ὑπὸ τὴν Ἡράκλειαν, τὸν πατριάρχην χειροτονεῖν. Ἀπεπροσποιεῖτο γοῦν τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνου χειροτονίαν ὁ Ἰωσήφ. Καὶ ὁ κρατῶν, σοφόν τι ποιῶν, ἐκεῖνον τότε προσκαλεῖται πρὸς τὰ ἀνάκτορα, ἐν τῷ κατ' ἐκεῖνα ναῷ λειτουργή σοντα· καὶ δὴ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ὑπὸ πολλῷ μισθῷ τὴν λειτουργίαν ἐπλήρου, ὁ δέ γε Μιτυλήνης Γρηγόριος, ἐκ παλαιοῦ φέρων τὴν χειροτονίαν, χειροτονεῖν τὸν πατριάρχην ἐκλέγεται. Ὅλου γοῦν τοῦ μηνὸς ἐκείνου ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐκείνῳ τῆς τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ λύσεως προὐργιαίτερον, ἐδίδου τῷ πατριάρχῃ καιρὸν σὺν τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι σκέπτεσθαι πῶς ἂν καὶ κατὰ τρόπον γένηται, προλαμβάνων αὐτὸς ἑκάστης διὰ τοῦ πάντ' ἐκπληροῦν ῥᾳδίως, περὶ ὅσων ὁ πατριάρχης ἐκεῖνον ἠξίου, εὔοδα ποιεῖν τὰ τῆς λύσεως. Ἐς τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἡδέως αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἤκουεν ὥστε καί, δι' ὁρισμῶν πεμπομένων ἑκασταχοῦ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπικρατείας, προσέταττεν αὐτὰς δὴ τὰς τοῦ πατριάρχου γραφὰς ἀντὶ προσταγμάτων ἰδίων δέχεσθαι τοὺς ἐπ' ἐξουσίας, προσαπειλουμένων καὶ κολάσεων τοῖς μὴ κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτεταγμένα, ὑπὲρ ὅτου ἂν καὶ γράψοι, τελέσουσιν. Ἤνοιξε μέντοι καὶ φυλακὰς καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐγκεκλεισμένων ἐξείλετο τῶν δεσμῶν, καταδίκους συμπαθείας ἠξίωσεν, ἐξωρισμένους ἀνεκα λέσατο καὶ οἷς ἀπεχθῶς εἶχε κἀκείνοις ἐξιλεοῦτο, τοῦ πατριάρχου μεσι τεύοντος.

κεʹ. Ὅπως ἐλύθη τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς παρὰ τοῦ Ἰωσήφ. Ἐπέστη γοῦν ἡ μηνὸς ληναιῶνος δευτέρα, καθ' ἣν καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία ἄγει τὴν τῆς Ὑπαπαντῆς ἑορτήν· καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης συνάμα πᾶσιν ἀρχιερεῦσιν, ὑπὸ πολλῷ τῷ τῶν λαμπάδων φωτὶ καὶ ὕμνοις τῇ ἑορτῇ πρέπουσιν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ταῖς ὑπὲρ βασιλέως πρὸς Θεὸν ἱκετείαις, ὡς ἔδει καὶ περιφανῶς παννυ χεύσας, τὴν ἱερὰν λειτουργίαν ἐπιτελεῖ. Καὶ ἤδη ὡς ἤνυστο πᾶσα, τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν βασιλικαῖς ἱσταμένου δορυφορίαις συνάμα συγκλήτῳ πάσῃ 399 καὶ πολιτείᾳ, προσιὼν τοῖς ἁγίοις προσεγγίζει θυρίοις, τῶν ἀρχιερέων