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having reached the place situated by the Euxine sea, and being completely worn out by the blows from the scourges, they were deemed worthy of the lot above. Whose precious bodies also, having been thrown unburied onto the ground, were preserved whole for a very long time, until certain of the faithful, taking them up, gave them burial and honored them in a manner fitting for their martyrdom for Christ our God. And another monk displayed deeds comparable and akin to these, having just recently ascended to the beginning of the priesthood; for, filled with divine zeal, he stood before the face of the tyrant, and relating not a few other things, and also this saying of the apostle Paul, which says, "If any one preaches to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." But after inflicting no few blows upon this man also, since he seemed quite steadfast in the debate, he sends him away to John, who had become the tyrant's guide and teacher, commanding him to persuade this man with dialectical proofs. But the noble combatant, not with sophistic and dialectical proofs, but with apostolic and evangelical words, showed him to be more speechless than the fishes. And then, after receiving no few blows again, he is exiled, but later, having joined the great Ignatius and having spent some time with him and 2.113 having taught him about the future emperors (for he had also been deemed worthy of the gift of foresight), he departed to the Lord.

But the tyrant, hating the holy icons, hastened to remove all painters from among men, or for those who chose to live, to spit upon them and trample them on the ground as something profane. Along with the others, the monk Lazarus was also arrested, being at that time renowned for his skill in painting. And at first the God-fighter tried to win him over with flattery; but when he saw that this man was superior to all flattery, he looked to his familiar violence, and he so tormented him with tortures that it was thought he would not even survive them. And with his body in such a wretched state, he shut him in a prison. But when he learned that, having recovered, he was again setting up the holy images, he ordered iron plates, heated to red-hot, to be placed on his palms. The fire therefore consumed his flesh, until at some point the athlete, giving up, lay half-dead. But it was necessary for him to be preserved by divine grace as an inspiration for those who came after, whence the tyrant, when he learned he was breathing his last, at the supplications of the empress and some others very close to her, he is released from the prison, and he was hidden away in the church of the Holy Forerunner, so called of Phobos, and so, despite his wounds, he fashioned an icon of the Forerunner, which was preserved for a long time and performed healings. And these things then, but after the overthrow of the tyrant, when the 2.114 orthodox faith shone forth again, with his own hands he restored the icon of the God-man Jesus Christ in the Chalke. This blessed Lazarus, when asked by the admirable Empress Theodora to give and to ask for forgiveness for her husband, said, "God is not unjust, O empress, to forget our love and our labors for him, and to prefer that man's hatred and his exceeding madness." But these things later; but the foul tyrant, seeing that Theophanes the confessor and his brother Theodore surpassed the many in wisdom, had them stand in the triclinium of the Lausiacus to dispute publicly about the faith. And "Come now," he says, "you accursed ones, persuaded by what sayings of scripture do you worship idols," thus calling the holy icons with a licentious mind and tongue, "and persuade the many and the simple-minded to do so?" He also added some other blasphemous and harsh things against the holy icon of Christ our God in a more shameless voice. But the blessed ones said, "May the mouth be stopped that speaks iniquity against God." But he for the time being hides his lion's skin, and the

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τῷ Εὐξείνῳ διακείμενον πόντῳ καταλαβόντες, καὶ ταῖς ἐκ τῶν μαστίγων πληγαῖς τελείως καταπονηθέντες, τῆς ἄνω λήξεως ἠξιώθησαν. ὧν καὶ τὰ τίμια σώματα ἄταφα ἐρριμμένα εἰς τοὔδαφος σῶα ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διετηρήθησαν χρόνον, μέχρι ὅτου πιστοί τινες ἀναλαβόντες ταῦτα ἐκήδευσαν καὶ καταλλήλως ἐτίμησαν τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ μαρτυρήμασιν. ἐφάμιλλα τού τοις καὶ ἀδελφὰ καί τις μοναχὸς ἕτερος ἐπεδείξατο, πρὸς ἀρχὴν ἱερωσύνης ἄρτι ἀναδραμών· ζήλου γὰρ θείου πλησθεὶς κατὰ πρόσωπον ἔστη τοῦ τυράννου, καὶ ἄλλα μὲν διεξιὼν οὐκ ὀλίγα, καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου δὲ Παύλου ῥητὸν τοῦτο δὴ τὸ φάσκον "εἴ τις ὑμῖν εὐαγγελίζεται παρ' ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω." ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτῳ πληγὰς ἐπιθεὶς οὐκ ὀλίγας, ἐπειδὴ σταθηρότερος ἔδοξεν ἐν τῇ διαλέξει, πρὸς τὸν Ἰαννῆν ἐξαποστέλλει, καθηγητὴν τοῦ τυράννου γεγονότα καὶ διδάσκαλον, διαλεκτικαῖς ἀποδείξεσι τοῦτον πεῖσαι ἐγκελευσάμενος. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτον ὁ γενναῖος ἀγω νιστὴς οὐ σοφιστικαῖς καὶ διαλεκτικαῖς ἀποδείξεσιν, ἀποστολικοῖς δὲ καὶ εὐαγγελικοῖς ῥήμασιν ἀφωνότερον ἰχθύων ἀπέδειξε. καὶ τότε μὲν οὐκ ὀλίγας πάλιν λαβὼν ἐξοστρακίζεται, ὕστερον δὲ τῷ μεγάλῳ συστὰς Ἰγνατίῳ καὶ χρόνον τινὰ συνδιατρίψας αὐτῷ καὶ 2.113 περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἀναδιδάξας βασιλέων (ἦν γὰρ καὶ προορατι κοῦ ἠξιωμένος χαρίσματος), πρὸς κύριον ἐξεδήμησε.

Ταῖς δὲ θείαις εἰκόσιν ὁ τύραννος ἀπεχθανόμενος ἔσπευδε πάντας ζωγράφους ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίσαι, ἢ τὸ ζῆν αἱρουμένους ἐμπτύειν τε ταύταις καὶ ὡς βέβηλά τινα ἐπ' ἐδάφους καταπατεῖν. πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις δὲ συγκατεσχέθη καὶ ὁ μοναχὸς Λάζαρος, περι βόητος τηνικαῦτα κατὰ τὴν ζωγραφικὴν ὑπάρχων τέχνην. καὶ πρῶτα μὲν ὁ θεομάχος θωπείαις αὐτὸν ἐπειρᾶτο ὑποποιεῖσθαι· ὡς δὲ κρείττονα τοῦτον ἑώρα κολακείας ἁπάσης, πρὸς τὴν σύν τροφον ἀπεῖδε βίαν, καὶ τοσοῦτον αὐτὸν ταῖς βασάνοις κατῄκισεν ὡς μηδὲ περιγενέσθαι ἐκ τούτων νομίζεσθαι. καὶ οὕτως ἔχοντα πονηρῶς τοῦ σώματος δεσμωτηρίῳ καθείργνυσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπύ θετο ὡς ἀναρραΐσας αὖθις ἀναστηλοῖ τὰς θείας μορφάς, ἐκέλευσε πέταλα σιδηρᾶ ἀπανθρακωθέντα ταῖς παλάμαις αὐτοῦ ἐπιτεθῆναι. ἐβόσκετο οὖν τὸ πῦρ τὰς σάρκας, ἄχρι ποτὲ ἀπαγορεύσας ὁ ἀθλη τὴς ἔκειτο ἡμιθανής. ἀλλ' ἔδει τοῦτον ὑπὸ τῆς θείας χάριτος διατηρεῖσθαι καὶ τοῖς ὕστερον ἔναυσμα, ὅθεν ὁ τύραννος ἐπειδὴ τὰ τελευταῖα πνεῖν ἐμάνθανεν, ἱκεσίαις τῆς δεσποίνης καί τινων ἄλλων γνησιωτάτων αὐτῇ ἀπολύεται τῆς εἱρκτῆς, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ ἁγίου προδρόμου τὸν οὕτω καλούμενον τοῦ φοβεροῦ ἐναπεκρύβη, καὶ οὕτως ὡς εἶχε πληγῶν εἰκόνα διετύπωσε τοῦ προδρόμου μέχρι πολλοῦ διασωζομένην καὶ ἰάσεις ἐπιτελοῦσαν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τότε, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ τυράννου κατάλυσιν τῆς 2.114 ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως ἀναλαμψάσης τὴν ἐν τῇ Χαλκῇ εἰκόνα τοῦ θεανθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οἰκείαις χερσὶν ἀνεστήλωσεν. οὗτος ὁ μακάριος Λάζαρος παρακαλούμενος ὑπὸ τῆς θαυμαστῆς Θεο δώρας τῆς βασιλίδος συγγνώμην δοῦναί τε καὶ αἰτήσασθαι τῷ ταύτης ἀνδρὶ "οὐκ ἄδικος ὁ θεὸς" ἔφη, "ὦ βασίλισσα, ἐπιλα θέσθαι τῆς ἡμῶν ἀγάπης καὶ τῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν κόπων, ἐκείνου δὲ τὸ μῖσος καὶ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν μανίαν προτιμῆσαι." Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον· ὁ δὲ μιαρὸς τύραννος τὸν ὁμολο γητὴν Θεοφάνην καὶ Θεόδωρον τὸν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφόν, ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ διαφέροντας ἰδὼν τῶν πολλῶν, κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Λαυσιακοῦ τρίκλι νον παρεστήσατο δημοσίᾳ διαλεξομένους περὶ τῆς πίστεως. καὶ "ἄγε δὴ" φησίν, "ὑμεῖς ὦ κατάρατοι τίσι πειθόμενοι ῥήσεσι τῆς γραφῆς τὰ εἴδωλα," τὰς ἁγίας εἰκόνας ἀκολάστῳ γνώμῃ καὶ γλώσσῃ καλῶν οὕτω, "προσκυνεῖτε, καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ μὴ ἀκεραίους οὕτω ποιεῖν ἀναπείθετε;" προσετίθη δὲ καὶ ἄλλ' ἄττα βλάσφημα καὶ ἀπηχῆ κατὰ τῆς ἁγίας εἰκόνος Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἀναιδεστέρᾳ φωνῇ. οἱ δὲ μακάριοι "ἐμφραχθείη τὸ στόμα" εἶπον "τὸ λαλοῦν κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνομίαν." ὁ δὲ κρύπτει μὲν τέως τὴν λεοντῆν, τὴν δὲ