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of Mesembria." Having received these things, the emperor did not accept the peace, due to the suggestions of his evil counselors. For under a pretense of false piety, but rather of igno498rance and to the common ruin, the para-counselors said that it was not right to hand over refugees, citing for testimony also the lord's evangelical saying, that "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." And in the middle of the month of October, Krum drew up his battle lines against Mesembria with siege engines and helepoles, which he had learned of under the pretext of Nicephorus, the destroyer of Christians. For a certain Arab, who had come to be baptized and was very skilled in mechanics, he had enrolled in the army and stationed in Adrianople, having given him no support or benefaction according to his worth, but rather had even docked his pay, and when he complained, beat him severely; and in despair at this he fled to the Bulgarians and taught them every kind of siegecraft. Having set these up, with no one opposing him through much ineptitude for the whole month, he took it. And on the 1st of the month of November, the emperor summoned the patriarch, and surrounded by advisors he deliberated about peace; there were present also metropolitans, both of Nicaea and of Cyzicus, with the para-counselors also present along with Theodore, the abbot of Stoudios. And the patriarch and the metropolitans along with the emperor embraced the peace, but the evil counselors with Theodore, the abbot of Stoudios, overturned it, saying: "One must not embrace peace upon the overturning of the divine commandment. For, 'him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,' the Lord has declared," knowing neither what they say, nor of what things they affirm; first, that with none of them fleeing to us, we have betrayed those inside the walls, being able by making peace to save them; and second that, even if some few had fled, it was necessary to work for the salvation of the greater number and of our own people, rather than to get rich on uncertain and invisible things. For it is dear to God that more rather than few be saved. And to suffer the greatest losses for a small gain is the height of folly. But also he who is unconcerned for his own has, according to Paul, denied the faith and is judged499 worse than an infidel. And where is this: "I was peaceable with those who hated peace," unless perhaps these men are wiser than both Paul and David? Who now is wiser than the thrice-blessed Germanus, if not, according to their soul-destroying conceit, the evil para-counselors, who prevented the peace? These things happened on the 1st of the month of November, as has been said. And on the 4th of the same month a comet appeared in the shape of two bright moons that united and then separated again into different shapes, so as to be formed into the figure of a headless man. And on the next day the pitiful report about the capture of Mesembria came to us, alarming everyone with the expectation of greater evils. For the enemy, finding it filled with all the things that ought to be present for the habitation of men, took it along with Debeltos, in which they also found 36 bronze siphons, and no small amount of the liquid fire sent through them, and a multitude of gold and silver. In the same year many of the Christians throughout Palestine, monks and laymen, and from all of Syria, reached Cyprus, fleeing the immoderate affliction by the Arabs. For as a general anarchy took hold of Syria and Egypt and Africa and all the dominion under them, murders and robberies and adulteries, and debaucheries and all god-hated acts were being committed in villages and cities by their god-destroying nation, and the venerable places in the holy city of Christ our God, of the holy resurrection, of Golgotha and the others were desecrated. And likewise also the famous lauras in the desert of Saint Chariton and of Saint Sabas, and the other monasteries

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Μεσημβρίας." ταῦτα δεξάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς ταῖς τῶν κακοσυμβούλων εἰσηγήσεσιν οὐ προσήκατο τὴν εἰρήνην. εὐσεβείας γὰρ δῆθεν ψευδοῦς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀμα498 θίας καὶ περὶ τὸ κοινὸν ἀπωλείας οἱ παρασυμβουλευταὶ ἔφασκον ὅτι οὐ δεῖ τοὺς προσφεύγοντας ἀποδίδοσθαι, ἐπιφθεγγόμενοι εἰς μαρτυρίαν καὶ τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν τοῦ κυρίου λόγιον, ὅτι "τὸν ἐρχόμενον πρός με οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω." μεσοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Ὀκτωβρίου μηνὸς παρετάξατο ὁ Κροῦμμος κατὰ Μεσημβρίας ἐν μηχανήμασι μαγγανικῶν καὶ ἑλεπόλεων, ἃ τῇ προφάσει Νικηφόρου, τοῦ καταλύτου τῶν Χριστιανῶν, μεμάθηκεν. Ἄραβα γάρ τινα προσελθόντα τῷ βαπτίσματι πάνυ ἔμπειρον μηχανικῆς ὑπάρχοντα στρατεύσας ἐν Ἀδριανουπόλει κατέστησεν, μηδεμίαν κατ' ἀξίαν ἀντίληψιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἢ εὐεργεσίαν πεποιηκώς, ἀλλ' ἢ μᾶλλον καὶ τὴν ῥόγαν αὐτοῦ κολοβώσας, τὸν δὲ γογγύσαντα ἔτυψε σφοδρῶς· ἀπονοηθεὶς δὲ ἐπὶ τούτῳ προσέφυγε τοῖς Βουλγάροις καὶ ἐδίδαξεν αὐτοὺς πᾶσαν μαγγανικὴν τέχνην. ἐν τούτοις παραστησάμενος, μηδενὸς ἀντιταξαμένου διὰ πολλὴν σκαιότητα δι' ὅλου τοῦ μηνός, παρέλαβεν αὐτήν. τῇ δὲ αʹ τοῦ Νοεμβρίου μηνὸς προσκαλεσάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν πατριάρχην, περιστατηθεὶς ἐβουλεύετο περὶ εἰρήνης· παρῆσαν δὲ καὶ μητροπολῖται, ὅ τε Νικαίας καὶ ὁ Κυζίκου, συμπαρόντων καὶ τῶν παρασυμβούλων σὺν Θεωδώρῳ, τῷ ἡγουμένῳ τῶν Στουδίου. καὶ ὁ μὲν πατριάρχης καὶ οἱ μητροπολῖται σὺν τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν εἰρήνην ἠσπάζοντο, οἱ δὲ κακοὶ σύμβουλοι σὺν Θεοδώρῳ, τῷ ἡγουμένῳ τῶν Στουδίου, ταύτην ἀνέτρεπον φάσκοντες· "ἐπ' ἀνατροπῇ τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς οὐ δεῖ ἀσπάζεσθαι τὴν εἰρήνην. τὸν γὰρ ἐρχόμενον πρός με οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω, ὁ κύριος ἀπεφήνατο," μὴ εἰδότες, μήτε ἃ λέγουσιν, μήτε περὶ τίνων διαβεβαιοῦνται· πρῶτον μέν, ὅτι μηδενὸς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξ αὐτῶν προσφεύγοντος, ἡμεῖς τοὺς ἔσω τῆς αὐλῆς προδεδώκαμεν δυνάμενοι τούτους εἰρηνεύοντες περισώσασθαι· δεύτερον δὲ ὅτι, εἰ καὶ προσέφυγόν τινες σπάνιοι, τὴν τῶν πλειόνων μᾶλλον καὶ ὁμοφύλων σωτηρίαν ἐχρῆν πραγματεύσασθαι, ἢ ἐπ' ἀδήλοις καὶ ἀφανέσι πλουτεῖν. φίλον γὰρ θεῷ πλείους ἢ ὀλίγους σώζεσθαι. τὸ δὲ ζημιοῦσθαι πλεῖστα διὰ μικρὸν κέρδος πρώτης ἀνοίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ περὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀπρονοήτως διακείμενος τὴν πίστιν κατὰ Παῦλον ἤρνηται καὶ χείρων ἀπίστου κρί499 νεται. ποῦ δὲ καὶ τό· "μετὰ τῶν μισούντων τὴν εἰρήνην ἤμην εἰρηνικός," εἰ μή που καὶ Παύλου καὶ ∆αβὶδ οὗτοι σοφώτεροι; τίς δὲ Γερμανοῦ τοῦ τρισμάκαρος σοφώτερος νῦν, εἰ μὴ κατὰ τὴν ψυχόλεθρον οἴησιν οἱ κακοὶ παρασύμβουλοι, οἱ τὴν εἰρήνην κωλύσαντες; ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν αʹ γέγονε τοῦ Νοεμβρίου μηνός, ὡς εἴρηται. τῇ δὲ δʹ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς ὤφθη κομήτης ἐν σχήματι λαμπρῶν δύο σεληνίων ἑνωθέντων καὶ πάλιν διαιρεθέντων εἰς διάφορα σχήματα, ὡς καὶ εἰς ἀκεφάλου ἀνδρὸς διάπλασιν τυπωθῆναι. καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον ἡ περὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως Μεσημβρίας ἦλθεν ἡμῖν ἐλεεινὴ φάσις πάντας πτοοῦσα διὰ μειζόνων κακῶν ἀπεκδοχήν. εὑρόντες γὰρ αὐτὴν οἱ ἐχθροὶ πεπλησμένην πάντων τῶν ὀφειλόντων πρὸς κατοίκησιν ἀνθρώπων παρεῖναι πραγμάτων, ταύτην ἐκράτησαν σὺν τῇ ∆εβελτῷ, ἐν οἷς καὶ σίφωνας χαλκοῦς εὗρον λʹ, καὶ τοῦ δι' αὐτῶν ἐκπεμπομένου ὑγροῦ πυρὸς οὐκ ὀλίγον, χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου πλῆθος. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει πολλοὶ τῶν κατὰ Παλαιστίνην Χριστιανῶν μοναχοὶ καὶ λαϊκοὶ καὶ ἐκ πάσης Συρίας τὴν Κύπρον κατέλαβον φεύγοντες τὴν ἄμετρον κάκωσιν τῶν Ἀράβων. ἀναρχίας γὰρ καθολικῆς κατασχούσης Συρίαν καὶ Αἴγυπτον καὶ Ἀφρικὴν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοὺς ἀρχήν, φόνοι τε καὶ ἁρπαγαὶ καὶ μοιχεῖαι, ἀσέλγειαί τε καὶ πᾶσαι πράξεις θεοστυγεῖς ἐν κώμαις καὶ πόλεσι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεολέστου ἔθνους αὐτῶν ἐπράττοντο, οἵ τε κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν πόλιν σεβάσμιοι τόποι τῆς ἁγίας ἀναστάσεως, τοῦ κρανίου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐβεβηλώθησαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ αἱ κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον διαβόητοι λαῦραι τοῦ ἁγίου Χαρίτωνος καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Σάβα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μοναστήρια