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came against the Arabs in the place called Krasos. But when the aforementioned Artabasdos was in Dorylaion with the people of the Opsikion, they were suspicious of each other. Constantine, sending to him, asked for his sons to be sent to him, as though, since they were his cousins, he longed to see them. But his purpose was to seize and imprison them. But he, understanding the trick and despairing for himself, and knowing his measureless wickedness, spoke to the people and persuading them, rushed against him with the entire multitude, and he killed with a sword the patrikios Beser, the Saracen-minded one, who came to meet him; but Constantine, finding a saddled spare horse and mounting it, fled to Amorion, and running to the theme of the Anatolics, at that time commanded by Lankinos, he is saved by them, and wins them over with great promises; and he sends at once to Sissinnakios, who was then strategos of the theme of the Thrakesians, and persuades them to ally with him. From this point, 415 therefore, most terrible battles and armings against each other occur among the subjects, with each being proclaimed emperor. Artabasdos writes to Theophanes the patrikios and magistros, who was acting as his representative in the city, through Athanasios the silentiarios, about what had happened. And he, being partial to Artabasdos, gathered the people in the catechumena of the great church, and through the letters and the aforementioned Athanasios persuades everyone that the emperor was dead, and that Artabasdos had been proclaimed emperor by the themes. Then all the people with Anastasios, the falsely-named patriarch, cast anathema and execration upon him as an avenging spirit and an enemy of God, and they gracefully accepted his slaughter, as being delivered from a very great evil, and they acclaimed Artabasdos as emperor, as an orthodox man and a champion of the divine dogmas. Therefore, the One-eyed at once sends to the Thracian regions to Nikephoros, his own son, who was strategos of Thrace, to drive the army there to guard the city. Therefore, having closed the gates of the walls and posted watches, and having seized the friends of Constantine, after beating and tonsuring them, he put them in prisons. And when Artabasdos entered the city with the people of the Opsikion, Constantine also seized Chrysopolis with the two themes, the Thrakesians, I mean, and the Anatolics, and having accomplished nothing, he returned and wintered in Amorion. But Artabasdos restored the holy icons throughout the whole city. And the Arabs, perceiving their fight against each other, took many captives in Romania, while Suleiman was their general. And Anastasios, the falsely-named patriarch, holding the precious and life-giving wood, swore to the people, that "By the one who was nailed on it, thus said Constantine the emperor to me, 'that you should not consider the one whom Mary bore, who is called Christ, to be the son of God, but merely a man. For Mary bore him just as my mother Mary bore me.'" And hearing this, the people execrated him. Stephen, bishop of Antioch, 2 years. 2. 19. 9. 13. 1. In this year Hisham, the chief of the Arabs, died. This man, 416 when the most holy church of Antioch had been widowed for 40 years, since the Arabs were preventing a patriarch from being appointed in it, having a certain beloved Syrian monk, named Stephen, rather rustic, but pious, permitted the Christians in the east, if they wished to be allowed to have a patriarch, to elect this Stephen; who, believing this had come from God, consecrated him on the throne of Theoupolis. And from then until now, this has continued unhindered. In this year Walid, son of Hisham, took power over the Arabs; to whom Constantine sent Andreas the spatharios, and Artabasdos sent Gregorios the logothete, both seeking an alliance, and a great drought occurred and an earthquake in places, such that mountains joined together in the desert of Sabas, and villages were swallowed up by the earth. And in the

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κατὰ τῶν Ἀράβων ἦλθεν ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ Κρασῷ. τοῦ δὲ λεχθέντος Ἀρταυάσδου ἐν τῷ ∆ορυλαίῳ μετὰ τοῦ Ὀψικίου λαοῦ ὄντος, ὑπεβλέποντο ἀλλήλοις. ἀποστείλας δὲ Κωνσταντῖνος πρὸς αὐτὸν ᾐτεῖτο τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ πεμφθῆναι αὐτῷ, ὡς ἅτε ἀνεψιοὺς αὐτοῦ ποθῶν ἰδεῖν αὐτούς. σκοπὸς δὲ ἦν αὐτῷ κατασχεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ φρουρῆσαι. ὁ δὲ τὸν δόλον νοήσας καὶ ἀπογνοὺς ἑαυτοῦ γινώσκων τε τὴν ἄμετρον πονηρίαν αὐτοῦ διαλαλήσας τε τῷ λαῷ καὶ πείσας ὥρμησε κατ' αὐτοῦ σὺν παντὶ τῷ πλήθει, καὶ τὸν μὲν πατρίκιον Βησὴρ τὸν σαρακηνόφρονα προϋπαντήσαντα ῥομφαίᾳ ἀνεῖλεν· ὁ δὲ Κωνσταντῖνος παρίππιν εὑρὼν ἐστρωμένον καὶ ἐπιβὰς αὐτοῦ ἔφυγεν εἰς τὸ Ἀμῶριν, καὶ προσδραμὼν τῷ θέματι τῶν ἀνατολικῶν στρατηγουμένῳ τότε ὑπὸ τοῦ Λαγκίνου περισώζεται ὑπ' αὐτῶν, δεξιοῦταί τε τούτους μεγάλαις ὑποσχέσεσιν· καὶ πρὸς Σισιννάκιον ἀποστέλλει εὐθὺς στρατηγὸν ὄντα τὸ τηνικαῦτα τοῦ θέματος τῶν Θρᾳκησίων, καὶ πείθει αὐτοὺς συμμαχήσειν αὐτῷ. ἐντεῦθεν 415 οὖν μάχαι δεινόταται καὶ ἀνθοπλισμοὶ γίνονται τοῖς ὑπηκόοις, ἑκατέρων βασιλέων ἀναγορευομένων. Ἀρτάυασδος δὲ γράφει πρὸς Θεοφάνην τὸν πατρίκιον καὶ μάγιστρον ἐκ προσώπου ὄντα ἐν τῇ πόλει διὰ Ἀθανασίου σιλεντιαρίου τὰ πραχθέντα. ὁ δὲ προσκείμενος τῷ Ἀρταυάσδῳ, σωρεύσας τὸν λαὸν ἐν τοῖς κατηχουμενίοις τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας, καὶ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων καὶ τοῦ λεχθέντος Ἀθανασίου πείθει πάντας, ὡς ὁ βασιλεὺς τέθνηκεν, Ἀρτάυασδος δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν θεμάτων ἀνηγορεύθη βασιλεύς. τότε πᾶς ὁ λαὸς σὺν Ἀναστασίῳ τῷ ψευδωνύμῳ πατριάρχῃ ἀναθέματι καὶ ἀνασκαφῇ ἔβαλον αὐτὸν ὡς ἀλάστορα καὶ ἀντίθεον, καὶ ἀστείως τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐδέξαντο σφαγὴν ὡς μεγίστου κακοῦ λυτρωθέντες, Ἀρτάυασδον δὲ ἀνεκήρυττον βασιλέα ὡς ὀρθόδοξον καὶ θείων δογμάτων ὑπέρμαχον. εὐθέως οὖν ἀποστέλλει ὁ Μονώτης ἐν τοῖς Θρᾳκῴοις μέρεσι πρὸς Νικηφόρον, τὸν ἴδιον υἱόν, στρατηγοῦντα τῆς Θρᾴκης, τοῦ συνελάσαι τὸ ἐκεῖσε στρατόπεδον πρὸς φυλακὴν τῆς πόλεως. κλείσας οὖν τὰς τῶν τειχέων πύλας καὶ βίγλας θέμενος τοὺς φίλους τε Κωνσταντίνου χειρωσάμενος, τύψας καὶ κουρεύσας εἰς φυλακὰς ἀπέθετο. τοῦ δὲ Ἀρταυάσδου μετὰ τοῦ Ὀψικίου λαοῦ ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσελθόντος, κατέλαβε καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ἐν Χρυσοπόλει μετὰ τῶν δύο θεμάτων, Θρᾳκησίων τε, φημί, καὶ ἀνατολικῶν, καὶ μηδὲν ἰσχύσας ὑπέστρεψε καὶ ἐχείμασεν εἰς τὸ Ἀμῶριν. ὁ δὲ Ἀρτάυασδος κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν τὰς ἱερὰς εἰκόνας ἀνεστήλωσεν. οἱ δὲ Ἄραβες αἰσθόμενοι τὴν τούτων κατ' ἀλλήλων μάχην πολλὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐποιήσαντο εἰς Ῥωμανίαν, τοῦ Σουλεϊμὰν στρατηγοῦντος αὐτοῖς. Ἀναστάσιος δέ, ὁ ψευδώνυμος πατριάρχης, κρατήσας τὰ τίμια καὶ ζωοποιὰ ξύλα ὤμοσε τῷ λαῷ, ὅτι "μὰ τὸν προσηλωθέντα ἐν αὐτοῖς, οὕτω μοι εἶπε Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ βασιλεύς, ὅτι μὴ λογίσῃ υἱὸν θεοῦ εἶναι ὃν ἔτεκε Μαρία, τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν, εἰ μὴ ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἡ γὰρ Μαρία αὐτὸν ἔτεκεν, ὡς ἔτεκεν ἐμὲ ἡ μήτηρ Μαρία." καὶ τοῦτο ἀκούσαντες οἱ λαοὶ ἀνέσκαψαν αὐτόν. Ἀντιοχείας ἐπίσκοπος Στέφανος ἔτη βʹ. βʹ. ιθʹ. θʹ. ιγʹ. αʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει τέθνηκεν Ἰσάμ, ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων ἀρχηγός. οὗτος 416 τὴν ἁγιωτάτην ἐκκλησίαν τῆς Ἀντιοχείας ἐπὶ μʹ χρόνους χηρεύουσαν, κωλυόντων τῶν Ἀράβων γενέσθαι πατριάρχην ἐν αὐτῇ, ἔχων τινὰ προσφιλῆ μονάζοντα Σύρον, ὀνόματι Στέφανον, ἀγροικότερον μέν, εὐλαβῆ δέ, ἐπέτρεψε τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἑῴαν Χριστιανούς, εἴπερ θέλοιεν συγχωρηθῆναι αὐτοῖς πατριάρχην ἔχειν, ψηφίσασθαι αὐτὸν Στέφανον· οἳ θεόθεν τοῦτο νομίσαντες γενέσθαι χειροτονοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ Θεουπόλεως. κἀκεῖθεν ἕως νῦν διέδραμε τὸ ἀκώλυτον. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐκράτησεν Οὐαλίδ, υἱὸς Ἰσάμ, τῆς Ἀράβωνἀρχῆς· πρὸς ὃν Κωνσταντῖνος Ἀνδρέαν σπαθάριον, Ἀρτάυασδος δὲ Γρηγόριον λογοθέτην ἐξέπεμψαν, τὰ πρὸς συμμαχίαν ζητοῦντες ἀμφότεροι, ἀβροχίας τε πολλῆς γενομένης καὶ σεισμοῦ κατὰ τόπους, ὡς ἑνωθῆναι ὄρη πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον Σαβᾶ, καὶ κώμας ὑπὸ γῆν καταποθῆναι. τῷ δ'