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having uttered some words and taken away the power inherent in such a statue, he ordered the men to strike it youthfully and strongly. And two of them, using the most powerful blows, cut off the two heads of the statue, but the third, making his strike softer, bent it a little, but did not cut off the whole head from the body. What happened to the leaders of the nation followed in a very similar way; for when a certain strong sedition fell upon the race, and a civil war followed this, 2.146 two of the leaders fell, and the third was also struck, but not fatally, yet he was weakened by the blow, and so the weakened nation returned home. And such were the things of sorcery. This sorcerer, Jannes, had a natural brother, the man's name was Arsabir, a patrician by rank. He had a suburban estate on the left side of the Strait, very near the monastery of Saint Phokas, having magnificent buildings, both porticoes and baths and other pleasant pastimes. The sorcerer, making frequent visits there, and having constructed a certain underground dwelling similar to that of Trophonius, and having created small gates behind to send inside those who wished, he received those who wanted to in that wicked workshop, and now nuns and other women, preeminent in beauty, were kept in chambers, with whom he had intercourse, and now hepatoscopy and lecanomancy and sorcery and necromancy were practiced, through which he often, by the cooperation of demons, foretold some things of the future. But this property, having later come to the Parakoimomenos, was razed to the ground, and was made into a monastery in the name of Phokas the great martyr. But having been subjected to deposition, as we said, he and his accomplices did not keep quiet even so, but still raged against the holy icons and plotted evil things against the pious. 2.147 For having concocted a slander against the great Methodios, they tried to defame the irreproachable one and thus to grieve the orthodox people. For having corrupted a certain woman with much gold and with promises, if only she would agree with them (and the woman was the mother of Metrophanes who was later president of Smyrna), they persuaded her to denounce the saint both to the empress and to the regents of the emperor, that he had lain with her. At once, then, a tribunal full of horror was assembled from civil and ecclesiastical men. The pious were present, filled with dejection and grief, the impious were not absent, thinking that no small blame from the deed would be attached to the church of the orthodox. The slanderers were present, thinking highly of themselves, as if the accusation had its proof ready at hand. They brought the woman into the middle, and what she had been taught, she proclaimed to the judges. The judges looked grim, and more than the others, the magistros Manuel, lest through one man the body of the orthodox be in danger of becoming a laughing-stock to their opponents. The holy Methodios, perceiving all these things, and wishing to turn the impious from their hopes, and to release the pious from the melancholy that possessed them, and not to become a stumbling-block to the church, without shrinking from the crowd at all, casting aside delay, in the sight of all who were watching, he who was truly worthy of all respect and honor, bared his private parts. And they appeared to all to be withered from some disease 2.148 and completely devoid of natural function. The matter filled the malicious and the slanderers with shame, but the pious with much joy and gladness. And embracing him with exceeding joy, they kissed him, they hugged him, they did not know how to handle the abundance of their joy. And one of the more sincere ones, approaching, quietly asked the patriarch, wishing to learn the manner of the withering of his members. And he, taking up the story, recounted from the beginning and from the start, that when he was sent to Rome to the pope on account of the matters concerning

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λόγους ἐπειπὼν καὶ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν δύναμιν ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ ἀνδριάντι ἀφελόμενος παίειν τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐκέλευε νεανικῶς τε καὶ ἰσχυρῶς. καὶ οἱ μὲν δύο ἰσχυροτάταις χρησάμενοι ταῖς καταφοραῖς τὰς δύο τοῦ ἀνδριάντος ἀπέκοψαν κεφαλάς, ὁ τρίτος δὲ μαλακωτέραν ποιήσας τὴν πλη γὴν μικρὸν μὲν κατέκλινεν, οὐ μὴν καὶ ὅλην τοῦ σώματος ἀπέτεμε τὴν κεφαλήν. οἷς δὴ παραπλησίως καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τοῦ ἔθνους ἐπηκολούθησε· στάσεως γάρ τινος κραταιᾶς ἐπεισπε σούσης τῷ γένει, ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ μάχης ἐμφυλίου ἐπακολουθησάσης, 2.146 οἱ δύο τῶν ἡγεμόνων πίπτουσιν, ἐπλήγη δὲ καὶ ὁ τρίτος, οὐ μήν γε καιρίως, ἤργησε δ' ὅμως ἐκ τῆς πληγῆς, καὶ οὕτως τὸ ἔθνος ἠσθενηκὸς οἴκαδε ἀπενόστησε. καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς γοητείας οὕτως. Τῷ δὲ γόητι τούτῳ Ἰαννῇ ἀδελφὸς ἦν σαρκικός, ὄνομα τῷ ἀνδρὶ Ἀρσαβήρ, τὴν τύχην πατρίκιος. τούτῳ προάστειον ἦν κατὰ τὸ εὐώνυμον μέρος τοῦ Στενοῦ, ἔγγιστα τῆς μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Φωκᾶ, οἰκοδομὰς ἔχον πολυτελεῖς, στοάς τε καὶ βαλανεῖα καὶ διατριβὰς ἄλλας ἐπιτερπεῖς. ἐκεῖσε δὲ ὁ γόης συχνὰς ποιῶν τὰς καταγωγάς, ὑπόγαιόν τι κατασκευάσας ἐνδιαίτημα καὶ τῷ Τρο φωνίου παρόμοιον, ὄπισθεν δὲ πυλίδας δημιουργήσας εἴσω τοὺς θέλοντας παραπέμπειν, τοὺς βουλομένους ἐδέχετο ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ πονηρῷ ἐργαστηρίῳ, καὶ νῦν μὲν ἐταμιεύοντο θαλαμηπολούμεναι μονάζουσαί τε καὶ ἄλλως γυναῖκες τῷ κάλλει διαπρεπεῖς, αἷς συνεφθείρετο, νῦν δὲ ἡπατοσκοπίαι καὶ λεκανομαντεῖαι καὶ γοη τεῖαι καὶ νεκυομαντεῖαι ἐνηργοῦντο, δι' ὧν πολλάκις συνεργείᾳ δαιμόνων τινὰ τῶν μελλόντων προέλεγεν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ κτῆμα ἐλθὸν ὕστερον εἰς τὸν παρακοιμώμενον εἰς ἔδαφος καταστρέφεται, καὶ εἰς μονὴν κατεσκευάσθη ἐπ' ὀνόματι Φωκᾶ τοῦ μεγαλομάρ τυρος. Καθαιρέσει δέ, ὡς εἴπομεν, οὗτος καὶ οἱ τούτου μέτοχοι καθυποβληθέντες οὐδ' οὕτως ἡσυχίαν ἦγον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἔτι ἐνεανιεύοντο εἰκόνων καὶ πονηρὰ κατὰ τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἐμε 2.147 λέτων. συκοφαντίαν γὰρ ῥάψαντες κατὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Μεθοδίου ἐπειρῶντο διαβάλλειν τὸν ἀνεπίληπτον καὶ οὕτω τὸν ὀρθόδοξον λυπῆσαι λαόν. χρυσίου γὰρ πολλοῦ ὑποφθείραντές τινα γυναῖκα καὶ ὑποσχέσεσιν, εἰ μόνον τούτοις συμφήσειε (μήτηρ δὲ τὸ γύ ναιον ἦν Μητροφάνους τοῦ μετέπειτα Σμύρνης προεδρεύσαντος), πείθουσι κατειπεῖν τοῦ ἁγίου πρός τε τὴν δέσποιναν καὶ τοὺς ἐπι τρόπους τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς εἴη αὐτῇ πεπλησιακώς. βῆμα γοῦν εὐθέως φρίκης μεστὸν ἐκ πολιτικῶν καὶ ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν συγκροτού μενον. παρῆσαν οἱ εὐσεβεῖς κατηφείας καὶ λύπης πεπληρωμένοι, οὐκ ἀπῆσαν οἱ ἀσεβεῖς μῶμον ἐκ τῆς πράξεως οὐ τὸν τυχόντα προστριβῆναι τῇ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἐκκλησίᾳ οἰόμενοι. παρῆσαν οἱ συκοφάνται μέγα φρονοῦντες ὡς τάχα τῆς κατηγορίας πρόχειρον ἐχούσης τὸν ἔλεγχον. παρῆγον εἰς μέσον τὸ γύναιον, καὶ ἃ ἐδι δάχθη τοῖς δικάζουσιν ἐθριάμβευεν. ἐσκυθρώπαζον οἱ δικασταί, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πλέον ὁ μάγιστρος Μανουήλ, εἰ δι' ἑνὸς ἀνθρώ που κινδυνεύσει τὸ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων πλήρωμα γέλως γενέσθαι τοῖς ἀντιθέτοις. τούτων πάντων ἐπαισθόμενος ὁ ἱερὸς Μεθόδιος, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀσεβεῖς τῶν ἐλπίδων μεταστῆσαι βουλόμενος, τοὺς δ' εὐσεβεῖς ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς κατεχούσης βαρυθυμίας καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ μὴ λίθος γενέσθαι προσκόμματος, μηδὲν τὸν ὄχλον ὑποστειλά μενος, ἀποσεισάμενος τὴν ἀναβολὴν ἐπ' ὄψει πάντων τῶν θεω μένων ἀπογυμνοῖ τὰ αἰδοῖα ὁ πάσης αἰδοῦς καὶ τιμῆς ὄντως ἄξιος. καὶ ἐφάνη τοῖς πᾶσι ταῦτα μεμαρασμένα ἀπό τινος νόσου 2.148 καὶ τῆς φυσικῆς παντάπασιν ἐνεργείας ἄμοιρα. αἰσχύνης τὸ πρᾶγμα τοὺς χαιρεκάκους ἐνέπλησε καὶ τοὺς συκοφάντας, εὐφρο σύνης δ' ὅτι πολλῆς καὶ θυμηδίας τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς. καὶ περιλα βόντες αὐτὸν μεθ' ὑπερβαλλούσης περιχαρείας κατησπάζοντο, περιεπλέκοντο, οὐκ εἶχον ὅπως τῷ πλήθει χρήσονται τῆς χαρᾶς. καί τις τῶν γνησιωτέρων προσελθὼν ἠρέμα ἐπηρώτα τὸν πατριάρ χην, τὸν τρόπον μαθεῖν ἐθέλων τοῦ μαρασμοῦ τῶν μορίων. ἀνα λαβὼν δὲ οὗτος διηγεῖτο ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὅτιπερ ἐν Ῥώμῃ πεμφθεὶς πρὸς τὸν πάπαν διὰ τὰς κατὰ