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A certain Constantine, a strator of Artavasdos, seeing a standing icon of the Theotokos, took a stone and threw it at it and shattered it and, when it had fallen, trampled on it; and he sees in a vision the Lady standing by him and saying to him: "Do you know what a noble deed you have done to me? Truly you have done this against your own head." On the next day, when the Saracens attacked the wall, and a battle had broken out, that miserable man, running to the wall as a noble soldier, is struck by a stone sent from a mangonel, and it shattered his head and his face, receiving a just retribution for his own impiety. And having gathered many captives and much plunder, they returned, God showing this also to the impious one, that he had not prevailed over those of his own race through piety, as he boasted, but through some divine cause and ineffable judgment, while the city of the holy fathers repelled such Arab power by their intercessions, through their most exact images honored within it, but for the conviction and inexcusable judgment of the tyrant and the confirmation of the pious. For the impious one was mistaken not only concerning the relative veneration of the holy icons, but also concerning the intercessions of the all-holy Theotokos and all the saints; and the all-defiled one, like his teachers the Arabs, detested their relics. From this time, therefore, he shamelessly contended with the blessed Germanus, the patriarch of Constantinople, blaming all the emperors and high priests and Christian peoples before him, as having committed idolatry in the veneration of the holy and august icons, as he could not, through unbelief and great ignorance, grasp the doctrine concerning relative veneration. 407 ιαʹ. δʹ. γʹ. ιγʹ. κβʹ. In this year Mawiyya took the fortress of Ateous and returned. ιβʹ. εʹ. δʹ. ιδʹ. κγʹ. In this year the son of the Khagan, the ruler of Khazaria, campaigned against Media and Armenia, and finding Jarrah, the general of the Arabs, in Armenia, he killed him along with the host that was with him; and having plundered the land of the Armenians and that of the Medes, he returned, instilling great fear in the Arabs. ιγʹ. ʹ. εʹ. ιεʹ. κδʹ. In this year Masalmas campaigned against the land of the Turks, and having joined battle with one another, men fell on both sides; and Masalmas, growing cowardly, took to flight and returned through the mountains of Khazaria. In the same year Leo, the lawless emperor, raging against the orthodox faith and summoning the blessed Germanus began to entice him with flattering words. But the blessed high priest said to him: "We hear that the destruction of the holy and august icons will happen, but not in your reign." And when he compelled him to say in whose reign, he said: "In the reign of Konon." And he said: "My baptismal name is in truth Konon." And the patriarch said: "May it not be, master, that this evil be accomplished in your reign; for he who fulfills this is a forerunner of Antichrist and an overthrower of the divine economy in the flesh." At this the tyrant, becoming angry, bore a grudge against the blessed man, as Herod once did against the Forerunner. The patriarch reminded him also of the agreements before his emperorship, how he had given God as his surety that he would in no way disturb the church of God from her apostolic and divinely-handed-down institutions. But not even so was the wretched man ashamed. And watching and suborning certain men, he strove for arguments, if he might find him making any against his reign, so that he might depose him from his throne as a factionist, and not 408 as a confessor, having for this purpose as an ally and partner Anastasius his disciple and syncellus, having arranged with him, as being of one mind in impiety, that he would be the adulterous successor to the throne; whom the blessed man, not unaware that he was so perversely disposed, imitating his own master, as toward another Iscariot, wisely

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Κωνσταντῖνος δέ τις στράτωρ τοῦ Ἀρταυάσδου ἰδὼν εἰκόνα τῆς θεοτόκου ἑστῶσαν, λαβὼν λίθον ἔρριψε κατ' αὐτῆς καὶ συνέτριψεν αὐτὴν καὶ πεσοῦσαν κατεπάτησεν· καὶ θεωρεῖ ἐν ὁράματι παρεστῶσαν αὐτῷ τὴν δέσποιναν καὶ λέγουσαν αὐτῷ· "οἶδας ποῖον γενναῖον πρᾶγμα εἰργάσω εἰς ἐμέ; ὄντως κατὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλῆς τοῦτο ἐποίησας." τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον προσβαλόντων τῶν Σαρακηνῶν τῷ τείχει, καὶ πολέμου κροτηθέντος, δραμὼν εἰς τὸ τεῖχος ὡς γενναῖος στρατιώτης ὁ ταλαίπωρος ἐκεῖνος βάλλεται ὑπὸ λίθου τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ μαγγανικοῦ πεμφθέντος, καὶ συνέτριψεν αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον, ἄξιον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυσσεβείας κομισάμενος ἀνταπόδομα. αἰχμαλωσίαν δὲ πλείστην καὶ λάφυρα συναγαγόντες ὑπέστρεψαν, δεικνύντος καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ ἀσεβεῖ, ὅτι οὐ δι' εὐσέβειαν περιγέγονε τῶν ὁμοφύλων, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ηὔχει, ἀλλὰ διά τινα αἰτίαν θείαν καὶ ἀπόρρητον κρίσιν, ἀποκρουομένης μὲν τὴν τοιαύτην Ἀραβικὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων πόλεως ταῖς αὐτῶν πρεσβείαις, διὰ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τιμωμένων ἀκριβεστάτων αὐτῶν χαρακτήρων εἰς ἔλεγχον δὲ καὶ ἀναπολόγητον κρίσιν τοῦ τυράννου καὶ βεβαίωσιν τῶν εὐσεβούντων. οὐ μόνον γὰρ περὶ τὴν σχετικὴν τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων ὁ δυσσεβὴς ἐσφάλλετο προσκύνησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν πρεσβειῶν τῆς πανάγνου θεοτόκου καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων· καὶ τὰ λείψανα αὐτῶν ὁ παμμίαρος, ὡς οἱ διδάσκαλοι αὐτοῦ Ἄραβες, ἐβδελύττετο. ἐκ τοῦδε τοίνυν τοῦ χρόνου ἀναιδῶς τῷ μακαρίῳ Γερμανῷ, τῷ πατριάρχῃ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, προσετρίβετο, μεμφόμενος πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεῖς καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ Χριστιανοὺς λαούς, ὡς εἰδωλολατρήσαντας ἐπὶ τῇ προσκυνήσει τῶν ἁγίων καὶ σεπτῶν εἰκόνων, μὴ χωροῦντος αὐτοῦ δι' ἀπιστίαν καὶ πολλὴν ἰδιωτείαν τὸν περὶ σχετικῆς προσκυνήσεως λόγον. 407 ιαʹ. δʹ. γʹ. ιγʹ. κβʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει Μαυΐας παρέλαβε τὸ κάστρον Ἀτεοῦς καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν. ιβʹ. εʹ. δʹ. ιδʹ. κγʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐπεστράτευσεν ὁ υἱὸς Χαγάνου, τοῦ δυνάστου Χαζαρίας, τὴν Μηδίαν καὶ Ἀρμενίαν, καὶ εὑρὼν Γάραχον, τὸν τῶν Ἀράβων στρατηγόν, κατὰ τὴν Ἀρμενίαν ἀνεῖλεν αὐτὸν μετὰ τοῦ συνόντος αὐτῷ πλήθους· καὶ ληϊσάμενος τὴν τῶν Ἀρμενίων χώραν καὶ τὴν Μήδων ἀνέκαμψεν, φόβον μέγαν ἐμποίησας τοῖς Ἄραψιν. ιγʹ. ʹ. εʹ. ιεʹ. κδʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐπεστράτευσε Μασαλμᾶς τὴν τῶν Τούρκων γῆν, καὶ συναφθέντες ἀλλήλοις εἰς πόλεμον, πίπτουσιν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν· καὶ δειλανδρήσας ὁ Μασαλμᾶς φυγῇ χρησάμενος διὰ τῶν ὀρέων Χαζαρίας ὑπέστρεψεν. Τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει ἀπομανεὶς Λέων, ὁ παράνομος βασιλεύς, κατὰ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως καὶ ἐνέγκας τὸν μακάριον Γερμανὸν ἤρξατο αὐτὸν θωπευτικοῖς λόγοις δελεάζειν. ὁ δὲ μακάριος ἀρχιερεὺς ἔφη πρὸς αὐτόν· "τὴν μὲν καθαίρεσιν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ σεπτῶν εἰκόνων ἀκούομεν ἔσεσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς σῆς βασιλείας." τούτου δὲ ἐπαναγκάσαντος εἰπεῖν ἐπὶ τίνος βασιλείας; ἔφη· "ἐπὶ Κόνωνος." ὁ δὲ ἔφη· "τὸ βαπτιστικόν μου ὄνομα ἐν ἀληθείᾳ Κόνων ἐστίν." ὁ δὲ πατριάρχης ἔφη· "μὴ γένοιτο, δέσποτα, διὰ τῆς σῆς βασιλείας τὸ κακὸν τοῦτο τελεσθῆναι· Ἀντιχρίστου γάρ ἐστι πρόδρομος ὁ τοῦτο πληρῶν καὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου θείας οἰκονομίας ἀνατροπεύς." ἐπὶ τούτοις χαλεπήνας ὁ τύραννος ἐνεῖχε τῷ μακαρίῳ, ὡς Ἡρώδης ποτὲ τῷ προδρόμῳ. ἀνέμνησε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ τῶν πρὸ τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας αὐτοῦ συνθηκῶν, ὅπως αὐτῷ θεὸν ἐγγυητὴν δέδωκεν ἐν μηδενὶ σαλεῦσαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν αὐτῆς ἀποστολικῶν καὶ θεοπαραδότων θεσμῶν. ἀλλ' οὐδ' οὕτως ᾐσχύνθη ὁ ἄθλιος. ἐπιτηρῶν δὲ καὶ καθυποβάλλων τινὰς ἠγωνίζετο λόγους, εἴ που τοῦτον εὕροι κατὰ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ποιούμενον, ἵν' ὡς φατριαστήν, καὶ οὐχ 408 ὡς ὁμολογητὴν καθέλῃ τοῦ θρόνου, ἔχων εἰς τοῦτο σύμμαχον καὶ συμμέτοχον Ἀναστάσιον μαθητὴν καὶ σύγκελλον αὐτοῦ, συνταξάμενος αὐτῷ ὡς τῆς ἀσεβείας ὁμόφρονι, καὶ τοῦ θρόνου μοιχὸν διάδοχον ἔσεσθαι· ὃν ὁ μακάριος οὐκ ἀγνοῶν οὕτω στρεβλῶς διακείμενον, μιμούμενος τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δεσπότην, ὡς πρὸς ἄλλον Ἰσκαριώτην, σοφῶς