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They killed Christians, and plundered their property; whom the emperor through Adamantos dragged off and beheaded, and exiled others, and annihilated all of them. In the 30th year a fire appeared in the sky like a lance, from the north to the west. And in the 31st year again various earthquakes occurred, so that the two walls of Constantinople suffered, the eastern and the western, and many churches and houses fell to the ground. but indeed also the suburbs and the Rhegion. so as not to be recognizable. and this earthquake occurred in other cities as well, of a kind that no man in those generations had remembered. and the earth was shaken violently by night and day for ten days. Therefore the grieving emperor came forth for the Nativity and Theophany without his crown, and he did not hold the customary banquets of the Twelve Days, but gave their expenses to the poor. and in the month of February a pestilence of men occurred, and especially of the young, in Constantinople, so that the dying remained unburied for three days because the biers of the churches and of the pious houses were not sufficient for carrying out the dead 1.676. Wherefore the emperor, having made another thousand biers, and these not even being sufficient, ordered very many wagons to be prepared, and gave ten thousand beasts of burden for carrying out the dead. But as the pestilence intensified, they threw most of them onto the shore, and they remained unburied for up to six days because the living were not sufficient to bury the dead, nor were the ships sufficient to carry them across. Therefore this pestilence prevailed for two months, July and August. And there were thunders and lightnings, great and exceedingly fearful, so that many were burned up by them. In the 31st year another plague occurred, and especially to children, from the bubonic affliction, for 4 months. and it destroyed no less than the former plague the whole city and the regions far from it. And indeed in Antioch again a great earthquake occurred. And after some time there was a running of stars from evening until morning, so that all were exceedingly astonished and said that the stars are falling. And there were worldly popular uprisings and many murders and wars, and diseases and deaths did not cease for men. And in Antioch after the earthquake occurred there was a most fearful roaring from the sky, and many died from fear. And in the 32nd year of the reign of Justinian, while the dome of the great church was being repaired (for it had been cracked by the successive earthquakes that had occurred) the eastern part of the apse of the holy sanctuary fell, and it smashed the ciborium 1.677 and the holy table and the ambo. Therefore the emperor, seeing this, raised other piers and received the dome, and so it was built, raised more than twenty feet in height than the first structure. And he also made outside the church, opposite the inner piers, four spiral staircases, which he planted from the ground and raised up to the dome, having made these a support for the arches. then he also makes the holy table, an inimitable work; for from gold and silver and every kind of stone and wood and metal and other material, whatever the earth and sea and the whole world bears, having collected from all things, more of the better and more precious things and less of the lesser things, having melted what was meltable he added what was dry, and thus having poured it into a mold he completed it, whence also, appearing variegated, it causes wonder to those who gaze upon it, having inscribed around it these things: "Your own from your own we offer to you, your servants, Christ, Justinian and Theodora, which graciously accept, O Son and Word of God, who for our sakes was incarnate and crucified, and preserve us in your orthodox faith, and the state which you have entrusted to us, increase and guard for your own glory through the intercessions of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary."

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Χριστιανοὺς ἀνεῖλον, καὶ τὴν ὑπόστασιν αὐτῶν διήρπασαν· οὓς ὁ βασιλεὺς δι' Ἀδάμαντος ἐφούλκισε καὶ ἀπεκεφάλισε, καὶ ἄλλους ἐξώρισε, πάντας δὲ ἠφάνισε. Τῷ λʹ ἔτει ἐφάνη πῦρ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὡς λόγχη, ἀπὸ ἄρκτου ἕως δυσμῶν. Καὶ τῷ λαʹ ἔτει ἐγένοντο πάλιν σεισμοὶ διάφοροι, ὥστε παθεῖν τὰ δύο τείχη Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, τὸ ἀνατολικὸν καὶ τὸ δυτικόν, καὶ πολλαὶ ἐκκλησίαι καὶ οἶκοι ἕως ἐδάφους κατέπεσον. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰ προάστεια καὶ τὸ ῥήγιον. ὥστε μὴ γνωρίζεσθαι. καὶ ἐν ἄλλαις δὲ πόλεσιν ἐγένετο ὁ σεισμὸς οὗτος, οἷον οὐκ ἐμνη μόνευσεν ἄνθρωπος ἐν ταῖς γενεαῖς ἐκείναις. καὶ ἐσείετο ἡ γῆ μετὰ φιλανίας ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ ἐπὶ ἡμέρας δέκα. διὸ καὶ λυ πούμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὰ γενέθλια καὶ θεοφάνια χωρὶς στέμμα τος προῆλθε, καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἔθους κλητόρια τοῦ δωδεκαημέρου οὐκ ἐποίησεν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐξόδους αὐτῶν δέδωκε τοῖς πτωχοῖς. τῷ δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνὶ γέγονε θνῆσις ἀνθρώπων, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν νέων, ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει, ὥστε μένειν ἀτάφους τοὺς ἀποθνή σκοντας ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τρεῖς διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐξαρκεῖν τοὺς κραββάτους τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν εὐαγῶν οἴκων πρὸς τὸ ἐκφέρειν τοὺς τελευ 1.676 τῶντας. ὅθεν ποιήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἕτερα κραββάτια χίλια, καὶ μηδ' οὕτως ἐξαρκούντων, ἁμάξας προσέταξε πλείστας εὐτρεπι σθῆναι, καὶ ἄλογα δέδωκε μυρία πρὸς τὸ ἐκφέρειν τοὺς νεκρούς. ἐπιτεινομένης δὲ τῆς θνήσεως ἔρριπτον τοὺς πλείονας εἰς τὸν αἰ γιαλόν, καὶ ἔμενον ἄταφοι ἕως ἡμέρας ἓξ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπαρκεῖν τοῖς ζῶσι θάπτειν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας, μήτε δὲ τὰ πλοῖα ἐξαρκεῖν εἰς τὸ διαπερᾶν αὐτούς. ἐκράτει οὖν ἡ θνῆσις αὕτη μῆνας δύο, Ἰού λιον καὶ Αὔγουστον. ἐγένοντο δὲ βρονταὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ μεγάλαι καὶ φοβεραὶ σφόδρα, ὥστε πολλοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν κατακαῆναι. Τῷ λαʹ ἔτει ἐπεγένετο αὖθις θανατικόν, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς παιδίοις, ἀπὸ βουβωνικοῦ πάθους, μῆνας δʹ. καὶ οὐχ ἧττον διέφθειρε τοῦ προτέρου θανατικοῦ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ πόρρω ταύτης. ἐν δὴ Ἀντιοχείᾳ πάλιν γέγονε σεισμὸς μέγας. μετὰ δὲ χρόνον τινὰ γέγονεν ἀστέρων δρόμος ἀφ' ἑσπέρας ἕως πρωΐ, ὥστε πάντας ὑπερεκπλήττεσθαι καὶ λέγειν ὅτι πίπτουσιν οἱ ἀστέρες. γεγόνασι δὲ κοσμικαὶ δημοκρατίαι καὶ φόνοι πολλοὶ καὶ πόλεμοι, καὶ νόσοι καὶ θάνατοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὐκ ἐπέλιπον. ἐν δὲ Ἀν τιοχείᾳ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τὸν σεισμὸν γέγονε βρυγμὸς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρα νοῦ φοβερώτατος, καὶ πολλοὶ ἐκ τοῦ φόβου ἀπέθανον. Τῷ δὲ λβʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Ἰουστινιανοῦ φιλοκαλουμένου τῶν τρούλου τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας (ἦν γὰρ διερρηγμένος ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγενομένων ἀλλεπαλλήλων σεισμῶν) ἔπεσε τὸ ἀνατολικὸν μέρος τῆς προϋποστολῆς τοῦ ἁγίου θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ συνέτριψε τὸ κι 1.677 βώριον καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν καὶ τὸν ἄμβωνα. συνιδὼν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἤγειρεν ἄλλους πινσοὺς καὶ ἐδέξατο τὸν τροῦλον, καὶ οὕτως ἐκτίσθη ὑψωθεὶς πλέον εἴκοσι ποδῶν εἰς ὕψος τοῦ πρώτου κτίσματος. ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἔξω τοῦ ναοῦ κατέναντι τῶν ἔσω πινσῶν τέσσαρας κοχλίας, οὓς ἀπὸ γῆς φυτεύσας μέχρι τοῦ τρού λου ἀνεβίβασεν, ἔρεισμα τούτους τῶν ἁψίδων κατεργασάμενος. τότε ποιεῖ καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν, ἔργον ἀμίμητον· ἀπό τε γὰρ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ λίθου παντοίου καὶ ξύλου καὶ μετάλλου καὶ εἴδους ἄλλου, ὅσα τε γῆ φέρει καὶ θάλασσα καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος, ἐκ πάντων συνάξας τὰ μὲν κρείττονα καὶ τιμιώτερα πλείονα τὰ δὲ ἐλάττω ἐνδεέστερα, τὰ τηκτὰ τήξας τὰ ξηρὰ ἐπέβαλε, καὶ οὕτως εἰς τύπον ἐπιχέας ἀνεπλήρωσεν αὐτήν, ὅθεν καὶ ποικίλη φαινο μένη θάμβος παρέχει τοῖς εἰς αὐτὴν ἀτενίζουσιν, ἐπιγράψας γύ ρωθεν ταῦτα "τὰ σὰ ἐκ τῶν σῶν σοι προσφέρομεν οἱ δοῦλοί σου, Χριστέ, Ἰουστινιανὸς καὶ Θεοδώρα, ἃ εὐμενῶς πρόσδεξαι, υἱὲ καὶ λόγε τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ σαρκωθεὶς καὶ σταυρωθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ ὀρθοδόξῳ πίστει σου διατήρησον, καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν ἣν ἡμῖν ἐπίστευσας, εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν σου δόξαν αὔξησον καὶ φύλαξον πρεσβείαις τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας."