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of the prevailing custom; it was also the custom for trays, decorated with boiled wheat along with various autumn fruits, to be set out for a blessing, of which the better portion, 575 like a first-fruit, was brought to the emperor for dessert. And since it was likely that those many bronze trays were collected from outside, with the others there was one which seemed to be pre-eminent in beauty and worthy to be brought to the emperor, which was also adorned with Egyptian letters as if they were some kind of decorations. For it was the custom, as it was said, for the Egyptians to use letters instead of other decorations on robes and lamps and all kinds of vessels. But the letters happened to bear the name of the accursed Machoumet, or rather Mohammed, in praise; this, inscribed in a circle on the tray, did not escape the notice of the accusers. And indeed, while it was still lying outside, before it could be brought in to the emperor, they sent and reported that the tray was by no means to be brought in to the emperor, bearing an abominable name, and that the patriarch had deliberately arranged for that one to be sent to the emperor, by which not only was there no share of blessing because of the abomination of the inscription, but also the greatest defilement was attached to it. When the emperor learned these things, wishing to verify the report by experience, he immediately sent Basil the Basilikos, the *parakoimomenos* of the bedchamber, who was knowledgeable in the letters of the Hagarenes; and he both read it and testified to the truth of what the reporters had said. The tray, therefore, was not brought in because of conscience, the emperor observing the apostolic admonition; but on the next day, this too was put forth as a very great accusation.

13. How the reigning patriarch John resigned the throne. So when the affairs concerning the patriarch were dragged out for two months and nothing was accomplished, but only nonsense and slander and every evil thing—and what of it, when even a staircase prepared for the patriarch near the phiale, for some relaxation, where all kinds of trees had been planted, they used even this as material for their slander against him, on which charge alone he, upon hearing it, ordered it to be torn down and completely destroyed?—, so when nothing else but slander was being accomplished, and the aim was for him, having become weary of the attacks of insults, to resign the throne, in the month of Kronios, in the middle of the fast, he orders the notary to write a document of resignation and giving it to the emperor, who pretended 577 not to accept it, he departed and, taking himself, gives himself to the monastery of the Panachrantos. The church was therefore bereft of a shepherd, with him not being present, and it was not at all the emperor’s will for another to be introduced in his place; for in the meantime, sending even his own son, the emperor Andronikos, he tried to appease him. 14. The affairs concerning the legates of the pope and the patriarch John. In the meantime, envoys from Rome from the pope also presented themselves to the emperor as he was returning somewhere outside the city of Adrianople. And he, wishing to conceal from them the situation regarding the patriarch, inventing reasons for them, said that the patriarch, having grown weary of his labors and wishing to be relieved for a short while, was withdrawing for a time from the patriarchate, and that they were to meet with him at one of the monasteries in the city, and sending for him, he requested that he put aside his faint-heartedness, as it was a matter of circumstance rather than will, and go to the monastery of the Manganon and there meet with the envoys who had arrived, indicating none of the previous matters. So he spoke and at the same time entered the city with them. But before they could meet with the synod and the patriarch, the emperor, having learned the main point of the embassy—and this was that the peace of the churches should not be in words alone, but that they should demonstrate it by deed, by also confessing the faith according to them and thus confirming the union; for in this too they were incited by those of our own people, as they said, who were schismatics, who indeed, mixing with many of their friars, said that the peace was a mockery and that they ought to test if they too would recite the creed in the same way, thinking thereby to lead the emperor into anxieties, as if out of two necessities

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κρατοῦντος τῆς συγχωρήσεως· ἦν δὲ καὶ ἑφθῷ σίτῳ συνάμα καρποῖς ὀπωρῶν ποικιλλομένας τὰς τῶν ἐκπωμάτων πλατείας εἰς εὐλογίαν προτίθεσθαι, ὧν ὡς ἀπαρχή τις ἡ 575 κρείττων τῷ βασιλεῖ προσήγετο ἐπιδόρπιος. Ἐπεὶ δ' εἰκὸς τὰς χαλκᾶς ἐκείνας πλατείας ὑποδοχάς, πλείστας οὔσας, ἔξωθεν ἐρανίζεσθαι, σὺν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἦν μία δοκοῦσα καὶ πρωτεύειν τῷ κάλλει καὶ ἀξία τῷ βασιλεῖ προσ άγεσθαι, ἣ δὴ καὶ γράμμασιν Αἰγυπτίοις ὡς ποικίλμασί τισιν ἐνεσκεύαστο· εἴθισται γάρ, ὡς ἐλέγετο, Αἰγυπτίοις ἀντ' ἄλλων τινῶν ποικιλμάτων ἔν τε πέπλοις καὶ φωταγωγοῖς καὶ σκεύεσι παντοίοις τοῖς γράμμασι χρῆσθαι. Ἔτυχον δὲ τὰ γράμματα τοῦ καταράτου Μαχούμετ, ταὐτὸν δ' εἰπεῖν καὶ Μωάμεθ, ὄνομα φέρειν εἰς ἔπαινον· τοῦτο κύκλῳ τῇ πλατείᾳ ἐγγεγραμμένον τοὺς κατηγοροῦντας οὐκ ἔλαθε. Καὶ δὴ ἔξω κειμένης ἔτι, πρὶν ἂν εἰσαχθείη τῷ βασιλεῖ, οὗτοι πέμψαντες ἀναγγέλλουσιν ὡς οὐκ εἰσιτά γε τὰ τῆς πλατείας εἰς βασιλέα, φερούσης ἐξάγιστον ὄνομα, καὶ ὡς ὁ πατριάρχης ἐπίτηδες ἐνσκευάσαιτο ἐκείνην πεμφθῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, ᾗπερ μὴ μόνον οὐκ εὐλογίας μετὸν διὰ τὸ τῆς γραφῆς μυσαρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μύσους τὰ μέγιστα προσετρίβετο. Ταῦτα πυθόμενος ὁ βασιλεύς, πείρᾳ θέλων γνωρίσαι τὰ ἀγγελθέντα, ἐξ αὐτῆς πέμπει τὸν τοῦ κοιτῶνος παρακοιμώμενον τὸν Βασιλικὸν Βασίλειον, ξυνετὸν ὄντα γραμμάτων Ἀγαρηνῶν· καὶ ὃς ἀνεγίνωσκέ τε καὶ τὸ ἀληθὲς προσεμαρτύρει τοῖς ἀπαγγείλασιν. Ἡ μὲν οὖν πλατεῖα οὐκ εἰσήγετο διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν, τὴν ἀποστολικὴν παραίνεσιν τοῦ βασιλέως τηρήσαντος· τὸ δὲ τῇ ἑξῆς ὡς ἔγκλημα καὶ τοῦτο προὐτίθετο μέγιστον.

ιγʹ. Ὅπως παρῃτήσατο τὸν θρόνον ὁ πατριαρχεύων Ἰωάννης. Ὡς τοίνυν τὰ κατὰ τὸν πατριάρχην ἐπὶ μησὶ δυοῖν ἐτρίβετο καὶ οὐδὲν ἠνύετο, μόνον δ' ὕθλος καὶ λοιδορία καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι κάκιστον ἦνκαὶ τί γάρ, ὅπου καὶ κλίμακα κατὰ φιάλης ἐνσκευασθεῖσαν τῷ πατριάρχῃ, κατά τινα ἄνεσιν, δένδρων ἐκεῖσε καταφυτευθέντων παντοίων, ὕλην εἶχον καὶ ταύτην τῆς κατ' ἐκείνου συκοφαντίας, παρ' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ μόνην ἀκούσας κατασπᾶν ἐκέλευε καί γ' ἀφανίζειν τέλεον; , ὡς γοῦν οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ λοιδορία ἠνύετο, σκοπὸς δ' ἦν ἐκεῖνον, ἀπειρηκότα πρὸς τὰς ἐπιφορὰς τῶν ὕβρεων, παραιτεῖ σθαι τὸν θρόνον, μηνὸς κρονίου, μεσούσης νηστείας, λίβελλον γράφειν τῷ συγγραφεῖ παραιτήσεως ἐπιτάττει καί γ' ἐπιδοὺς βασιλεῖ, προσποιουμένῳ 577 μὴ δέχεσθαι, ἀπηλλάττετο καὶ φέρων τῇ τῆς Παναχράντου μονῇ ἑαυτὸν δίδωσιν. Ἦν οὖν ἡ ἐκκλησία ποιμένος κεχηρωμένη, μήτ' ἐκείνου παρόντος, καὶ ἄλλον ἀντεισάγεσθαι οὐκ ἦν ὅλως τῷ βασιλεῖ θελητόν· ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ γάρ, πέμπων καὶ αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν βασιλέα Ἀνδρόνικον, ἐπειρᾶτο μαλάττειν. ιδʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πρέσβεις τοῦ πάπα καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην Ἰωάννην. Ἐν τοσούτῳ δὲ καὶ πρέσβεις ἐκ Ῥώμης παρὰ τοῦ πάπα ἐφίστανται ἔξω που πόλεως τῆς Ἀδριανοῦ ἐπανήκοντι βασιλεῖ. Καὶ ὅς, θέλων συσκιάζειν σφίσι τὰ κατὰ τὸν πατριάρχην, ἐκείνοις μὲν αἰτίας πλαττόμενος, ὡς ἀπειρηκώς, ἔλεγε, πρὸς τοὺς πόνους ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ ἀνεθῆναι θέλων ἐπ' οὐ πολὺ ἐκχωρεῖ πρὸς καιρὸν τοῦ πατριαρχείου, καί γε μέλλειν ἐντυχεῖν σφᾶς ἐκείνῳ παρά τισι τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν μονῶν, ἐκεῖνον δὲ πέμψας ἠξίου ἀποθέσθαι μὲν τὰ τῆς μικροψυχίας, ὡς ὄντα καιροῦ μᾶλλον ἢ βουλήσεως, ἀπελθεῖν δὲ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Μαγγάνων μονὴν κἀκεῖ τοῖς πρέσβεσιν ἐντυχεῖν παραγεγονόσι, μηδὲν τῶν προτέρων σημήναντα. Οὕτως ἔλεγε καὶ ἅμ' ἐκείνοις τὴν πόλιν εἰσήρχετο. Πρὶν δ' ἐντυχεῖν ἐκείνους συνόδῳ καὶ πατριάρχῃ, ὁ βασιλεύς, γνοὺς τὸ τῆς πρεσβείας κεφάλαιοντὸ δ' ἦν μὴ λόγοις εἶναι τὴν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ μόνοις, ἀλλ' ἔργῳ δεικνύντων τῷ καὶ σφᾶς κατ' ἐκείνους τὴν πίστιν ὁμολογεῖν καὶ οὕτω πληροφορεῖν τὴν ἕνωσιν· παρωτρύ νοντο γὰρ κἀν τούτῳ παρὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων, ὡς ἔλεγον, σχιζομένων, οἳ δὴ καί, πολλοῖς τῶν ἐν ἐκείνοις φρερίων μιγνύντες, χλεύην ἔλεγον τὴν εἰρήνην εἶναι καὶ δεῖν δοκιμάζειν εἰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ σύμβολον οὕτω λέγοιεν, οἰομένων ἐντεῦθεν εἰς μερίμνας ἄγειν τὸν βασιλέα, ὡς δυοῖν ἐξ ἀνάγκης