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he affirmed to them that he would not depart from the church; but when these men returned 2.143 to the empress who had sent them and made known the matters of his disobedience, the patrician Bardas, the brother of the mistress, was quickly sent out, to inquire for what reason he was not departing from the patriarchate for the orthodox faith. But John, being a villain and knowing how to contrive slanders if anyone did, having marked his own stomach and back and buttocks with lead so as to seem to have been flogged by some men, and crying out that he had suffered these things from those who were sent, who had barbarously set upon him, and especially from Constantine the droungarios of the Vigla, begged to be allowed a little time, until his marks should disappear. And so John did these things, but Bardas, when the sham was exposed, was moved to anger and brought him down from the patriarchate against his will. When he had been brought down, the mistress brought in in his place the holy and divine Methodios, still bearing in his flesh the marks of his confession and martyrdom, with all the pious priests, both laity and monks, and also those practicing asceticism in the mountains, accepting his appointment with much rejoicing, and coming together to the empress and with one voice delivering the heresy of the iconoclasts to eternal anathema. These, then, were the right deeds accomplished in the beginning by the ever-memorable Theodora and her son. But the unholy John, having been confined in a certain monastery, 2.144 and having seen in a certain part of it an icon set up of Christ the God and of the Theotokos and of the archangels, ordered his own deacon to climb up and gouge out the eyes of the venerable icons, saying that they did not have the power of sight. When, therefore, the pious mistress learned these things, inflamed with divine zeal she ordered his own eyes to be gouged out. But this did not happen, as some people interceded, but sending out guardsmen she had him flogged with two hundred leather straps. This great city, preeminent among all cities, produced this John, who was descended from the family of the Morocharzanians. Having already reached old age, the monastery of the glorious martyrs Sergius and Bacchus had him as its abbot, like some serpent lurking in a church, and in his gradual promotions he was strongly attached to the godless heresy of the iconoclasts, and addicted to sorcery and lecanomancy throughout his whole life, being especially beloved by the father of Theophilos, Michael the Stammerer, whether for sharing in his heresy or for having gained a reputation for learning, and having become the teacher of Theophilos. And when the latter took hold of the reins of the empire, he first honored this man as syncellus, and then later also appointed him patriarch of Constantinople, as he reported certain predictions to him through lecanomancy and sorcery. An infidel 2.145 and harsh nation, led by three commanders, once overran the lands of the Romans; and as Theophilos was naturally distressed at this, John urged him to put aside his despondency and be filled with courage, if only he would obey his counsel. And the counsel was of this sort. Among the bronze statues standing on the spina of the Hippodrome, a certain statue was said to stand, fashioned with three heads. John therefore ordered that hammers equal in number to the heads be forged, and that these be handed over to brave men, and at a certain appointed hour of the night to be with him at the said statue, and when he should command them, to strike the heads powerfully with the hammers, until they should be brought down to the ground as if by a single crash and blow. The emperor, therefore, being pleased by his words, ordered that it be so done.

And when the men were there with John late in the night (and John was in lay dress, so that he might not be discovered) the elemental

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αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκστῆναι διεβεβαιοῦτο· ὡς δ' οὗτοι ὑποστρέψαντες 2.143 πρὸς τὴν πέμψασαν βασιλίδα γνώριμα τεθείκασι τὰ τῆς ἀπει θείας, ὁ πατρίκιος θᾶττον ἐκπέμπεται Βάρδας, ὁ τῆς δεσποίνης ἀδελφός, τοῦ χάριν πευσόμενος μὴ τῇ ὀρθοδόξῳ πίστει τοῦ πατριαρχείου οὐκ ἀπανίσταται. ὁ δὲ Ἰαννῆς πανοῦργος ὢν καὶ συκοφαντίας ῥάψαι εἴπερ τις εἰδώς, μολίβδῳ καταστίξας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γαστέρα καὶ τὰ νῶτα καὶ τοὺς γλουτοὺς ὡς δοκεῖν μαστι χθῆναι παρά τινων, καὶ παρὰ τῶν πεμφθέντων ταῦτα παθεῖν κεκραγὼς βαρβαρικῶς ἐπιθεμένων αὐτῷ, καὶ μᾶλλον παρὰ Κων σταντίνου τοῦ δρουγγαρίου τῆς βίγλας, ἠντιβόλει συγχωρηθῆναι πρὸς μικρόν, ἔστ' ἂν ἀφανισθεῖεν αὐτοῦ τὰ στίγματα. καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἰαννῆς ταῦτα, ὁ δὲ Βάρδας τοῦ σκαιωρήματος ἀπελεγχθέντος εἰς θυμὸν κινηθεὶς καὶ ἄκοντα τοῦτον τοῦ πατριαρχείου κατάγει. οὗ καταχθέντος ἡ δέσποινα ἀντεισήγαγε τὸν ἱερὸν καὶ θεῖον Με θόδιον, ἔτι τῆς ὁμολογίας καὶ τῆς μαρτυρίας ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ τὰ στίγματα περιφέροντα, ἁπάντων τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἱερέων, λαϊκῶν τε καὶ μοναχῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἀσκουμένων μετὰ πολ λῆς τῆς περιχαρείας ἀποδεξαμένων τὴν προβολήν, καὶ ἀθρόον τὴν βασιλίδα καταλαβόντων καὶ ὁμοφώνως αἰωνίῳ ἀναθέματι παραδεδωκότων τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν εἰκονομάχων. ταῦτα μὲν ἐν προοιμίοις τῇ ἀοιδίμῳ Θεοδώρᾳ καὶ τῷ ταύτης υἱῷ κατεπράχθη τὰ κατορθώματα· ὁ δὲ ἀνίερος Ἰαννῆς ἐν μοναστηρίῳ τινὶ κατειρ 2.144 χθείς, καὶ ἔν τινι μέρει τούτου ἀνεστηλωμένην θεασάμενος εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς θεομήτορος καὶ τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων, τῷ ἑαυτοῦ διακόνῳ προσέταξεν ἀναβάντι τῶν σεβασμίων εἰκόνων ἀνο ρύξαι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, εἰπὼν μὴ ἔχειν αὐτοὺς τὴν τοῦ ὁρᾶν δύ ναμιν. ὡς οὖν ἐπύθετο ταῦτα ἡ εὐσεβὴς δέσποινα, ζήλῳ θείῳ ἐκπυρωθεῖσα τοὺς αὐτοῦ προσέταξε διορυχθῆναι ὀφθαλμούς. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ἐγένετο μεσιτευσάντων τινῶν, δορυφόρους δ' ἐκπέμψασα μάστιξιν αὐτὸν κατῃκίσατο λώρων διακοσίων. Ἤνεγκε δὲ τὸν Ἰαννῆν τοῦτον ἡ μεγαλόπολις αὕτη καὶ πασῶν προκαθημένη τῶν πόλεων, τῆς τῶν Μωροχαρζανίων καταγόμενον γενεᾶς. ἁψάμενον δὲ ἤδη καὶ γεροντικῆς ἡλικίας ἡ μονὴ τῶν καλλινίκων μαρτύρων Σεργίου καὶ Βάκχου ὥσπερ τινὰ δράκοντα ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ φωλεύσαντα εἶχεν ἡγούμενον ἐν αὐτῇ, ἐν δὲ ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν γενόμενον ἀναβάσεσι τῇ τε τῶν εἰκονομάχων ἀθέῳ αἱρέσει ἰσχυρῶς προστετηκότα καὶ γοητείαις προσανέχοντα καὶ λεκανομαν τείαις διὰ βίου παντός, διαφερόντως ἀγαπηθέντα τῷ πατρὶ Θεο φίλου Μιχαὴλ τῷ τραυλῷ εἴτε τῷ κοινωνεῖν τῆς αὐτοῦ αἱρέσεως εἴτε καὶ τῷ λογιότητι κτήσασθαι δόξαν, τοῦ Θεοφίλου δὲ διδά σκαλον γεγονότα. καὶ ἐπεὶ οὗτος τὰς τῆς βασιλείας κατέσχεν ἡνίας, σύγκελλον μὲν τοῦτον τιμᾷ πρῶτον, εἶθ' ὕστερον καὶ πα τριάρχην ἀποκαθίστησι Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, προγνώσεις τινὰς διὰ λεκανομαντείας καὶ γοητείας αὐτῷ ἀπαγγέλλοντα. κατέτρεχέ 2.145 ποτε τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἔθνος ἄπιστον καὶ σκληρόν, ὑφ' ἡγεμόσι τρισὶ στρατηγούμενον· καὶ ὡς εἰκὸς ἐπὶ τούτῳ τοῦ Θεοφίλου ἀνιωμένου, ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀθυμίαν ὁ Ἰαννῆς παρεκάλει καὶ θάρσους πληρω θῆναι, εἴγε μόνον τῇ αὐτοῦ συμβουλῇ πειθαρχήσειεν. ἡ δὲ συμ βουλὴ τοιαύτη ἦν. ἐν τοῖς εἰς τὸν εὔριπον τοῦ ἱππικοῦ ἱσταμένοις χαλκοῖς ἀνδριᾶσι καί τις ἀνδριὰς ἵστασθαι ἐλέγετο τρισὶ διατυ πούμενος κεφαλαῖς. προστάττει τοίνυν ὁ Ἰαννῆς ἰσαρίθμους σφύρας χαλκευθῆναι ταῖς κεφαλαῖς, ἀνδράσι τε ταύτας ἐγχειρι σθῆναι κατὰ χεῖρα γενναίοις, κατά τινα δὲ τεταγμένην ὥραν νυ κτερινὴν ἅμα αὐτῷ γενέσθαι πρὸς τὸν εἰρημένον ἀνδριάντα, καὶ ἡνίκα τούτοις κελεύσειε, παίειν ἰσχυρῶς ταῖς σφύραις τὰς κεφα λάς, μέχρις ἂν κατενεχθεῖεν εἰς γῆν ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς κρούματός τε καὶ πλήξεως. ἡσθεὶς οὖν τοῖς λόγοις ὁ βασιλεὺς οὕτω γενέσθαι προσέταξε.

Kαὶ γενομένων ἐκεῖσε τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἅμα τῷ Ἰαννῇ πόρρω νυκτῶν (ἦν δ' ὁ Ἰαννῆς μετὰ λαϊκοῦ τοῦ σχήματος, ἵνα μὴ κατάφωρος γένηται) τοὺς στοιχειωτικοὺς