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in the year #22δψπʹ of the creation of the world. Therefore Leo, also called Conon, the Isaurian, reigned for 24 years, 2 months, and 25 days. and he died both a bodily and a spiritual death, having been struck by the disease of dysentery; and his wretched body is placed in the church of the Holy Apostles. But as for how many and what kinds of things happened against Christians in the days of this most impious and inhuman Leo, concerning both our orthodox faith and concerning the civil administrations by a contrivance of shameful gain and avarice, and throughout the whole world and among Christians, earthquakes and famines and plagues and rebellions of nations and deaths, I am at a loss to recount; for they surpass all mind and speech and thought. But it is fitting hereafter to relate in order also the lawless deeds of his most impious and all-wretched son, being more unholy and God-hated.

2.3 Year of the world #22σλʹ, year of the divine incarnation ψλθʹ, Constantine the Caballinus, the iconoclast, reigned for 35 years, appearing as a many-colored leopard from a most terrible lion, and from the seed of a serpent, an asp and a flying serpent. This man, having succeeded to his father's kingdom and impiety, distanced himself further from God and the Mother of God and all the saints, and from then on, devoting himself to magic and licentiousness and invocations of demons and dissections of entrails and other wicked practices, both hunting and horse-racing, he became a fitting instrument of the Antichrist, so as to set forth a universal decree that no one at all should be called a saint, but also that their relics, when found, should be spat upon, and that one should not even ask for their intercession. "For they have no power," he would say, the all-defiled one adding, "let no one invoke the intercession of Mary either; for she can do nothing." Nor should she even be called Theotokos. For taking in his hand a purse full of gold and showing it 2.4 to all, he asked of what value it was; and when they said "of great value," he emptied out the gold again and asked of what value it was, and they say "of none." "So also," he said, "was Mary; as long as she had Christ within her, she was honored, but after she gave birth to him, she differed in nothing from other women." Spare us, O Lord. From this no small despondency seized the Christians, so that he was hated by all and they attached themselves to Artabasdos the curopalates and his brother-in-law by his sister. to be attached to his sister. And Constantine, having gone out to the regions of the Opsikion against the Arabs, was suspected of plotting to harm Artabasdos, who was at Dorylaion. But he, knowing this, moved against him, and killed with a sword the patrician Biser, Constantine's confidant, but Copronymus, becoming afraid, mounted a spare horse and fled to Amorion. And he wins over Longinus, the general of the Anatolics, with great promises, and is saved by him. From this, most terrible battles for the subjects, with both being proclaimed emperors. And Artabasdos entered the city, and immediately throughout the whole of it he restored the holy icons, and he was proclaimed emperor by the themes. But Anastasius, the falsely-named patriarch, holding the precious and life-giving wood, swore to the people: "by the one who was nailed upon it, thus the emperor Constantine said to me, that he did not consider the one whom Mary bore, who is called Christ, to be the son of God, but a mere man; for Mary bore him 2.5 just as my mother Mary bore me." And hearing this, the people overthrew him. In the second year, Hisham, the ruler of the Arabs, died. He, with the most holy church of Antioch having been widowed for forty years, as the Arabs prevented a patriarch from being appointed in it, having a certain beloved monk, a Syrian named Stephen, uncultivated, but only pious, and if they should wish to be permitted to have a patriarch, to elect this Stephen. Believing this to be happening from God, they elected him to the throne of Theoupolis.

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ἐν τῷ #22δψπʹ ἔτει τῆς κόσμου κτίσεως. Ἐβασίλευσεν οὖν Λέων ὁ καὶ Κόνων, ὁ Ἴσαυρος, ἔτη κδʹ μῆνας βʹ ἡμέρας κεʹ. καὶ θνήσκει σὺν τῷ σωματικῷ καὶ τὸν ψυχικὸν θάνατον, νόσῳ δυσεντερίας βληθείς· καὶ τίθεται τὸ δύστηνον αὐτοῦ σῶμα ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων. ὅσα δὲ καὶ οἷα κατὰ Χριστιανῶν συνέβησαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τούτου τοῦ δυσσεβεστάτου καὶ ἀπανθρώπου Λέοντος, περί τε τὴν ὀρθόδοξον ἡμῶν πίστιν καὶ περὶ τὰς τῶν πολιτικῶν διοικήσεις αἰσχροῦ κέρ δους καὶ φιλαργυρίας ἐπινοίᾳ, κατά τε παντὸς κόσμου καὶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν σεισμοὶ καὶ λιμοὶ καὶ λοιμοὶ καὶ ἐθνῶν ἐπαναστάσεις καὶ θάνατοι, ἀπορῶ μνημονεῦσαι· ὑπερβαίνουσι γὰρ πάντα νοῦν καὶ λόγον καὶ διάνοιαν. ἄξιον δὲ λοιπὸν ἐφεξῆς καὶ τοῦ δυσσεβε στάτου καὶ παναθλίου παιδὸς αὐτοῦ τὰς ἀθεμίτους διεξελθεῖν πράξεις ἀνοσιουργοτέρας καὶ θεομισήτους οὔσας.

2.3 Κόσμου ἔτος #22σλʹ, τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτος ψλθʹ, Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Καβαλλῖνος εἰκονομάχος ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη λεʹ, ἐκ δεινοτάτου λέοντος φανεὶς ποικιλότροπος πάρδαλις καὶ ἐκ σπέρματος ὄφεως ἀσπὶς καὶ ὄφις πετόμενος. οὗτος τὴν πατρῴαν βασιλείαν τε καὶ δυσσέβειαν διαδεξάμενος ἐκ θεοῦ πλεῖον διίστατο καὶ τῆς θεομήτορος καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, κἀντεῦθεν λοιπὸν μαγείαις καὶ ἀσελγείαις καὶ δαιμόνων ἐπικλήσεσι καὶ σπλάγχνων ἀνατομαῖς καὶ ἄλλοις πονηροῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι κυνηγεσίαις τε καὶ ἱπποδρομίαις σχολάζων ὄργανον ἐπιτήδειον τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου γέγονεν, ὡς καὶ θεσμὸν καθολικὸν ἐκθέσθαι, μὴ λέγεσθαί τινα τὸ παράπαν ἅγιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ λείψανα τούτων εὑρισκόμενα διαπτύεσθαι, καὶ μηδὲ πρεσβείαν αὐτῶν ἐξαιτεῖν. "οὐδὲν γάρ" ἔλεγεν "ἰσχύουσι," προσθεὶς ὁ παμμίαρος "μηδὲ τὴν τῆς Μαρίας ἐπικαλείσθω τις πρεσβείαν· οὐ γὰρ δύναταί τι." ἀλλὰ μηδὲ θεοτόκον αὐτὴν ὀνομάζεσθαι. λαβὼν γὰρ ἐν χειρὶ πλῆρες χρυσίου βαλάντιον καὶ ὑποδείξας αὐτὸ 2.4 πᾶσιν, ἤρετο τίνος ἄξιον ἐστί· τῶν δέ "πολλοῦ" εἰπόντων, κενώσας πάλιν τὸ χρυσίον ἤρετο τίνος ἐστὶν ἄξιον, καὶ λέγουσιν "οὐδενός" "οὕτως" ἔφη "καὶ ἡ Μαρία, ἕως μὲν εἶχε τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν αὐτῇ, τετιμημένη ἦν, ἀφ' οὗ δὲ τοῦτον ἀπέτεκεν, οὐδὲν τῶν λοιπῶν γυναικῶν διενήνοχε." φεῖσαι ἡμῶν, κύριε. ἐκ τούτου οὐ μικρά τις ἀθυμία τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς κατέλαβεν, ὥστε παρὰ πάντων μισηθῆναι καὶ Ἀρταβάσδῳ κουροπαλάτῃ καὶ γαμβρῷ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ αὐτοῦ προστεθῆναι. ἀδελφῇ αὐτοῦ προστεθῆναι. Ἐξελθὼν δὲ ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Ὀψικίου μέρεσι κατὰ τῶν Ἀράβων ὑπεβλέπετο κακῶσαι Ἀρτάβασδον, ὄντα ἐν τῷ ∆ορυλαίῳ. ὁ δὲ τοῦτο γνοὺς κινεῖ κατ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν μὲν πα τρίκιον Βίσηρον, τὸν συμμύστην Κωνσταντίνου, ῥομφαίᾳ ἀνεῖ λεν, ὁ δὲ Κοπρώνυμος φοβηθείς, ἐπιβὰς παριππίου, φεύγει εἰς τὸ Ἀμώριον. δεξιοῦται δὲ Λογγῖνον στρατηγὸν τῶν ἀνατολικῶν μεγάλαις ὑποσχέσεσι, καὶ σώζεται παρ' αὐτοῦ. ἐντεῦθεν μάχαι δεινόταται τοῖς ὑπηκόοις, ἑκατέρων βασιλέων ἀναγορευομένων. εἰσῆλθε δὲ Ἀρτάβασδος ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ παρευθὺ κατὰ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν τὰς ἱερὰς ἀνεστήλωσεν εἰκόνας, ἀνηγορεύθη δὲ παρὰ τῶν θεμάτων βασιλεύς. Ἀναστάσιος δὲ ὁ ψευδώνυμος πατριάρχης, κρατήσας τὰ τίμια καὶ ζωοποιὰ ξύλα, ὤμοσε τῷ λαῷ ὅτι μὰ τὸν προσηλωθέντα ἐν αὐτοῖς, οὕτως μοι εἶπε Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ βασι λεύς, ὅτι μὴ λογίσῃ υἱὸν θεοῦ εἶναι ὃν ἔτεκε Μαρία, τὸν λεγό μενον Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἡ γὰρ Μαρία οὕτως αὐ 2.5 τὸν ἔτεκεν ὡς καὶ ἐμὲ ἡ μητήρ μου Μαρία. καὶ τοῦτο ἀκούσαν τες οἱ λαοὶ ἀνέσκαψαν αὐτόν. Τῷ βʹ ἔτει τέθνηκεν Ἰσὰμ ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων ἀρχηγός. οὗτος τὴν ἁγιωτάτην ἐκκλησίαν Ἀντιοχείας ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα χρόνους χηρεύουσαν, κωλυόντων τῶν Ἀράβων πατριάρχην γενέσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ, ἔχων τινὰ προσφιλῆ μοναχὸν Σύρον ὀνόματι Στέφανον, ἄγροικον, εὐλαβῆ δὲ μόνον, καὶ εἴπερ θέλοιεν συγχωρηθῆναι αὐτοῖς πατριάρχην ἔχειν, ψηφίσασθαι αὐτὸν τὸν Στέφανον. θεό θεν τοῦτο νομίσαντες γίνεσθαι χειροτονοῦσιν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ Θεουπόλεως.