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While I was staying there for the inducements erected by the most holy patriarch Nicephorus, I was troubled by the flesh-loving demon, who did not cease night and day tickling and stirring up in me desires for carnal union. And being inflamed by this passion, to the point of already being overcome, I decided to entrust myself to Peter, the chief of the apostles, and I beseeched him to deliver me from this bodily desire. And he appeared during the night, to touch my private parts with his right hand and to burn them, saying that from then on I should not be afraid of the pleasure-loving desire. And waking with severe pain, I was found to be in the state you have seen. When the patriarch said these things, Manuel, considering the fabrication intolerable, decided that the woman should be given over for examination in order to reveal the scheme. So a sword was immediately held over her and thorny rods were brought, and the executioners stood by ready. Terrified by these, the 2.149 wretched woman makes the truth known, how the plot was contrived, the deceit by which she was deceived through both the gift of gold and the many promises, the persons who did it, and the whole contrivance of the drama. And she added that if anyone went to her house, he would find the gold in a purse in a certain chest filled with wheat. So one of the guards was sent immediately, and the gold was brought, and the plot was exposed. And the slanderers would have been delivered to the appropriate punishments, if the patriarch had not patiently requested that the crime be forgiven them, imitating his own master, taking only this for retribution and punishment, that every year at the festival of Orthodoxy he himself would arrive with lamps from the church of the all-pure one in Blachernae to the divine church of Hagia Sophia, while the anathema would resound in their own ears. And this was kept up for them until the end of their lives. And so the heresy of the iconoclasts had such a manner of its dissolution, while the church of the Orthodox received back its proper adornment, the restoration of the venerable icons. Once, while celebrating this feast of Orthodoxy, the blessed empress Theodora was feasting the full body of the church in the palace at the location of Karianos. Counted among the feasters were also Theophanes and his brother Theodore, the Graptoi. And as the banquet was winding down and the desserts, 2.150 that is, cakes and pastries, were being served, the empress, continuously gazing upon the faces of the fathers and observing the letters branded on their faces, uttered sighs and tears. And one of the fathers, noticing this, asked the reason for her frequent staring at them. And when she said, "I admire your endurance, how you endured so many letters to be engraved on your faces, and I lament the cruelty of the one who did these things to you," the blessed Theophanes replied, saying: "For this writing, O mistress, we will be judged together with your husband and emperor at the impartial tribunal of God." The mistress was struck to the heart by this word, and with tears she said to the saint, "And is this your promise and your written agreements, not only not to have forgiven but also to call to trial?" But the patriarch and the rest of the swarm of bishops, calling her back and alleviating the great part of her grief, immediately stood up and said, "Our agreements and covenants, O empress, are infallible and unmovable, but it is good to let his carelessness be." Thus the mistress's pain was soothed; but at that time a certain heresy arose, called that of the Zilikoi, which, along with its leader, Zilikis by name, who served among the asekretai, was extinguished and has vanished, as both he and his followers were converted to the true faith and were anointed with the divine myrrh and perfected. And so things in the city were proceeding in this way.

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Νικηφόρου τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου πατριάρχου ἀνεγερθείσας ἐπαγωγὰς κἀκεῖσε διάγων ἠνωχλήθην ὑπὸ τοῦ φιλοσάρκου δαίμονος, ὃς οὐκ ἐνέλιπε νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν γαργαρίζων καὶ μίξεώς μοι σαρκικῆς ἀνακινῶν ἔρωτας. ἀναφλεγόμενος δὲ τῷ πάθει, ὡς ἤδη καὶ ἡττώμενος, ἔγνων Πέτρῳ τῷ κορυφαίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀναθέσθαι ἐμαυτόν, καὶ τοῦ τον ἐξελιπάρουν ἀπαλλάξαι με τῆς σωματικῆς ταύτης ὀρέξεως. καὶ τὸν ἐπιστάντα νυκτὸς ἅψασθαι τῇ δεξιᾷ χειρὶ τῶν αἰδοίων καὶ καταπρῆσαι, ἐπειπόντα τοῦ λοιποῦ μὴ πτοεῖσθαι τὴν φιλή δονον ὄρεξιν. διυπνισθεὶς δὲ μετὰ σφοδρᾶς ἀλγηδόνος εὑρέθην ἔχων ὡς ἐθεάσασθε. ταῦτα τοῦ πατριάρχου εἰπόντος, οὐκ ἀνά σχετον ὁ Μανουὴλ νομίσας τὸ τύρευμα ἔγνω ἐξετάσει δοθῆναι τὸ γύναιον ἐφ' ᾧ διασαφῆσαι τὴν μηχανορραφίαν. ξίφος τε οὖν εὐθὺς τούτῳ ἐπανετείνετο καὶ ῥάβδοι ἐκομίζοντο ἠκανθωμέναι, καὶ οἱ δήμιοι παρειστήκεισαν εὐτρεπεῖς. οἷς ἐκδειματωθεῖσα ἡ 2.149 δύστηνος τίθησιν ἔκπυστον τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν μηχανὴν ὅπως ἐρράφη, τὴν ἀπάτην ἣν ἠπατήθη διά τε τῆς δόσεως τοῦ χρυσίου καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ὑποσχέσεων, τὰ πράξαντα πρόσωπα καὶ τὴν ὅλην σκευωρίαν τοῦ δράματος. προσετίθει δ' ὅτι καὶ εἰ ἀπέλθοι τις εἰς τὴν ταύτης οἰκίαν, εὑρήσει τὸ χρυσίον ἐν βαλαντίῳ ἔν τινι κιβωτίῳ σίτου πεπληρωμένῳ. εὐθὺς οὖν ἀποστέλλεταί τις τῶν δορυφόρων, καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἤχθη, καὶ ἠλέγχθη τὸ δραματούρ γημα. καὶ κἂν οἱ συκοφάνται ταῖς προσηκούσαις ποιναῖς παρεδό θησαν, εἰ μὴ ἀνεξικάκως ὁ πατριάρχης ἀφεθῆναι τούτοις τὸ ἔγκλημα ἐξῃτήσατο, τὸν οἰκεῖον δεσπότην μιμούμενος, τοῦτο μόνον εἰς ἔκτισιν λαβὼν καὶ τιμωρίαν, τὸ ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος κατὰ τὴν τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας πανήγυριν αὐτὸς μὲν μετὰ λαμπάδων ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν Βλαχέρναις τῆς παναχράντου ναοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεῖον τῆς ἁγίας σοφίας ἀφικνεῖσθαι ναόν, αὐτοὺς δὲ οἰκείοις ἐνηχεῖσθαι ὠσὶ τὸ ἀνάθεμα. ὃ καὶ μέχρι τῆς αὐτῶν ἐταμιεύθη ζωῆς. καὶ ἡ μὲν τῶν εἰκονομάχων αἵρεσις τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸν τρόπον τῆς κα ταλύσεως, ἡ δὲ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἐκκλησία τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀπέλαβε κόσμον, τὴν τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων ἀναστήλωσιν. Ταύτην τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγουσά ποτε ἡ μακαρῖ τις βασίλισσα Θεοδώρα τὸ πλήρωμα εἱστία τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰς τὸ ἐν τῇ τοποθεσίᾳ τῶν Καριανοῦ ἀνάκτορον. ἠριθμοῦντο τοῖς ἑστιάτορσι καὶ Θεοφάνης καὶ ὁ τούτου ὁμαίμων Θεόδωρος οἱ γραπτοί. τῆς εὐωχίας δὲ παρακμαζούσης καὶ τῶν τραγημάτων, 2.150 πλακούντων δηλαδὴ καὶ πεμμάτων, παρατιθεμένων, συνεχῶς ἡ βασίλισσα εἰς τὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐνατενίζουσα πρόσωπα καὶ τὰ ἐνε στιγμένα τοῖς προσώποις αὐτῶν καταμανθάνουσα γράμματα στε ναγμοὺς ἠφίει καὶ δάκρυα. εἷς δὲ τῶν πατέρων καταφωράσας τοῦτο τὴν αἰτίαν ἤρετο τῆς εἰς αὐτοὺς συχνῆς ἀτενίσεως. τῆς δὲ εἰπούσης "τὴν καρτερίαν ὑμῶν θαυμάζω, ὅπως ἐγκολαφθῆναι τοῖς προσώποις ὑμῶν τοσαῦτα ὑπεμείνατε γράμματα, ταλανίζω δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ταῦτα δράσαντος εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀπήνειαν," ὑπολαβὼν ὁ μακαρίτης Θεοφάνης "ὑπὲρ ταύτης ὦ δέσποινα τῆς γραφῆς" εἶπεν "ἐν τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀδεκάστῳ βήματι δικασόμεθα σὺν τῷ ἀνδρί σου καὶ βασιλεῖ." ἐπλήγη σὺν τῷ λόγῳ τὴν καρδίαν ἡ δέσποινα, καὶ μετὰ δακρύων ἔφη πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον "καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ὑπόσχεσις ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ δι' ἐγγράφων ὁμολογίαι, ὡς μὴ μόνον οὐ συγκεχω ρηκέναι ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀγῶνας καλεῖν;" ἀνακαλούμενος δὲ ταύτην ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἐσμός, καὶ τὸ πολὺ τῆς λύπης ἐπικουφίζοντες, ἀναστάντες εὐθὺς ἔφησαν "αἱ μὲν ἡμέ τεραι ὦ βασιλὶς ὁμολογίαι τε καὶ συνθῆκαι ἀδιάπτωτοι καὶ ἀμετα κίνητοι, τούτου δὲ τὴν ὀλιγωρίαν ἐᾶν χαίρειν καλόν." οὕτω μὲν κατεπραΰνθη τῆς δεσποίνης τὸ ἄλγος· ἀνεφύη δέ τις τηνικαῦτα αἵρεσις ἡ τῶν Ζιλίκων λεγομένη, ἥτις ἅμα τῷ ἀρχηγῷ Ζίλικι τοὔνομα, ἐν τοῖς ἀσηκρήταις τελοῦντι, ἀπέσβη καὶ διερρύηκεν, αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ μετενεχθέντων εἰς θεοσέβειαν καὶ τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ χρισθέντων τε καὶ τελειωθέντων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐφέρετο τῇδε.