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he returned to the great church, to perform the hymnody of the holy passions of our saviour and God. It was his doing, and the custom now prevailing, that on the brilliant and public feasts God and the memories of the saints are insulted by unseemly contortions and laughter and mad shouts, while the divine hymns are being sung, which we ought to offer to God with contrition and a broken heart for our own salvation. For having organized a multitude of infamous men and having appointed over them a certain exarch Euthymius called Kasnes, whom he himself had proposed as domestic of the church, he taught them to perform Satanic dances and meaningless shouts and songs collected from crossroads and brothels. And living thus he ended his life while riding disorderly, having been dashed against a certain wall of the 2.334 coastal fortifications and bringing up blood through his mouth. For two years he was nursed and falling into a dropsy, he died. And on the third of the month of April, of the same indiction, in his place was ordained as patriarch Polyeuctus, a monk, being both a native and product of Constantinople, having been made a eunuch by his parents, but having distinguished himself for a long time in the monastic life; whom the emperor ordained patriarch on account of the solemnity of his character and the superiority of his wisdom and his lack of possessions, with not the bishop of Heracleia, as was the custom, but Basil of Caesarea having performed the laying on of hands. For Nicephorus, the prelate of Heracleia, having in some matter offended the emperor, was not permitted to perform the laying on of hands. Whence also no small blame attached not only to the one who urged it and the one who laid on hands, but also to the one ordained for having accepted this uncanonical laying on of hands. But having been ordained nonetheless and speaking the truth freely, he made a great attack on the avarice of the relatives of the elder Romanus, and on Great Saturday, when the emperor came to the great church, he incited him to vengeance for what had been done. This he did not receive gladly. But also Basil, who was afterwards *parakoimomenos*, who had been born to the elder Romanus by a slave woman, having won over his sister, the empress Helen, so prepared and disposed Constantine, that he not only regretted the promotion of the 2.335 patriarch but also sought a pretext how he might depose him from his throne, with Theodore of Cyzicus also provoking him much against him. And just as if time had been ambitious to display patriarchs of the same mind at the same time, it also fell to John, the son of Alberic, to govern the church of the western Romans, being prone to all licentiousness and wickedness; whom Otto, the king of the Franks, expelled and introduced another shepherd to the church. But Polyeuctus in the first year of his priesthood inscribed in the sacred diptychs the name of the patriarch Euthymius, who had received the emperor Leo into communion when he took a fourth wife. Against this some of the archbishops for a little while opposed Polyeuctus by not communicating. But little by little, following the will of the ruler, they became a laughing-stock to those who disagreed. And at the same time the precious hand of the Forerunner was brought to the capital from Antioch, having been stolen by a certain deacon named Job; which having arrived at Chalcedon, the emperor, having sent out the imperial trireme, and with the distinguished part of the senate having gone out and the patriarch Polyeuctus with all the clergy with candles and lamps and incense, he brought into the palace. 2.336 And Bardas the domestic of the schools, campaigning against the eastern Hagarenes, laid waste to everything in his path, taking also a sufficient number of forts, and besieging and taking the renowned Adapa. but the emperor wishing also the Saracens in Crete, who were continuously campaigning and the

420

ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν, τὴν τῶν ἁγίων παθῶν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καὶ θεοῦ ἐκτελέσων ὑμνῳδίαν. ἔργον ἐκείνου καὶ τὸ νῦν κρατοῦν ἔθος, ἐν ταῖς λαμπραῖς καὶ δημοτελέ σιν ἑορταῖς ὑβρίζεσθαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων μνήμας διὰ λυγισμάτων ἀπρεπῶν καὶ γελώτων καὶ παραφόρων κραυγῶν τε λουμένων τῶν θείων ὕμνων, οὓς ἔδει μετὰ κατανύξεως καὶ συν τριμμοῦ καρδίας ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἡμᾶς σωτηρίας προσφέρειν τῷ θεῷ. πλῆθος γὰρ συστησάμενος ἐπιρρήτων ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἔξαρχον αὐτοῖς ἐπιστήσας Εὐθύμιόν τινα Κασνῆν λεγόμενον, ὃν αὐτὸς δο μέστικον τῆς ἐκκλησίας προυβάλετο, καὶ τὰς Σατανικὰς ὀρχήσεις καὶ τὰς ἀσήμους κραυγὰς καὶ τὰ ἐκ τριόδων καὶ χαμαιτυπείων ἠρανισμένα ᾄσματα τελεῖσθαι ἐδίδαξεν. οὕτως δὲ βιοτεύων κατα στρέφει τὸν βίον ἐν τῷ ἀτάκτως ἱππάζεσθαι, ἔν τινι τείχει τῶν 2.334 παραθαλασσίων θραυσθεὶς καὶ αἷμα ἀναγαγὼν διὰ τοῦ στόματος. ἐπὶ δύο δ' ἔτη νοσηλευόμενος καὶ ὑδέρῳ περιπεσὼν ἐτελεύτησε. Καὶ χειροτονεῖται κατὰ τὴν τρίτην τοῦ Ἀπριλλίου μηνός, τῆς αὐτῆς ἰνδικτιῶνος, ἀντ' αὐτοῦ πατριάρχης Πολύευκτος μονα χός, τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως καὶ θρέμμα τυγχάνων καὶ παί δευμα, ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων μὲν εὐνουχισθείς, ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον τῇ μοναδικῇ πολιτείᾳ ἐνδιαπρέψας· ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τὸ τοῦ ἤθους σεμνὸν καὶ τὸ τῆς σοφίας ὑπερβάλλον καὶ τὴν ἀκτημοσύνην χειροτονεῖ πατριάρχην, οὐ τοῦ Ἡρακλείας, ὡς ἔθος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Καισαρείας Βασιλείου τὴν χειροθεσίαν πεπληρωκότος. Νικηφό ρος γὰρ ὁ τῆς Ἡρακλείας πρόεδρος τῷ βασιλεῖ κατά τι προσκε κρουκὼς οὐ συνεχωρήθη τὴν χειροθεσίαν ποιήσασθαι. ὅθεν καὶ ψόγος οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν προσετρίβη οὐ τῷ προτρέψαντι μόνον καὶ τῷ χειροθετήσαντι, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ χειροτονηθέντι ὡς καταδεξα μένῳ τὴν ἀκανόνιστον ταύτην χειροθεσίαν. χειροτονηθεὶς δ' ὅμως καὶ παρρησιασάμενος τὴν ἀλήθειαν πολλὴν καταδρομὴν ἐποιεῖτο τῆς πλεονεξίας τῶν συγγενῶν τοῦ πρεσβύτου Ῥωμανοῦ, κἀν τῷ μεγάλῳ σαββάτῳ τὸν βασιλέα εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν ἐλθόντα ἐνῆγε πρὸς τὴν τῶν πραχθέντων ἐκδίκησιν. ὅπερ οὐχ ἡδέως οὗτος ἐδέξατο. ἀλλὰ καὶ Βασίλειος ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα παρακοιμώμενος, ὁ ἀπὸ δούλης τεχθεὶς τῷ πρεσβύτῃ Ῥωμανῷ, Ἑλένην τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὴν καὶ δέσποιναν ὑποποιησάμενος, οὕτω παρεσκεύασε καὶ διέθηκε τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον, μὴ μεταγινώσκειν μόνον ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ 2.335 πατριάρχου προβολῇ ἀλλὰ καὶ ζητεῖν ἀφορμὴν πῶς ἂν αὐτὸν καταγάγοι τοῦ θρόνου, πολλὰ καὶ Θεοδώρου τοῦ Κυζίκου κατ' αὐτοῦ διερεθίζοντος τοῦτον. Ὥσπερ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου φιλοτιμησαμένου κατὰ ταυτὸν ὁμο γνώμονας ἐπιδείξασθαι πατριάρχας, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἑσπερίων Ῥω μαίων ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνειν ἔλαχεν Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ Ἀλβερίχου υἱός, πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀσέλγειαν καὶ κακίαν ὑπάρχων ἐπιρρεπής· ὃν Ὤτως ὁ τῶν Φράγγων βασιλεὺς ἀπελάσας ἕτερον ἀντεισήγαγε τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ποιμένα. Ὁ δὲ Πολύευκτος τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς ἱερατείας αὐτοῦ χρόνῳ τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐνέταξε διπτύχοις Εὐθυμίου τοῦ πατριάρχου τὸ ὄνομα, τοῦ τὸν βασιλέα Λέοντα δεξαμένου εἰς κοινωνίαν, ὁπηνίκα τὴν τετάρτην ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα. πρὸς τοῦτό τινες τῶν ἀρχιερέων πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀντέστησαν τῷ Πολυεύκτῳ μὴ κοινωνεῖν. ἀλλὰ κατ' ὀλίγον τῷ τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἀκολουθήσαντες θελήματι γέλωτα παρέσχον τοῖς διακρινομένοις. Ἤχθη δὲ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν καὶ ἡ τιμία χεὶρ τοῦ προ δρόμου εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα ἐξ Ἀντιοχείας, ἀποκλαπεῖσα παρά τινος διακόνου Ἰὼβ τοὔνομα· ἣν καταλαβοῦσαν τὴν Χαλκηδόνα ὁ βα σιλεὺς τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐκπέμψας τριήρη, καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου ὅσον ἐπίσημον ἐξελθόντος καὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Πολυεύκτου σὺν παντὶ τῷ κλήρῳ μετὰ κηρῶν καὶ λαμπάδων καὶ θυμιαμάτων, εἰς τὰ βασίλεια ἤγαγεν. 2.336 Ὁ δὲ τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικος Βάρδας κατὰ τῶν ἑῴων Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐκστρατεύσας τὰ ἐν ποσὶν ἅπαντα κατεστρέψατο, ἑλὼν καὶ φρούρια ἱκανά, ἐκπολιορκήσας καὶ τὴν περιβόητον Ἄδαπαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς βουλόμενος καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ Σαρακηνοὺς συνε χῶς ἐκστρατεύοντας καὶ τὰ