161

we were accusing you of irreverence or impiety, which is the worst, on account of the addition, as if we too were being impious in the same way because of the addition. But since we reject the addition to the Creed, as it is not otherwise good nor safe at all to tamper with things that have been made secure, even if they should speak within the bounds of orthodoxy, where is it just to propose the same things to us? For who of us ever dared to confess in this way with an addition, as you say? It is therefore good and profitable for you, who are hastening the peace of the churches, to try to establish this, wisely managing among the Italians the removal of the 479 scandal, even if we are the ones accused of the scandal, justly rebuking us, as we are ready to receive the rebuke. But if the scandal sprouted among them, it is necessary for you, being a spiritual man and an ambassador of peace, to try to thrust upon them the sin concerning the innovation of the Creed.” Thus spoke the men of the church and thus they were disposed, as though they would hear nothing from the emperor, if he should command in these matters and even threaten the greatest things. But the emperor, having once adopted such a purpose—I know not whether willingly or even under compulsion, which indeed was concealed from them, but he revealed to us, interweaving fears and wars and blood that would be shed—he was unchangeable, no matter what anyone said.

12. How the emperor was compelling the men of the church for the sake of peace. On one occasion, at least, when the patriarch, the bishops, and some of the clergy were assembled around the emperor, the ruler conversed with them more gravely about the matters at hand, stringing together the fears as usual, but yet he did not show what was to come to be altogether perilous. For he also had his prompters, I mean those around the archdeacon Meliteniotes, those around the protoapostolarios George the Cypriot and a third, even if not in the same way as these, but still devotedly and superficially, the rhetor of the church, Holobolos. And taking from them the connections from the histories, he put forward John Doukas the emperor and the bishops around him and their patriarch Manuel, how they allowed bishops who had departed to celebrate the liturgy and to be commemorated, if only the pope would refrain from giving aid to those in the city. And at the same time the codex of the church was brought forth as proof, and at the same time the affairs of then and now were compared by the emperor. He also put forward the writings of those supposedly wise men against them, how, not accusing the Italians of impiety at all, they deemed it right that they, removing the addition to the creed, which they have 481 unwritten in their other scriptures, should, as they read, agree with what has been phrased. He also proposed in how many of the greatest mysteries the Greeks do not hesitate at all to have communion with the Italians, but that their transition to our people is similar to exchanging one language for another, Greek for their own; and what communion does the mention of the name in church have, when indeed, the others not being the pope, it is necessary to partake of communion, assembling with those in church, while the priest celebrates the liturgy and gives the grace of the Trinity to all in common? And to call him brother and first is a lesser fault, since even the rich man in the flame called Abraham father, being as different in character as the chasm between them was a witness of their separation; and if we should also grant the right of appeal, hardly anyone, crossing so great a sea, would dispute his rights. As the emperor was saying these and such things, the patriarch, being present there and administering an oath to the chartophylax, who was about to be interrogated immediately by force from that man and unwillingly, imposes an excommunication upon him as he stood there, on the condition that he would by necessity speak his own judgment about the Italians. And he, being constrained from both sides, on the one hand by fear of the emperor, and on the other by reverence for the excommunication, was left in the middle and indeed confessed his plight, that he hung between two precipices, both of fear and of reverence. And that the things of the spirit are to be preferred

161

δυσσεβείας ὑμᾶς ἢ ἀσεβείας, τὸ χείριστον, διὰ τὴν πρόσθεσιν ἐγραφόμεθα, ὡς ὁμοίως καὶ ἡμῶν ἀσεβούντων διὰ τὴν προσθήκην τὰ ὅμοια. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ συμβόλῳ προσθήκην ἀποτρεπόμεθα, ὡς μὴ καλὸν ἄλλως ὂν μηδ' ἀσφαλὲς τὸ σύνολον κατησφαλισμένοις ἐπεγχειρεῖν, κἂν ἐντὸς λέγοιεν τοῦ ὀρθοῦ, ποῦ δίκαιον ἡμῖν προτείνειν τὰ ὅμοια; Τίς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐτόλμησε πώποτε οὕτως ὡς λέγεις μετὰ προσθήκης ὁμολογεῖν; Καλὸν οὖν καὶ συμφέρον τὴν εἰρήνην σε σπεύδοντα τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν οὕτω πειρᾶσθαι συνιστᾶν ταύτην, σοφῶς οἰκονομοῦντα παρ' Ἰταλοῖς τὴν τοῦ 479 σκανδάλου ἀφαίρεσιν, κἂν ἡμεῖς ὦμεν οἱ αἰτιώμενοι τοῦ σκανδάλου, δικαίως ἡμῖν ἐπιπλήττοντα, ὡς ἑτοίμοις οὖσι δέχεσθαι τὴν ἐπίπληξιν. Εἰ δὲ παρ' ἐκείνοις τὸ σκάνδαλον ἔβλαστεν, ἀνάγκη, πνευματικὸν ὄντα καὶ πρεσβευτὴν τῆς εἰρήνης, ἐκείνοις ὠθεῖν πειρᾶσθαι τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ καινοτομίᾳ τοῦ συμβόλου ἁμάρτημα.» Οὕτως ἔλεγον οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ οὕτως εἶχον ὡς οὐδὲν ἀκουσόμενοι βασιλέως, εἰ προστάσσοι ἐν τούτοις καί γε τὰ μέγιστα ἀπειλοῖ. Ἀλλ' ὁ βασιλεύς, ἅπαξ τοῦ τοιοῦδε σκοποῦ γενόμενος, οὐκ οἶδα ἢ θέλων ἢ καὶ προσβιαζόμενος, ὃ δὴ κἀκείνοις μὲν ὑπεκρύπτετο, ἡμῖν δ' ἐνεφάνιζε, φόβους παραπλέκων καὶ πολέμους καὶ χεθησόμενα αἵματα, ἀμεταθέτως εἶχε, κἂν ὅ τί τις ἔλεγε.

ιβʹ. Ὅπως ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας κατηνάγκαζε διὰ τὴν εἰρήνην. Μιᾶς γοῦν συνιόντων περὶ τὸν βασιλέα τοῦ τε πατριάρχου καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καί τινων ἐκ τοῦ κλήρου, ἐμβριθέστερον σφίσι περὶ τῶν προκει μένων ὁ κρατῶν διελέγετο, συνείρων μὲν καὶ τοὺς φόβους συνήθως, οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πάμπαν ἐπισφαλὲς ἐδείκνυ τὸ γενησόμενον. Εἶχε γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ὑποβάλλοντας, τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὸν ἀρχιδιάκονον λέγω Μελιτηνιώτην, τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὸν πρωτοαποστολάριον Γεώργιον τὸν Κύπριον καὶ τρίτον, εἰ καὶ μὴ οὕτως ὡς τούτους, ἀλλ' οὖν ἀφωσιωμένως καὶ ἐπιπολαίως, τὸν ῥήτορα τῆς ἐκκλη σίας Ὁλόβωλον. Καί γε λαμβάνων καὶ ἀπ' ἐκείνων τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν συνάρσεις, προὐβάλλετο μὲν τὸν ∆ούκαν Ἰωάννην καὶ βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' ἐκεῖνον ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην σφῶν Μανουήλ, ὅπως ἐνεδίδουν ἀπελθόντας ἀρχιερεῖς λειτουργεῖν τε καὶ μνημονεύειν, εἰ μόνον ὁ πάπας τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει βοηθείας ἀπόσχοιτο. Καὶ ἅμα μὲν τὸ κωδίκιον τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰς πίστιν προεκομίζετο, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ τότε καὶ νῦν πράγματα συνεκρίνοντο. Προὐβάλλετο δὲ καὶ τὰς κατ' ἐκείνων ὡς δῆθεν σοφῶν γραφάς, πῶς, μὴ κατηγοροῦντες ὅλως ἀσεβείας τοὺς Ἰταλούς, ἠξίουν, παραιροῦντας τὴν προσθήκην τοῦ συμβόλου, ἐν ταῖς λοιπαῖς γραφαῖς 481 ἀνάγραπτον ἔχοντας, συνδιιέναι τοῖς πεφρασμένοις ἀναγινώσκοντας. Προὔτεινε δὲ καὶ ἐφ' ὅσοις τῶν μεγίστων μυστηρίων οὐ διαστέλλονται Γραικοὶ κοινωνεῖν Ἰταλοῖς οὐδ' ὁπωστιοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων πρὸς τοὺς ἡμετέρους μετάβασιν ὁμοίαν εἶναι εἰ γλῶσσαν γλώσσης ἤμειβον, Ἑλληνικὴν τῆς σφετέρας· τίνα δ' ἔχει τὴν κοινωνίαν ἡ ἐπ' ἐκκλησίας ἀναφορὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος, ὅπου γε καί, μὴ πάπας ὄντας τοὺς ἄλλους, ἀνάγκη μετέχειν τῆς κοινωνίας τοῖς ἐκκλησιάζουσι συνισταμένους, λειτουργοῦντος τοῦ ἱερέως καὶ τὴν τῆς Τριάδος χάριν πᾶσι διδόντος κοινῶς; Ἀδελφὸν δὲ καλεῖν καὶ πρῶτον ἐκεῖνον μείων αἰτία, ὅπου καὶ πατέρα τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐκάλει ὁ ἐν τῇ φλογὶ πλούσιος, τόσον ἀπέχων τοὺς τρόπους ὅσον καὶ τὸ μέσον ἐκείνων χάσμα τῆς ἐκείνων διαστάσεως ἦν μαρτύριον· εἰ δὲ διδοῖμεν καὶ ἔκκλητον, σχολῇ τινα, τόσην τέμνοντα θάλασσαν, τῶν δικαίων ἀμφισβη τεῖν. Ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως λέγοντος, ὁ πατριάρχης, παρὼν ἐκεῖσε καὶ τὰ πιστὰ φέρων τῷ χαρτοφύλακι ὡς αὐτίκα ἐλέγξοντι ἐκ τῆς ἀπ' ἐκείνου βίας καὶ ἀκουσίως, ἀφορισμὸν ἐπιτίθησιν ἱσταμένῳ, ἐφ' ᾧ κατ' ἀνάγκην εἴποι τὰ εἰς κρίσιν ἰδίαν περὶ τῶν Ἰταλῶν. Ὁ δ' ἐνσχεθεὶς ἀμφοτέρωθεν, ἔνθεν μὲν τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως φόβῳ, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ τῇ τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ εὐλαβείᾳ, μέσος ἐναπολέλειπτο καί γε ὡμολόγει τὸ πάθος, ὡς δυοῖν κρήμναται ἀμφοτέρων, φόβου καὶ εὐλαβείας. Καὶ ὅτι τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος προτιμητέα