176

and the end of his life. But Fravitas, having distinguished himself splendidly in this battle, is appointed consul. And while he and Vincentius were then consuls, a son was born to the emperor, named after his grandfather; and at the beginning of the next consulship, he was proclaimed Augustus. 8.5.1 John, while excellently administering the church of Constantinople, converted many from the Hellenes, and many from the heresies. A multitude constantly flocked to him, some to hear for their benefit, others to put him to the test; and he won them all over and persuaded them to hold the same opinions as himself concerning the divine. 8.5.2 So much did the multitude gape at him, and they could not get enough of his sermons, that, since they were in danger from pushing and pressing one another, each forcing his way forward so that by standing near he might hear him speak more accurately, he presented himself in the midst of all, 8.5.3 and sitting on the ambo of the readers, he taught. It seems to me appropriate to include in this account a miracle that occurred in his time. A certain man of the Macedonian heresy was married to a woman of the same kind; but having encountered him teaching how one ought to think about God, he became an admirer of the doctrine and urged his wife to think the same as him. But since she was overcome by her former habit and by conversations with her female acquaintances, and the husband, though often admonishing her, accomplished nothing, he said, "If you will not share with me in the divine things, you shall no longer be my partner in life." 8.5.4 Thereupon the wife, agreeing to do this, confided in one of her maidservants, whom she considered faithful, and took her as an accomplice in deceiving her husband. Around the time of the mysteries (and the initiated know what I am speaking of), she held what she had received and bowed down as if to pray; and the maidservant standing by her secretly gave her what she had come bringing in her hands; 8.5.5 but it was turned to stone against her teeth. The woman, becoming terrified lest she should suffer some penalty for concealing such a divine event that had happened to her, ran to the bishop and denounced herself; and she showed the stone, bearing the image of the bite, but of an unknown substance and exhibiting a strange color; and with tears asking for forgiveness, she lived in agreement with her husband. 8.5.6 But if these things seem incredible to anyone, the witness is the stone itself, which is still preserved to this day in the treasury of the church of Constantinople. 8.6.1 But John, having learned that the churches in Asia and its vicinity were being administered by unworthy men, and that some were selling off the priesthoods for gain and bribes, while others were led by favor, came to Ephesus; and having deposed thirteen bishops, some in Lycia and Phrygia, and others in Asia itself, he appointed <ἑτέρους> in their place, 8.6.2 and for the church of the Ephesians (for it happened that the bishop there at that time had died) Heracleides, a man of Cypriot race, a deacon of the monks under him from Scetis, a disciple of the monk Evagrius. Moreover, he also expelled Gerontius from the church of the Nicomedians. 8.6.3 For this man, while serving as a deacon under Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, I know not what possessed him, but either boasting prodigiously or induced by the zeal and phantasms of a demon, said that at night he had seized some donkey-legged creature, shaved its head, and thrown it into a mill; and Ambrose ordered him, as having uttered things unworthy of a deacon of God, to remain by himself for a time and be purified by repentance. 8.6.4 But he, being an excellent physician and most indefatigable, skilled in speaking and persuading and in making friends, came to Constantinople as if to mock Ambrose. And in a short time he made friends with some of the powerful men in the palace, and not long after he was entrusted with the bishopric of Nicomedia. And Helladius, the bishop of the Cappadocian Caesarea, ordained him, requiting him because he had been the agent of a brilliant military career for his son in the palace. But Ambrose, having learned these things, wrote to Nectarius, the head of the church of Constantinople, to take away the priesthood from Gerontius 8.6.6 and

176

καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος. ὁ δὲ Φραβίτας λαμπρῶς ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ μάχῃ διαγενόμενος χειροτονεῖται ὕπατος. ἐν δὲ τῷ τότε αὐτοῦ καὶ Βικεντίου ὑπατευόντων τίκτεται τῷ βασιλεῖ παῖς τῷ πάππῳ ὁμώνυμος· ἀρχομένης δὲ τῆς ἑξῆς ὑπατείας ἀναγορεύεται Σεβαστός. 8.5.1 ᾿Ιωάννης δὲ ἄριστα τὴν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἐκκλησίαν ἐπιτροπεύων πολλοὺς μὲν ἐκ τῶν ῾Ελλήνων, πολλοὺς δὲ τῶν αἱρέσεων ἐπήγετο. συνέρρει δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἑκάστοτε πληθὺς τῶν μὲν ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ ἀκουσομένων, τῶν δὲ ἀπόπειραν ληψομένων· ἅπαντάς τε ᾕρει καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ δοξάζειν αὐτῷ περὶ 8.5.2 τὸ θεῖον ἔπειθε. τοσοῦτον δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸ πλῆθος ἐκεχήνεσαν καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων κόρον οὐκ εἶχον, ὥστε, ἐπεὶ ὠστιζόμενοι καὶ περιθλίβοντες ἀλλήλους ἐκινδύνευον, ἕκαστος προσωτέρω ἰέναι βιαζόμενος ὅπως ἐγγὺς παρεστὼς ἀκριβέστερον αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἀκούοι, μέσον ἑαυτὸν πᾶσι παρέχων 8.5.3 ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος τῶν ἀναγνωστῶν καθεζόμενος ἐδίδασκεν. ἐν καιρῷ δέ μοι δοκεῖ τὸ συμβὰν ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ θαῦμα συμπεριλαβεῖν τῇ γραφῇ. ἀνήρ τις τῆς Μακεδονίου αἱρέσεως τοιαύτῃ γυναικὶ συνῴκει· περιτυχὼν δὲ αὐτῷ διδάσκοντι, ὅπως χρὴ περὶ θεοῦ δοξάζειν, ἐπαινέτης ἦν τοῦ δόγματος καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα ὁμοφρονεῖν αὐτῷ παρεκάλει. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῇ πρὸ τούτου συνηθείᾳ καὶ ταῖς ὁμιλίαις τῶν γνωρίμων γυναικῶν ἥττητο καὶ πολλάκις νουθετῶν ὁ ἀνὴρ οὐδὲν ἤνυεν, «εἰ μή», φησί, «κοινωνήσεις μοι τῶν θείων, οὐδὲ τοῦ 8.5.4 βίου κοινωνὸς ἔσῃ μοι τοῦ λοιποῦ.» ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἡ γυνὴ συνθεμένη τοῦτο ποιεῖν κοινοῦταί τινι τῶν θεραπαινίδων, ἣν ἡγεῖτο πιστήν, καὶ παραλαμβάνει συνεργὸν εἰς ἀπάτην τοῦ ἀνδρός. περὶ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν μυστηρίων (ἴσασι δὲ οἱ μεμυημένοι ὃ λέγω) ἡ μὲν ὅπερ ἐδέξατο κατέχουσα ὡς εὐξομένη ἐπέκυψε· παρεστῶσα δὲ αὐτῇ ἡ θεράπαινα λάθρα δέδωκεν ὃ μετὰ χεῖρας ἦλθε φέ8.5.5 ρουσα· τὸ δὲ πρὸς τοῖς ὀδοῦσι λίθος ἐπήγνυτο. περιδεὴς δὲ γενομένη ἡ γυνή, μή τι πάθοι ἀποκρύπτουσα θεῖον οὕτω πρᾶγμα ἐπ' αὐτῇ συμβάν, δρομαία ἐπὶ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ἐλθοῦσα ἑαυτὴν κατεμήνυσε· καὶ τὸν λίθον ἐπέδειξεν εἰκόνα φέροντα τοῦ δήγματος, ἀγνῶτα δὲ τὴν ὕλην καὶ παράξενόν τι δεικνύντα χρῶμα· σὺν δάκρυσί τε συγγνώμην αἰτήσασα ὁμοφρονοῦσα τῷ 8.5.6 ἀνδρὶ συνῆν. ἀλλὰ τάδε μὲν εἴ τῳ μὴ πιθανὰ εἶναι δοκεῖ, μάρτυς αὐτὸς ὁ λίθος εἰσέτι νῦν ἐν τοῖς κειμηλίοις τῆς ἐκκλησίας Κωνσταντινουπόλεως φυλαττόμενος. 8.6.1 ῾Ο δὲ ᾿Ιωάννης πυθόμενος ὑπὸ ἀναξίων τὰς ἐν ᾿Ασίᾳ καὶ πέριξ ἐκκλησίας ἐπιτροπεύεσθαι καὶ τοὺς μὲν λήμμασι καὶ δωροδοκίαις, τοὺς δὲ χάριτι ὑπαγομένους τὰς ἱερωσύνας ἀπεμπολεῖν, ἧκεν εἰς ῎Εφεσον· καθελών τε δέκα καὶ τρεῖς ἐπισκόπους, τοὺς μὲν ἐν Λυκίᾳ καὶ Φρυγίᾳ, τοὺς δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ 8.6.2 τῇ ᾿Ασίᾳ, <ἑτέρους> ἀντ' αὐτῶν κατέστησε, τῆς δὲ ᾿Εφεσίων ἐκκλησίας (ἔτυχε γὰρ ὁ τότε ἐνθάδε ἐπισκοπῶν τελευτήσας) ῾Ηρακλείδαν ἄνδρα Κύπριον τὸ γένος, διάκονον τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν μοναχῶν τῶν ἐκ τῆς Σκήτεως, Εὐαγρίου τοῦ μοναχοῦ μαθητήν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Γερόντιον ἐξεώσατο τῆς Νικομηδέων 8.6.3 ἐκκλησίας. οὗτος γὰρ ὑπὸ ᾿Αμβροσίῳ τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Μεδιολάνου διακονούμενος, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι παθών, ἀλλ' ἢ τερατευόμενος ἢ δαιμονίου σπουδῇ καὶ φαντασίαις ὑπαχθείς, νύκτωρ ἔφη τισὶν ὀνοσκελίδα συλλαβόμενος ξυρῆσαι τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ μυλωνίῳ ἐμβαλεῖν· ὡς ἀνάξια δὲ διακόνου θεοῦ φθεγξάμενον ἐκέλευσεν ᾿Αμβρόσιος τέως καθ' ἑαυτὸν εἶναι καὶ μετανοίᾳ καθαί8.6.4 ρεσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἰατρὸς ὢν ἄριστος καὶ ἀοκνότατος λέγειν τε καὶ πείθειν καὶ φίλους περιποιεῖν ἱκανός, ὡς ἐπεγγελῶν ᾿Αμβροσίῳ ἧκεν εἰς Κωνσταντινούπολιν. ἐν ὀλίγῳ τε χρόνῳ τινὰς τῶν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις δυναμένων ποιεῖται 8.6.5 φίλους, καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ ἐπιτρέπεται τὴν Νικομηδέων ἐπισκοπήν. ἐχειροτόνησε δὲ αὐτὸν ῾Ελλάδιος ὁ Καισαρέων Καππαδοκῶν ἐπίσκοπος, ἀμειβόμενος καθότι παιδὶ αὐτοῦ πρόξενος λαμπρᾶς στρατείας ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἐγένετο. μαθὼν δὲ τάδε ᾿Αμβρόσιος ἔγραψε Νεκταρίῳ τῷ προϊσταμένῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀφελέσθαι Γεροντίου τὴν ἱερωσύνην 8.6.6 καὶ