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to be given to them. But when the Khagan demanded from them an assurance that he would not be betrayed by them and that they would receive one nomisma per man, they immediately gave these things and received Bardanes, also known as Philippicus, the emperor. And as the fleet was delayed and no report was coming, Justinian surmised the reason, and taking with him the men of the Opsikion and a part of the Thrakesians, he went up to Sinope, and sees the fleet coming towards the city. And roaring like a lion, he himself rushed upon the city. But since Philippicus had arrived first and seized the city, he himself went up to Damatrys. And Philippicus immediately sends Elias with a force against Justinian, and Maurus the patrician against Tiberius. who, going to Blachernae, found Tiberius holding the precious wood and the holy table, and outside the sanctuary, Anastasia, the mother of his 1.784 father, who was pleading much with him not to kill Tiberius. In these circumstances, John came and by force seized Tiberius, son of the Khazar woman, from the sanctuary, and casting him out at the side-gate of Callinicus, he cut his throat like a sheep. And Elias, having entered into discussions with the army that was with Justinian, and having given him a promise of immunity, drew it over to his side. And with Justinian left alone, Elias in a rage seized him by the neck and with his sword cut off his head and sent it to Philippicus. And he sent it as far as Rome. The aforementioned monk, the heretic and astronomer of the Callistratans, before Philippicus became emperor, prophesied to him, saying, "Since the Sixth Council was wrongly held, if you become emperor, cast it out, and your reign will be long and mighty." And he agreed with an oath to do this. And having become emperor, he held a false synod of bishops according to the word of the false abbot, and cast out the holy and ecumenical Sixth Council. And at the same time the foolish man was blinded.

And having expelled Cyrus the patriarch from the church, he put forward John, his fellow initiate and co-heretic. This Philippicus, also known as Bardanes, in his conversations was considered learned and prudent, but in his actions, passing his life irreverently, incompetently, and shamefully, he was shown to be in every way 1.785 worthless. For having been moved with madness against the holy Sixth Council, he hastened to overturn the divine dogmas decreed by it. For he found like-minded men, both John himself, whom he made patriarch, and other like-minded men, and in writing they anathematized it. And at the same time the Bulgarians, through Phileas, secretly having fallen upon the narrow pass, ran as far as the Golden Gate. But the number of the slaughtered and captured, being beyond number, we are not able to tell. And they themselves returned unharmed to their own country. In the second year, it seemed good to Philippicus to have luncheon with certain citizens. And while he was taking his midday rest on the Saturday of Pentecost, suddenly Rouphos, protostrategos of the Opsikion, having entered through the Golden Gate with the men he had in Thrace, and having rushed into the palace, seized Philippicus and led him to the hippodrome of the Greens, and blinded him without anyone knowing. And on the next day, that is, on the Sunday of Pentecost, when the people were gathered in the great church, Artemius the protoasecretis was crowned, being renamed Anastasius, by John the heretical patriarch, for two years. Artemius, also known as Anastasius, for two years. This man, being most learned, appointed a most capable general for cavalry matters, Leo the Isaurian, and another most learned man for civil matters, and because of this he continued in security. This man, having blinded the patricians Theodore and George, 1.786 exiled them to Thessalonica. And as the Arabs were arming themselves against Romania by both land and sea, it was reported to the emperor that they were coming against the city. And he began to build dromons and biremes, and to restore the sea walls and the land walls, and

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δοθῆναι αὐτοῖς τοῦτον. τοῦ δὲ χαγάνου ἀπαιτήσαντος αὐτοὺς λόγον τοῦ μὴ προδοθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ κομίσασθαι κατὰ ἄνδρα νόμισμα ἕν, αὐτοὶ παρα χρῆμα ταῦτα δόντες παρέλαβον Βαρδάνην τὸν καὶ Φιλιππικὸν βα σιλέα. ἐν δὲ τῷ χρονίζειν τὸν στόλον καὶ ἀναφορὰν μὴ ἔρχεσθαι ἐστοχάσατο Ἰουστινιανὸς τὴν αἰτίαν, καὶ λαβὼν σὺν αὐτῷ τοὺς τοῦ Ὀψικίου καὶ μέρος Θρᾳκησίων ἀνῆλθεν ἕως Σινώπης, καὶ βλέπει τὸν στόλον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐρχόμενον. καὶ βρύξας ὡς λέων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ὥρμησε. τοῦ δὲ Φιλιππικοῦ προλαβόντος καὶ τὴν πόλιν κρατήσαντος, αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν ∆αματρύα ἀνῆλθεν. ὁ δὲ Φιλιππικὸς εὐθὺς ἀποστέλλει τὸν Ἠλίαν μετὰ λαοῦ κατὰ Ἰουστινιανοῦ, Μαῦρον δὲ τὸν πατρίκιον κατὰ Τιβερίου. ὃς ἐν Βλαχέρναις πορευθεὶς εὗρε Τιβέριον κρατοῦντα τὰ τίμια ξύλα καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν, ἔξωθεν δὲ τοῦ βήματος Ἀναστασίαν τὴν τοῦ 1.784 πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μητέρα, ἥτις πολλὰ ἐδυσώπει αὐτὸν μὴ ἀνελεῖν Τιβέριον. ἐν τούτοις Ἰωάννης ἐλθὼν βίᾳ ἀφαρπάζει τοῦ βήματος τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Χαζάρας Τιβέριον, καὶ ἐν τῷ τῆς Καλλινίκου παραπορτίῳ ἐκβαλὼν δίκην προβάτου ἐλαρυγγοτόμησεν. ὁ δὲ Ἠλίας εἰς λόγους ἐλθὼν τῷ μετὰ τοῦ Ἰουστινιανοῦ στρατῷ καὶ λόγον ἀπαθείας δοὺς αὐτῷ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἵλκυσε. μόνου δὲ ὑπο λειφθέντος Ἰουστινιανοῦ, ἐν θυμῷ δραξάμενος τοῦ τραχήλου αὐ τοῦ Ἠλίας τῷ παραμηρίῳ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἐξέτεμε καὶ πρὸς Φιλιππικὸν ἀπέστειλεν. αὐτὸς δὲ ἄχρι Ῥώμης ταύτην ἐξέπεμψεν. Ὁ δὲ προλεχθεὶς μοναχός, ὁ αἱρετικὸς καὶ ἀστρονόμος τῶν Καλλιστράτων, πρὸ τοῦ βασιλεῦσαι Φιλιππικὸν ἐχρησμοδότει αὐτῷ λέγων "ἐπεὶ ἡ ἕκτη σύνοδος κακῶς ἐγένετο, ἐὰν βασιλεύσῃς, ῥῖψον αὐτήν, καὶ γενέσθαι σοι ἔχει ἡ βασιλεία πολυχρόνιος καὶ κραταιά." ὁ δὲ συνέθετο μεθ' ὅρκου τοῦτο ποιῆσαι. βασιλεύ σας δὲ ἐποίησε ψευδοσύνοδον ἐπισκόπων κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ ψευδαββᾶ, καὶ ἔρριψε τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ οἰκουμενικὴν ἕκτην σύνοδον. καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ ἐτυφλώθη ὁ μάταιος.

Κῦρον δὲ τὸν πα τριάρχην ἐξωθήσας τῆς ἐκκλησίας, Ἰωάννην τὸν αὐτοῦ συμμύ στην καὶ συναιρετικὸν προεβάλετο. Οὗτος ὁ Φιλιππικὸς ὁ καὶ Βαρδάνης ἐν μὲν ταῖς διαλαλιαῖς αὐτοῦ λόγιος καὶ ἐχέφρων ἐλογίζετο, ἐν δὲ ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ ἀσέμνως καὶ ἀνικάνως καὶ αἰσχρῶς τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ διατελῶν πάντῃ 1.785 ἀδόκιμος ἐδείκνυτο. ἐμμανῶς γὰρ κινηθεὶς κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας ʹ συνόδου ἀνατρέπειν ἔσπευδε τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῆς δογματισθέντα θεῖα δόγματα. εὗρε γὰρ ὁμόφρονας αὐτοῦ αὐτόν τε τὸν Ἰωάννην, ὃν ἐποίησε πατριάρχην, καὶ ἄλλους ὁμόφρονας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγγρά φως ἀνεθεμάτισαν αὐτήν. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ χρόνῳ οἱ Βούλγαροι διὰ τοῦ Φιλέα λάθρᾳ τῷ στενῷ ἐπιρρίψαντες ἕως τῆς χρυσῆς πόρτης διέδραμον. τὸν δὲ ἀριθμὸν τῶν σφαγέντων καὶ αἰχμαλωτισθέν των, ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν ὄντα, λέγειν οὐκ ἔχομεν. αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀβλαβεῖς εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ὑπέστρεψαν. Τῷ βʹ ἔτει ἔδοξε τῷ Φιλιππικῷ μετά τινων πολιτῶν ἀρι στῆσαι. ἐν δὲ τῷ σαββάτῳ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς μεσημβριάζων, ἐξάπινα διὰ τῆς χρυσῆς πόρτης εἰσελθὼν Ῥοῦφος πρωτοστράτηγος τοῦ Ὀψικίου, μεθ' ὧν εἶχεν ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ, καὶ εἰσδραμὼν εἰς τὸ παλάτιον, ἥρπασε τὸν Φιλιππικὸν καὶ ἤγαγεν εἰς τὸ ἀρματώριον τῶν πρασίνων, καὶ ἐτύφλωσεν αὐτὸν μηδενὸς γνόντος. τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον, ἤγουν τῇ κυριακῇ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς, συναχθέντος τοῦ λαοῦ ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐστέφθη Ἀρτέμιος ὁ πρωτοασηκρῆτις, μετονομασθεὶς Ἀναστάσιος, ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου πατριάρχου αἱρετικοῦ, ἔτη βʹ. Ἀρτέμιος ὁ καὶ Ἀναστάσιος ἔτη βʹ. οὗτος λογιώτατος ὢν προεβάλετο στρατηγὸν ἱκανώτατον εἰς τὰ καβαλλαρικά, Λέοντα τὸν Ἰσαυρόν, καὶ ἕτερον λογιώτατον εἰς τὰ πολιτικά, κἀκ τούτου ἐν ἀδείᾳ διετέλει. οὗτος Θεόδωρον καὶ Γεώργιον τοὺς πατρικίους 1.786 ἐκτυφλώσας εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην ἐξώρισε. τῶν δὲ Ἀράβων ὁπλιζο μένων κατὰ Ῥωμανίας διά τε γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης, ἀπηγγέλη τῷ βασιλεῖ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως τούτους παραγίνεσθαι. ὁ δὲ ἤρξατο κτίζειν δρόμωνας καὶ διήρεις, καὶ τὰ παράλια τείχη ἀνακαινίζειν καὶ τὰ χερσαῖα, καὶ