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In this year Constantine sent to Isam, as did Artabasdos, both asking for an alliance. And there was a great drought and earthquakes in various places, so that mountains were joined to one another in the desert of Saba, and a village was swallowed up by the earth. In the same year Cosmas the patriarch of Alexandria became orthodox along with his city, turning from the heresy of the Monothelites. In this year a sign appeared in the sky. And Walid cut out the tongue of Peter, the most holy metropolitan of Damascus, as he was refuting the malice of the Arabs and Manichaeans, and exiled him to Arabia Felix, where he also met his end, martyred for Christ and clearly proclaiming the divine liturgy. In this year there were civil wars such as had not occurred since the foundation of the world. In the 3rd year a sign appeared in the north, and dust fell 2.6 in places. And there was also an earthquake at the Caspian Gates; and Walid was killed by the Arabs, after ruling for 1 year, and Izid the Stammerer took power. In this year Constantine crossed through Abydos, and encamped by the land wall of the city, and he also ran as far as the Golden Gate, showing himself to the crowds. But Artabasdos, coming out of the city and joining battle, was utterly defeated. And when Copronymus had taken control of the ships, a severe famine arose in the city, so that a modius of barley was sold for 12 nomismata and the rest likewise. And as the people were dying and perishing, Artabasdos was forced to release them and to go out from the city. And Niketas the son of Artabasdos, having gathered a sufficient force, came as far as Chrysopolis. And Copronymus, having crossed over, pursued him and having caught him, captured him. And having put him in fetters, coming via the wall, he showed him to his father. And suddenly drawing up for battle by the land wall, he took the city, and having captured Artabasdos and those with him, he blinded him along with his two sons, and having cut off the hands of Baktagmos, he beheaded him in the Kynegion, and he killed many other leading men, and confiscated their property. And having held a hippodrome, he brought in Artabasdos with his sons and his friends in chains, along with Anastasius the falsely-named patriarch, who had been publicly blinded and was sitting backwards on a donkey. And he ordered 2.7 the foreign troops who came with him to enter the houses and to plunder the property of the citizens. And the falsely-named patriarch, as he was of the same mind as him, having terrified and enslaved him, he restored again to the throne of the priesthood. In the 4th year a great comet appeared over Syria, and Marwan took control of the Arabs, and at the request of the Christians in the East he permitted Theophylact, a presbyter of Edessa, to be ordained as patriarch of Antioch, after Stephen had fallen asleep. And he ordered him to be universally honored by the Arabs with letters. In the 5th year Copronymus, finding an opportunity in the east as the Arabs were fighting among themselves, took Germanikeia and marched against Doliche and Assyria. And he also took his relatives on his mother's side, and resettled them in Byzantium, and with them also many Syrian Monophysites. And from the 10th until the 15th of August there was a misty darkness. In the year there was a great earthquake in Palestine and in the Jordan and in all of Syria, on the 18th of the month of January, at the 4th hour. and countless myriads died, and churches and monasteries have fallen, and especially in the desert of the holy city. In the same year a pestilential death, beginning from Sicily and Calabria, like a spreading fire came to Monemvasia and Hellas and the adjacent islands throughout the whole of the 2.8 14th indiction. And in the 15th, very many oily little crosses began to appear suddenly and invisibly in the queenly city, both on the garments of people and on the furnishings of the churches. Therefore from this there came to the people much grief and despondency from the perplexity of such a sign.

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τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἀπέστειλε Κωνσταντῖνος πρὸς Ἰσάμ, ὡσαύτως καὶ Ἀρτάβασδος, συμμαχίαν αἰτοῦντες ἀμφότεροι. γέ γονε δὲ ἀβροχία πολλὴ καὶ σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους, ὡς ἑνωθῆναι ὄρη πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον Σαβᾶ, καὶ κώμην ὑπὸ γῆν καταποθῆναι. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει Κοσμᾶς ὁ πατριάρχης Ἀλεξαν δρείας ὠρθοδόξησε σὺν τῇ πόλει αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς τῶν Μονοθελητῶν κακοδοξίας. τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐφάνη σημεῖον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. Οὐαλὶδ δὲ Πέτρον τὸν ἁγιώτατον μητροπολίτην τοῦ ∆αμασκοῦ, ὡς ἐλέγ χοντα τὴν τῶν Ἀράβων καὶ Μανιχαίων κακόνοιαν, ἐγλωσσοτόμησε καὶ ἐξώρισεν εἰς τὴν εὐδαίμονα Ἀραβίαν, ἔνθα καὶ τελειοῦται μαρτυρήσας ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ καὶ τρανῶς ἐκφωνήσας τὴν θείαν λει τουργίαν. τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει γεγόνασιν ἐμφύλιοι πόλεμοι οἷοι οὐκ ἐγένοντο ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Τῷ γʹ ἔτει κατὰ βορρᾶν ἐφάνη σημεῖον, καὶ κόνις κατῆλθεν 2.6 εἰς τόπους. γέγονε δὲ καὶ σεισμὸς εἰς τὰς Κασπίας πύλας· καὶ ἀνῃρέθη Οὐαλὶδ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀράβων, ἄρξας ἔτος αʹ, καὶ κρατεῖ τῆς ἀρχῆς Ἰζὶδ ὁ Λειψός. τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος περᾷ διὰ τῆς Ἀβύδου, καὶ τῷ χερσαίῳ τείχει τῆς πόλεως παρεκάθισε, διέ δραμε δὲ καὶ ἕως τῆς χρυσῆς πόρτης, ἐπιδεικνύων ἑαυτὸν τοῖς ὄχλοις. ὁ δὲ Ἀρτάβασδος ἐξελθὼν τῆς πόλεως καὶ συμβαλὼν πόλεμον ἡττήθη κατὰ κράτος. τοῦ δὲ Κοπρωνύμου τὰ πλοῖα κρατήσαντος ἐγένετο λιμὸς ἰσχυρὸς ἐν τῇ πόλει, ὥστε πραθῆναι τὸν μόδιον τῆς κριθῆς εἰς νομίσματα ιβʹ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὁμοίως. τοῦ δὲ λαοῦ θνήσκοντος καὶ ἀπολλυμένου ἠναγκάσθη Ἀρτάβασδος ἀπολύειν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐξέρχεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως. Νικήτας δὲ ὁ υἱὸς Ἀρταβάσδου ἐπισυνάξας λαὸν ἱκανὸν ἦλθεν ἕως Χρυσουπό λεως. καὶ περάσας ὁ Κοπρώνυμος ἐδίωξεν αὐτὸν καὶ καταλαβὼν ἐχειρώσατο. καὶ τοῦτον πεδήσας, ἐλθὼν διὰ τοῦ τείχους, τῷ πατρὶ ἐπεδείκνυσεν. ἄφνω δὲ παραταξάμενος διὰ τοῦ χερσαίου τείχους τὴν πόλιν παρέλαβε, καὶ χειρωσάμενος Ἀρτάβασδον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ τοῦτον μὲν σὺν τοῖς δυσὶν αὐτοῦ υἱοῖς ἐτύφλωσε, τὸν δὲ Βακτάγμον χειροκοπήσας ἐν τῷ Κυνηγίῳ ἀπεκεφάλισε, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους τῶν προυχόντων ἀνεῖλε, καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτῶν ἐδήμευσεν. ἱππικὸν δὲ ποιήσας εἰσήγαγε τὸν Ἀρτάβασδον σὺν τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς φίλοις δεδεμένοις ἅμα Ἀναστασίῳ τῷ ψευδωνύμῳ πατριάρχῃ τυφθέντι δημοσίως καὶ ἐπὶ ὄνῳ ἀντι στρόφως καθεζομένῳ. τοῖς δὲ σὺν αὐτῷ ἐλθοῦσιν ἐξωτικοῖς ἐκέ 2.7 λευσεν εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τοὺς οἴκους καὶ διαρπάζειν τὰς οὐσίας τῶν πολιτῶν. τὸν δὲ ψευδώνυμον πατριάρχην ὡς ὁμόφρονα αὐτοῦ, ἐκφοβήσας καὶ δουλώσας, πάλιν ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἀπο κατέστησε. Τῷ δʹ ἔτει ἐφάνη κομήτης μέγας κατὰ τὴν Συρίαν, καὶ Μαρουὰμ τῶν Ἀράβων ἐκράτησε, καὶ παρακλήσει τῶν ἐν τῇ ἑῴᾳ Χριστιανῶν συνεχώρησε χειροτονηθῆναι Θεοφύλακτον πρεσβύτε ρον Ἐδεσηνὸν πατριάρχην Ἀντιοχείας, κοιμηθέντος Στεφάνου. καὶ τοῦτον γράμμασι καθολικῶς τιμᾶσθαι παρὰ τῶν Ἀράβων προσέταξε. Τῷ εʹ ἔτει ἄδειαν εὑρὼν ὁ Κοπρώνυμος ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ ὡς τῶν Ἀράβων πρὸς ἀλλήλους μαχομένων, Γερμανίκειαν παραλαμ βάνει καὶ ἐπιστρατεύει ∆ουλιχίᾳ καὶ Ἀσσυρίᾳ. προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ τοὺς πρὸς μητρὸς συγγενεῖς, καὶ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ μετῴκισε, σὺν αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ πολλοὺς Σύρους μονοφυσίτας. γέγονε δὲ ἀπὸ ιʹ Αὐ γούστου ἕως ιεʹ σκότος ὁμιχλῶδες. Τῷ ʹ ἔτει ἐγένετο σεισμὸς μέγας ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ Συρίᾳ, μηνὶ Ἰανουαρίῳ εἰς τὴν ιηʹ, ὥρᾳ δʹ. καὶ ἀναρίθμητοι μυριάδες τεθνήκασιν, ἐκκλησίαι τε καὶ μο ναστήρια πεπτώκασι, καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως. τῷ αὐτῷ ἔτει λοιμώδης θάνατος ἀπὸ Σικελίας καὶ Κα λαβρίας ἀρξάμενος οἷόν τι πῦρ ἐπινεμόμενον ἐπὶ τὴν Μονεμβα σίαν καὶ Ἑλλάδα καὶ τὰς παρακειμένας νήσους ἦλθε δι' ὅλης τῆς 2.8 ιδʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος. τῇ δὲ ιεʹ ἤρξαντο ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι πόλει αἴφνης ἀοράτως γίνεσθαι ἔν τε τοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἱματίοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἐπίπλοις σταυρία ἐλαιώδη πλεῖστα. ἐγένετο οὖν ἐντεῦθεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις λύπη καὶ ἀθυμία πολλὴ τῇ τοῦ τοιούτου σημείου ἀπορίᾳ.