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it is for us, O master, who hold the churches, to be compelled both to commune and to sign." And the blessed one said to them, "Commune, so that you do not divide the church, but do not sign; for I am not conscious of anything in myself worthy of deposition." And he had as disciples bishops Proclus and Palladius and Brison and Theodoret, and ascetics Mark and Nilus and Isidore of Pelusium. And the great Epiphanius of Cyprus, having come to the Hebdomon, performed ordinations and assemblies against the will of John. And although John wished to yield to him, and urged him to go up with him to the episcopal residence, Epiphanius chose not to do this; for he had been prejudiced by the slanders of Theophilus. So the renowned John, having been bishop for five and 1.582 a half years, was exiled to Cucusus; and from there, after 3 years and 2 months, being transferred to Pityus, and while passing through Comana, he died in great affliction and hardship, being fifty-two years old. But Pope Innocent of Rome, having heard of his death in exile, writes to Arcadius as follows: "The voice of the blood of my brother John cries out to God against you, O emperor, as once that of righteous Abel against the fratricide Cain. And it will surely be avenged in every way, because you have instituted an unjust persecution against the church of God and his priests, and you have unlawfully and without trial driven out the great luminary and teacher of the world from the throne of his episcopate, persecuting Christ along with him. And the new Delilah, Eudoxia, having gradually shaved you with the razor of deceit, has brought upon herself a curse and hatred, binding a just and indelible, unbearable burden of sins, and adding to her former terrible and many sins." And the great Isidore, writing to someone, says thus: "You ask about the tragedy concerning the divine John, but I am at a loss to describe it; for the intoxication of the affair overcomes the mind. But learn a few things, which Egypt ignored, rejecting Moses, but embracing Pharaoh, scourging the humble and afflicting the weary, building cities and withholding wages. And to this day practicing these things, having put forward the gold-mad and gold-worshipping 1.583 Theophilus, fortified with four collaborators and fellow-apostates, she warred against the man who was truly God-beloved and a theologian, having found the aversion and ill-will toward my namesake a starting point for his own hardness. But the house of David grows strong and advances, while the house of Saul grows weak and is put to shame and is thwarted, as you see, even though the man of God has departed from the storm, crowned and victorious, and has passed over to the calm above."

And when Epiphanius was returning to Cyprus, and had learned from God that his own death was approaching, he is said to have said to those escorting him, "I am hastening, I am hastening, and I leave to you the palace and the city and the hypocrisy." He also revealed John's death and victory in exile, and John likewise revealed to Epiphanius his falling asleep on the ship, the blessed ones having been pre-initiated into these things by divine inspiration, so that no one might suspect that they held enmity against each other. For such God-inspired and God-beloved men and teachers and genuine disciples of the peace-making Christ, who said, "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another," would not have died holding enmity and malice. Away with the thought; for even if the aforementioned small scandal occurred between them, a proof of human weakness for a short time, they were nevertheless quickly led to the summit of virtues, love, concerning which Paul the 1.584 apostle says, "Love is patient, is kind, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong," and that God is love, and

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ἡμῖν ὦ δέσποτά ἐστι, τὰς ἐκ κλησίας κατέχοντας, ἀναγκασθῆναι καὶ κοινωνῆσαι καὶ ὑπογρά ψαι." ὁ δὲ μακάριος πρὸς αὐτούς "κοινωνήσατε μέν, ἵνα μὴ σχίσητε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, μὴ ὑπογράψητε δέ· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα ἄξιον καθαιρέσεως." εἶχε δὲ μαθητὰς ἐπισκόπους μὲν Πρόκλον καὶ Παλλάδιον καὶ Βρίσωνα καὶ Θεοδώρητον, ἀσκητὰς δὲ Μάρκον καὶ Νεῖλον καὶ Ἰσίδωρον τὸν Πηλουσιώτην. ὁ δὲ μέγας Ἐπιφάνιος Κύπρου ἐν τῷ Ἑβδόμῳ ἐλθὼν χειροτονίας καὶ συνάξεις παρὰ τὴν Ἰωάννου γνώμην ἐποίησε. καὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου τούτῳ συγχωρῆσαι θελήσαντος, καὶ προτρεψαμένου αὐτὸν συμ βῆναι αὐτῷ εἰς τὴν ἐπισκοπικὴν καταγωγήν, οὐχ εἵλετο τοῦτο ποιῆσαι Ἐπιφάνιος· ταῖς γὰρ ὑπὸ Θεοφίλου διαβολαῖς προκατεί ληπτο. ὁ γοῦν ἀοίδιμος Ἰωάννης ἐπισκοπεύσας ἔτη πέντε καὶ 1.582 ἥμισυ ἐξωρίσθη εἰς Κουκουσόν· κἀκεῖθεν μετὰ ἔτη γʹ καὶ μῆνας βʹ μετενεχθεὶς εἰς Πιτυοῦντα, καὶ γενόμενος κατὰ πάροδον ἐν Κομάνοις ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν πολλῇ θλίψει τε καὶ κακώσει, ὑπάρχων ἐτῶν πεντηκονταδύο. ὁ δέ γε πάπας Ῥώμης Ἰννοκέντιος ἀκούσας τὴν ἐν ἐξορίᾳ τελευτὴν αὐτοῦ γράφει πρὸς Ἀρκάδιον τοιάδε "φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μου Ἰωάννου βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν κατὰ σοῦ, βασιλεῦ, ὥς ποτε Ἄβελ τοῦ δικαίου κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοκτόνου Κάϊν. καὶ πάντως ἐκδικηθήσεται παντοίῳ τρόπῳ, ὅτι διωγμὸν ἄδικον κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἱερέων αὐτοῦ συνεστήσω, καὶ ἐξέωσας τὸν μέγαν τῆς οἰκουμένης φωστῆρά τε καὶ διδάσκαλον ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς αὐτοῦ παρανόμως τε καὶ ἀκρίτως, συνδιώξας αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν Χριστόν. ἡ δὲ νέα ∆αλιλὰς Εὐδοξία, κατὰ μικρὸν τῷ ξυρῷ τῆς ἀπάτης ξυρήσασά σε, κατάραν ἐπήγαγεν ἑαυτῇ καὶ μῖσος, ἔνδικόν τε καὶ ἀνεξάλειπτον δεσμεύσασα φορτίον ἁμαρτημάτων δυσβάστακτον, καὶ προσθεῖσα τοῖς πρῴην αὐτῆς δεινοῖς καὶ πολλοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν." ὁ δὲ μέγας Ἰσίδωρος πρός τινα γράφων οὕτως φησίν "ἐρωτᾷς τὴν περὶ τὸν θεσπέσιον Ἰωάν νην τραγῳδίαν, ἀλλὰ φράσαι ταύτην ἀπορῶ· νικᾷ γὰρ τὸν νοῦν ἡ μέθη τοῦ πράγματος. μικρὰ δὲ μάνθανε, ἅπερ ἡ Αἴγυπτος ἠγνόησε, Μωϋσέα μὲν παραιτουμένη, τὸν δὲ Φαραὼ οἰκειου μένη, τοὺς ταπεινοὺς μαστίζουσα καὶ τοὺς κοπουμένους θλίβουσα, πόλεις οἰκοδομοῦσα καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς ἀποστεροῦσα. καὶ μέχρι νῦν τούτοις ἐμμελετῶσα, τὸν χρυσομανῆ καὶ χρυσολάτρην προ 1.583 βαλομένη Θεόφιλον τέσσαρσι συνεργοῖς καὶ συναποστάταις ὀχυρω θέντα, τὸν ὄντως θεοφιλῆ καὶ θεολόγον κατεπολέμησεν ἄνθρω πον, τὴν περὶ τὸν ἐμὸν ὁμώνυμον ἀπέχθειαν καὶ δυσμένειαν ὁρ μητήριον τῆς οἰκείας εὑρηκότα σκληρότητος. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν οἶκος ∆αβὶδ κραταιοῦται καὶ πορεύεται, ὁ δὲ οἶκος Σαοὺλ ἀσθενεῖ καὶ καταισχύνεται καὶ συμποδίζεται, καθὼς ὁρᾷς, εἰ καὶ τῆς ζάλης ὑπεξῆλθεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ θεοῦ στεφανίτης καὶ νικηφόρος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω γαλήνην μετεχώρησεν."

Ὑποστρέφοντος δὲ Ἐπιφανίου ἐν Κύπρῳ, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τελευτὴν παρὰ θεοῦ μεμαθηκότος πλησιάζουσαν, λέγεται εἰρη κέναι τοῖς αὐτὸν παραπέμπουσι "σπεύδω ἐγώ, σπεύδω, ἀφίημι δὲ ὑμῖν τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν ὑπόκρισιν." ὅς γε καὶ Ἰωάννου τὴν ἐν ἐξορίᾳ τελευτὴν καὶ νίκην ἐδήλωσεν, καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁμοίως Ἐπιφανίῳ τὴν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ κοίμησιν, ἐκ θείας ἐπιπνοίας ταῦτα προμυηθέντες οἱ μακάριοι, ἵνα μή τις ἔχθραν ἔχειν αὐ τοὺς κατ' ἀλλήλων ὑποτοπάσειεν. οὐ γὰρ ἂν οἱ τοιοῦτοι θεηγόροι καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἄνθρωποι καὶ διδάσκαλοι καὶ τοῦ εἰρηνοποιοῦ Χρι στοῦ μαθηταὶ γνήσιοι, τοῦ φάσκοντος "ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάν τες ὅτι μαθηταί μού ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε μετ' ἀλλήλων," ἔχθραν καὶ κακίαν ἔχοντες ἐτελεύτησαν. ἄπαγε· εἰ γὰρ καὶ μι κρὸν σκάνδαλον τὸ προρρηθὲν γέγονε μεταξύ, τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν ἔλεγχον πρὸς ὀλίγον, ἀλλ' οὖν γε θᾶττον εἰς τὴν κορυ φὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἤχθησαν τὴν ἀγάπην, περὶ ἧς λέγει Παῦλος ὁ 1.584 ἀπόστολος "ἡ ἀγάπη μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται, οὐ παροξύνεται, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν" καὶ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστί, καὶ