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to confess, swearing and raising his hands to God that indeed he had slipped only on that occasion, and to ask forgiveness from his own wife. And he also built palaces for his daughters near the so-called place of Carianus, the remains of which, having been worked over in time, survive even to our day. 2.109 And the emperor also founded the palaces of Bryas, having constructed them in imitation of Saracen buildings. And while in such matters Theophilos seemed and was considered magnificent and admirable, toward those who venerated the divine and undefiled icons he was exceedingly harsh and severe, and ambitious to surpass all the tyrants before him in cruelty. 2.110 For those who came before him were Leo, Constantine Copronymus, and his own father, Michael the Stammerer. The one decreed that on none of the painted icons, should they happen to be painted anywhere, should the word "holy" be inscribed, on the grounds that such a word was fitting for no one else but only for the divine, not hitting the mark with his thought; for God, sharing the word "god" with men, which is loftier than the title "holy," would not deprive them of "holy," which is much lower.

However, this is what he decreed; but Leo before him and his son Constantine decreed that they should not be venerated at all, and Theophilos that they should not even be formed with colors; for to be devoted to such things was base, and one must consider the truth alone. Therefore, from this the divine images were taken down throughout the entire church, and in their place wild beasts and birds were set up, exposing his bestial and slavish folly. From this, the holy and sacred treasures were thrown into the marketplace by profane hands and treated with contempt. From this, the prisons for criminals were filled with those who held the divine images in honor: monks, bishops, the laity, and those who painted them. And the mountains and the caves were full of those who were killed by hunger and thirst as if they were criminals. For having ordered the cities to be kept off-limits to monks, and having decreed that they be driven away in every way, or rather, not even dare to be seen in the country, he made 2.111 the monasteries and hermitages conspicuous public cemeteries, since the holy men were unwilling to betray their virtue and the sacred habit, but chose to end their lives by hunger and hardships, while some, neglecting their clothing, perished on account of this. And many of those who lived more carelessly embraced a relaxed and dissolute life, having no regard for divine hymns and songs and for the habit itself; for the tyrant did not even permit these assemblies to be held, which often are able alone to preserve and be like a bridle for those who irrationally slip toward the passions. Nevertheless, at that time, boldness of speech and liberty did not completely depart from men; but some of the more zealous—many of them individually, and some in groups, like the monks from the monastery of the Abramites—appeared before him with boldness of speech and demonstrated logically from the things said by our holy fathers, Dionysius the Great, Hierotheus, and Irenaeus, that the monastic way of life and its institution were not invented yesterday or the day before, but are ancient and primeval. Moreover, they also demonstrated that the representations of the divine icons were companions to and lived together with the apostles, since indeed Luke the divine apostle depicted the form of the Theotokos, and Christ our master and God himself, having imprinted his own image on a certain cloth, left it to us, not made by hands. At any rate, these most divine men, having refuted the tyrant's folly 2.112 and having provoked his bestiality by speaking out very boldly, were exiled from the city after many outrages and tortures, and the church of the Forerunner, the one so-called of the Phoberos, and in

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ἐξειπεῖν ἐπομνύμενον καὶ τὰς χεῖρας αἴροντα πρὸς θεὸν ἦ μὴν τότε μόνον διολισθῆναι, καὶ συγγνώμην αἰτεῖν παρὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικός. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ ἀνάκτορα ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ θυγατράσι παρὰ τὸν οὕτω καλούμενον χῶρον τὰ Καριανοῦ, ὧν καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς τῷ χρόνῳ κατεργασθέντων λείψανα περισώζονται. 2.109 ἔκτισε δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τὰ τοῦ Βρύαντος ἀνάκτορα, πρὸς τὴν τῶν Σαρακηνικῶν οἰκημάτων ὁμοίωσιν κατασκευάσας αὐτά. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐδόκει τε καὶ ἐνομίζετο μεγαλοπρε πὴς ὁ Θεόφιλος καὶ θαυμαστός, περὶ δὲ τοὺς τὰς θείας καὶ ἀχράντους προσκυνοῦντας εἰκόνας λίαν βαρύς τις καὶ αὐστηρὸς καὶ πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ τυράννους ὠμότητι παρελάσαι φιλο 2.110 νεικῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ προλαβόντες Λέων τε ἦσαν καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Κοπρώνυμος καὶ Μιχαὴλ ὁ τούτου πατὴρ ὁ τραυλός. ὁ μὲν ἐθέσπισε μή τινι τῶν γεγραμμένων εἰκόνων, κἄν που γραφόμεναι τύχοιεν, τὴν ἅγιος φωνὴν ἐγχαράττεσθαι, ὡς οὐκ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ἁρμοζούσης φωνῆς ἢ μόνῳ τῷ θείῳ, οὐκ εὐστόχῳ βαλὼν τῷ νοΐ· τῆς γὰρ θεὸς φωνῆς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μεταδιδοὺς ὁ θεός, ὑψηλοτέρας οὔσης παρὰ τὸ ἅγιος πρόσρημα, ταπεινοτέρας οὔσης τῆς ἅγιος κατὰ πολὺ οὐκ ἂν τούτους ἀποστερήσειε.

Πλὴν τοῦτο μὲν οὗτος ἐθέσπισεν, ὁ πρὸ αὐτοῦ δὲ Λέων καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐ τοῦ Κωνσταντῖνος τὸ μηδὲ προσκυνεῖσθαι ὅλως αὐτάς, Θεόφιλος δὲ τὸ μηδὲ χρώμασι ταύτας μορφοῦσθαι· χαμαίζηλον γὰρ τὸ πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπτοῆσθαι, μόνην δὲ σκοπεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. καθῃροῦντο μὲν οὖν ἐντεῦθεν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αἱ θεῖαι μορφαί, θηρία δὲ καὶ ὄρνιθες ἀντὶ τούτων ἀνεστηλοῦντο, τὴν τούτου θηριώδη καὶ ἀνδραποδώδη ἄνοιαν ἐξελέγχοντα. ἐντεῦθεν βεβήλοις χερσὶ τὰ ἅγια καὶ ἱερὰ κειμήλια ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐρρι πτοῦντο καὶ ἐφυβρίζοντο. ἐντεῦθεν τὰ τῶν κακούργων ἐπληροῦτο δεσμωτήρια τῶν διὰ τιμῆς ἀγόντων τὰς θείας μορφάς, μοναζόν των, ἐπισκόπων, ποιμαινομένων, καὶ τῶν γραφόντων αὐτάς. πλήρη δὲ καὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ τὰ σπήλαια τῶν ὡς κακούργων λιμῷ ἀναι ρεθέντων καὶ δίψει. ἀβάτους γὰρ τηρεῖσθαι τὰς πόλεις τοῖς μο ναχοῖς ἐγκελευσάμενος, καὶ πάντα τρόπον αὐτοὺς ἀπελαύνεσθαι θεσπίσας, μᾶλλον δὲ μηδὲ κατὰ χώραν ὁρᾶσθαι τολμᾶν, εἰργά 2.111 σατο τὰ μοναστήρια καὶ ἡσυχαστήρια περιφανῆ πολυάνδρια, τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν προδοῦναι τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἔνδυμα μὴ βου λομένων, λιμῷ δὲ καὶ κακουχίαις προαιρουμένων τὴν ζωὴν κατα στρέφειν, ἐνίων δὲ περιβολῆς κατολιγωρούντων καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ἀπολλυμένων. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν ῥᾳθυμότερον διαζώντων τὸν ἄνετον καὶ ἐκλελυμένον ἠσπάσαντο βίον, ὕμνων θείων καὶ ᾠδῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σχήματος ἀφειδήσαντες· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ τούτους τε λεῖσθαι τοὺς συλλόγους ὁ τύραννος συνεχώρησεν, οἳ πολλάκις καὶ μόνοι δύνανται τηρεῖν καὶ οἷον χαλινός τις εἶναι τοῖς πρὸς τὰ πάθη ἀλόγως κατολισθαίνουσι. πλὴν οὐ παντάπασι τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ τότε τὸ παρρησιαστικόν τε καὶ ἐλευθέριον ἀπεφοίτησεν· ἀλλά τινες τῶν θερμοτέρων, πολλοὶ μὲν καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον, τινὲς δὲ καὶ κατασυστάδην, ὥσπερ οἱ τῆς τῶν Ἀβραμιτῶν ὁρμώμενοι μονῆς μοναχοί, μετὰ παρρησίας ὀφθέντες αὐτῷ λογικῶς ἔκ τε τῶν τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν ἡμῶν εἰρημένων, ∆ιονυσίῳ τῷ μεγάλῳ, Ἱεροθέῳ καὶ Εἰρηναίῳ, ἀπεδείκνυσαν ὡς οὐ χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἡ τῶν μοναχῶν πολιτεία τε ἐφεύρηται καὶ κατάστασις, παλαιὰ δέ τις καὶ ἀρχέγονος. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν θείων εἰκόνων μορ φώματα ἀπεδείκνουν σύντροφά τε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις καὶ ὁμοδίαιτα, εἴγε Λουκᾶς μὲν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τὴν τῆς θεοτόκου μορφὴν ἀνετύπωσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν καὶ θεὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπί τινος ὀθόνης ἀπομαξάμενος ἀχειρότευκτον ἡμῖν καταλέ λοιπεν. οὗτοι γοῦν οἱ θειότατοι ἄνδρες τὴν τοῦ τυράννου ἄνοιαν 2.112 ἐξελέγξαντες καὶ τὴν θηριωδίαν τῷ σφόδρα παρρησιασθῆναι ἐκκα λεσάμενοι μετὰ πολλὰς αἰκίας τε καὶ βασάνους τῆς πόλεως ἐξωρί σθησαν, τὸν δὲ τοῦ προδρόμου ναὸν τὸν οὕτω καλούμενον τοῦ φοβεροῦ κἀν