303

did you do?" And he, with lamentations, said, "Would that I had not even sat on the throne of the priesthood, with the church of God being tyrannized and schismed from the other catholic thrones and being anathematized. And if an ecumenical council does not take place and the errors in our midst are not corrected, you have no salvation." And she said to him, "And why did you sign at your ordination not to venerate icons?" And he said, "And for this reason I lament and take refuge in repentance, begging God that he not punish me as a priest, for having been silent until now and not having preached the truth for fear of your madness." Amidst these things, he fell asleep in peace. From then on, therefore, the discussion concerning the holy icons began to be spoken of openly by all. In the 5th year, the empress Irene, having gathered the whole senate and the people, was seeking who would become patriarch, and all acclaimed Tarasios the asekretis. But he refused, putting forward the division of the peoples and the churches, and demanding that a council be held. And when the empress and the people assented to this, on the 25th of the month of December of the 8th indiction, our holy father Tarasios was ordained patriarch of Constantinople. And having sent to Rome the synodical letters and the profession of their faith, he was accepted by Pope Adrian. 2.23 In the 6th year, a council having been proclaimed in the church of the Holy Apostles, the servants of the devil also gathered, and when men with swords entered with him, they were thrown into confusion and withdrew. In the 7th year, the catholic [council] was opened in Nicaea. On the 9th of September, the 1st day, at the 5th hour, a very great eclipse of the sun occurred. In the 8th year, 122 years having passed since the 6th council, the 7th ecumenical council took place in Nicaea, and the catholic church, through Tarasios the most holy patriarch, received back its ancient order, 350 fathers having assembled in Nicaea for the second time, who, having decreed that the icons along with the cross be venerated, dogmatized nothing new but that the dogmas of the holy and blessed fathers be kept unshaken, and having renounced the new heresy, they anathematized the three falsely-named patriarchs, I mean Anastasios and Constantine and Niketas the eunuch. And the emperor and his mother also signed the tome, and the church of God was at peace, even if the enemy does not cease to sow his own tares among his own workers. But the church of God, by his grace, though always warred against, is victorious. In the 9th year, the empress Irene, having broken the treaty with the Franks, brought a maiden from the Armeniacs, from Amneia, named Maria, and joined her to Constantine her son against his will, and celebrated the wedding. In the 10th year, a most terrible earthquake occurred. And some of Irene's favorites, moved by envy, and wanting to manage affairs 2.24 themselves, set the mother against the son, persuading her that it is not ordained by God for your son to rule; for the empire is yours. And she, since she was a woman and was deceived, and also loving power, was confirmed in her mind that it was so. The emperor, therefore, being twenty years old and very strong and capable in wars, was grieved that he had authority over nothing, and he plotted against his mother. But she, having learned this from Staurakios, flogged and exiled all his household men, and she exiled the magistros and Theodore, the patrikios Kamoulianos, and others of the officials to Kaistoria. And having greatly reviled her son, she confined him to the palace for many days. And she made the whole army and all the officials swear that "As long as you live, we will not accept your son to rule."

But the Armeniacs alone did not accept this, but acclaimed Constantine and Irene as from the beginning, the devil suggesting such perjury and denial to men. And the thematic troops, having gathered at Atroa, all with common consent demanded Constantine as emperor. But Irene, fearing the movement

303

ἐποίησας;" ὁ δὲ μετὰ θρήνων ἔφη "εἴθε μηδὲ ἐκάθισα ἐν τῷ τῆς ἱερωσύνης θρόνῳ, τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ τυραννουμένης καὶ ἐσχισμένης ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν καθολικῶν θρόνων καὶ ἀναθεματιζομέ νης. καὶ ἐὰν μὴ σύνοδος γένηται οἰκουμενικὴ καὶ τὰ ἐν μέσῳ σφάλματα διορθωθῇ, οὐκ ἔχετε σωτηρίαν." ἡ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ "καὶ ἵνα τί ὑπέγραψας ἐν τῷ χειροτονεῖσθαί σε τοῦ μὴ προσκυνεῖν εἰκόνας;" ὁ δὲ ἔφη "καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θρηνῶ καὶ πρὸς μετάνοιαν καταφεύγω, δεόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ ἵνα μὴ ὡς ἱερέα με κολάσῃ, σιγή σαντα ἕως τοῦ νῦν καὶ μὴ κηρύξαντα τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῷ φόβῳ τῆς μανίας ὑμῶν." ἐν τούτοις ἐκοιμήθη ἐν εἰρήνῃ. ἔκτοτε οὖν ἤρ ξατο λαλεῖσθαι ὁ περὶ τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων λόγος παρρησίᾳ ὑπὸ πάντων. Τῷ εʹ ἔτει συναγαγοῦσα ἡ βασιλὶς Εἰρήνη πᾶσαν τὴν σύγ κλητον καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἐζήτει τίς γενήσεται πατριάρχης, καὶ πάντες ἐξεφώνησαν Ταράσιον τὸν ἀσηκρῆτις. ὁ δὲ παρῃτεῖτο, τὴν τῶν λαῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προβαλλόμενος διχοστασίαν, καὶ σύνοδον ἐξαιτῶν γενέσθαι. τῆς δὲ βασιλίσσης καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦτο κατα νευσάντων, τῇ κεʹ τοῦ ∆εκεμβρίου μηνὸς τῆς ηʹ ἰνδικτίωνος χειρο τονεῖται ὁ ὅσιος πατὴρ ἡμῶν Ταράσιος πατριάρχης Κωνσταντι νουπόλεως. καὶ ἀποστείλας ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὰ συνοδικὰ καὶ τὸν λίβελ λον τῆς πίστεως αὐτῶν ἀπεδέχθη παρὰ τοῦ πάπα Ἀδριανοῦ. 2.23 Τῷ ʹ ἔτει συνόδου κηρυχθείσης ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀπο στόλων συνηθροίσθησαν καὶ οἱ ὑπηρέται τοῦ διαβόλου, καὶ μετὰ ξιφῶν εἰσελθόντων σὺν αὐτῷ ἐταράχθησαν καὶ ὑπέστρεψαν. Τῷ ζʹ ἔτει ἠνοίχθη ἐν Νικαίᾳ ἡ καθολική. τῇ δὲ θʹ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου ἡμέρᾳ αʹ, ὥρᾳ εʹ, ἔκλειψις γέγονεν ἡλίου μεγίστη. Τῷ δὲ ηʹ ἔτει, παρελθόντων ἀπὸ τῆς ʹ συνόδου χρόνων ρκβʹ, γέγονεν ἐν Νικαίᾳ οἰκουμενικὴ ζʹ σύνοδος, καὶ ἀπέλαβεν ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία διὰ Ταρασίου τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου πατριάρχου τὸν ἀρχαῖον κόσμον αὐτῆς, συνελθόντων πατέρων ἐν Νικαίᾳ τὸ δεύ τερον τνʹ, οἳ τὰς εἰκόνας σὺν τῷ σταυρῷ διορίσαντες προσκυνεῖ σθαι, οὐδὲν καινὸν δογματίσαντες ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ μακα ρίων πατέρων δόγματα ἀσάλευτα φυλάττεσθαι, καὶ τὴν νέαν αἵ ρεσιν ἀποκηρύξαντες, τοὺς τρεῖς ψευδωνύμους πατριάρχας ἀνε θεμάτισαν, Ἀναστάσιον φημὶ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ τὸν Νικήταν εὐνοῦχον. ὑπέγραψε δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ τόμῳ, καὶ εἰρήνευσεν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησία, εἰ καὶ ὁ ἐχθρὸς τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ζιζάνια ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις ἐργάταις σπείρειν οὐ παύεται. ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησία τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι πάντως πολεμουμένη νικᾷ. Τῷ θʹ ἔτει λύσασα ἡ βασιλὶς Εἰρήνη τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Φράγ γους συναλλαγὴν ἤγαγε κόρην ἐκ τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν ἀπὸ Ἀμνείας, ὀνόματι Μαρῖναν, καὶ ἔζευξεν αὐτὴν Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς μὴ θέλοντι, καὶ ἐποίησε τοὺς γάμους. Τῷ ιʹ ἔτει γέγονε σεισμὸς φοβερώτατος. φθόνῳ δέ τινες φερόμενοι τῶν προσφιλῶν Εἰρήνης, καὶ βουλόμενοι οὗτοι τὰ πρά 2.24 γματα διοικεῖν, συνέβαλον τὴν μητέρα κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ, πείσαντες αὐτὴν ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ὡρισμένον παρὰ θεῷ κρατῆσαι τὸν υἱόν σου· σὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία. αὕτη δὲ ὡς ἅτε γυνὴ ἐξαπατηθεῖσα, στέργουσα δὲ καὶ τὸ φίλαρχον, ἐβεβαιώθη τῷ νοῒ οὕτως εἶναι. ὁ γοῦν βασιλεὺς εἰκοσαετὴς ὢν καὶ ῥωμαλεώτατος πάνυ καὶ ἱκανὸς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἐλυπεῖτο μηδενὸς ἐξουσιάζων, καὶ ἐμελέτα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ. ἡ δὲ τοῦτο μαθοῦσα παρὰ τοῦ Σταυρακίου, τοὺς μὲν οἰκείους ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ πάντας τύψασα ἐξώρισε, τὸν δὲ μάγιστρον καὶ Θεόδωρον πατρίκιον τὸν Καμουλιανὸν καὶ ἑτέ ρους τῶν ἐν τέλει ἐξώρισεν ἐν Καϊστορίᾳ. τὸν δὲ υἱὸν αὐτῆς πολλὰ λοιδορήσασα ἀπρόϊτον ἐποίησεν ἐφ' ἡμέρας ἱκανάς. πάντα δὲ τὸν στρατὸν καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐν τέλει ὀμόσαι πεποίηκεν ὅτι ἕως οὗ ζῇς, οὐ καταδεξόμεθα τὸν υἱόν σου κρατῆσαι.

Ἀρμενιακοὶ δὲ μόνοι τοῦτο οὐ κατεδέξαντο, ἀλλὰ Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ Εἰρήνην ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὐφήμουν, τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν τοιαύτην ἐπιορκίαν καὶ ἄρνησιν ὑποβάλλοντος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. συναχθέντες δὲ οἱ θεμα τικοὶ ἐν τῷ Ἀτρώᾳ πάντες κοινῇ γνώμῃ ἐζήτησαν Κωνσταντῖνον βασιλέα. φοβηθεῖσα δὲ ἡ Εἰρήνη τὸ ὅρμημα