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they made accusations, that it both held and taught to others the tradition concerning the dogmas of the faith, contrary to the theologians. For which reasons the emperor thought it necessary, having gathered a synod, to make an examination concerning the dogmas. And when the heads of the churches from everywhere came together, with both sides being present in the palace called of the Blachernae, and with emperor Kantakouzenos being present and the most distinguished Roman officials, for four days they made the examination of the disputed matters. Now, it is not necessary to relate all the things that Palamas of Thessalonica (for the argument was mostly against him) and those who had chosen the side of Akindynos—of whom the chief were the metropolitans of Ephesus and of Ganos, and Gregoras and Dexios—said in opposition to each other. For if it is of use for anyone to learn such things, 3.169 by reading the tome written about these matters, which relates everything in detail, it will be possible to know everything accurately. But we considered it necessary to add this alone to the history: how those who had chosen the side of Akindynos were caught red-handed holding the same opinions as Barlaam concerning the dogmas of the church. Therefore the synod condemned the hierarchs of Ephesus and Ganos to deposition, and decreed for Barlaam and Akindynos an explicit separation from the rest of the body of the church, as incurably diseased limbs that accept no correction even after death; but of the others, if anyone should turn back and agree to the sound dogmas of the church, having condemned their great impiety, the church would receive him and care for him as its own member, neither accusing him of former things, nor reproaching him; but if anyone should remain uncorrected to the end, he would be subject to the same penalties as Barlaam and Akindynos. And on these matters a third tome was produced, in addition to the two that had been produced before. For both the tome that was produced for the deposition of Patriarch John, which the Patriarch of Jerusalem also signed, accuses Barlaam and Akindynos of great impiety and of distortion of the right dogmas, for which Patriarch John was also deposed for having thought the same things as Barlaam; and the one that was first produced at the judgment of emperor Andronikos the younger, when Patriarch John was also president of the synod, which he himself also signed with his own hands, not only condemns Barlaam and 3.170 Akindynos for having unjustly accused the monks, but also says, "if anyone else should again appear accusing the monks of any of those things spoken or written by Barlaam blasphemously and heterodoxly against the monks, or rather against the church itself, or in general attacking them in such matters, he is subjected to the same condemnation by Our Moderation, and he himself will be excommunicated and cut off both from the holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Christ and from the orthodox community of the Christians." Thus indeed the third tome was consistent with the two previous ones, and it condemned the same things of those who had chosen the side of Barlaam and Akindynos. This both Patriarch Kallistos with the hierarchs signed, and before them emperor Kantakouzenos; and later the young emperor John Palaiologos, having become of one mind with the church, he himself also signed it with red letters. And when everything concerning the examination of the dogmas had come to an end, and the tome needed nothing further, while Patriarch Kallistos was celebrating the divine liturgy in the temple of the Wisdom of God with the rest of the hierarchs, emperor Kantakouzenos also, having put on full imperial regalia and having gone inside the sanctuary, presented the tome to the patriarch and to the rest of the assembly 3.171 of hierarchs. And after this, those who had chosen the side of Barlaam and Akindynos were ordered by the emperor and Patriarch Kallistos neither to say, nor to write anything concerning dogmas, so that they might not corrupt the more simple-minded by deceiving them. So some of them obeyed and kept silent, but for others it was not enough to be silent, but also
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κατηγόρουν, ὡς παρὰ τῶν θεολόγων τὴν παράδοσιν περὶ τῶν τῆς πίστεως δογμάτων καὶ πρεσβευούσης καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους διδασκούσης. δι' ἃ ὁ βασιλεὺς ᾠήθη δεῖν σύνοδον ἀθροίσας, ἐξέτασιν ποιεῖσθαι περὶ τῶν δογμάτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ συνῆλθον οἱ ἑκασταχόθεν προστάται τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν γενομένων ἐν βασιλείοις τοῖς τῶν Βλαχερνῶν λεγομένοις, καὶ βασιλέως τοῦ Καντακουζηνοῦ παρόντος καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει Ῥωμαίων τῶν μάλιστα ἐπιφανῶν, ἐπὶ τέσσαρσιν ἡμέραις τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων τὴν ἐξέτασιν ἐποιήσαντο. ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἀλλήλοις ἀντεῖπον Παλαμᾶς τε ὁ Θεσσαλονίκης πρὸς ἐκεῖνον γὰρ μάλιστα ὁ λόγος ἦν, καὶ οἱ τὰ Ἀκινδύνου ᾑρημένοι, ὧν ἦν κεφάλαιον ὅ,τε Ἐφέσου καὶ ὁ Γάννου μητροπολῖται, καὶ Γρηγορᾶς καὶ ∆εξιὸς, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον διηγεῖσθαι. εἰ γάρ τῳ τὰ τοιαῦτα 3.169 προὔργου μαθεῖν, τῷ περὶ τούτων γεγραμμένῳ τόμῳ κατὰ μέρος ἅπαντα διηγουμένῳ ἐντυχόντι, πάντα ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι περιέσται. ἐκεῖνο δὲ μόνον ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι ἡγησάμεθα προσκεῖσθαι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ, ὡς ἑάλωσαν ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ οἱ τὰ Ἀκινδύνου ᾑρημένοι τὰς ἴσας δόξας Βαρλαὰμ περὶ τῶν δογμάτων ἔχοντες τῆς ἐκκλησίας. διὸ τῶν μὲν ἀρχιερέων ἡ σύνοδος Ἐφέσου καὶ Γάννου καθαίρεσιν κατέγνω, Βαρλαάμ τε καὶ Ἀκινδύνου διαῤῥήδην χωρισμὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ λοιποῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας σώματος, ὡς μέλη νενοσηκότα ἀνιάτως καὶ μηδεμίαν μετὰ τελευτὴν διόρθωσιν ἐπιδεχόμενα, τῶν δ' ἄλλων εἰ μέν τις ἐπιστρέψας σύνθηται τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσι τῆς ἐκκλησίας δόγμασιν, ἐκείνων πολλὴν ἀσέβειαν καταγνοὺς, δέχεσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ὡς οἰκείου μέλους προνοεῖν, μηδὲν μήτε ἐγκαλοῦσαν τῶν προτέρων, μήτε ὀνειδίζουσαν· εἰ δέ τις μένοι διὰ τέλους ἀδιόρθωτος, τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις ὑποκεῖσθαι Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνῳ. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐγένετο τόμος τρίτος ἐπὶ δυσὶ τοῖς πρότερον γεγενημένοις. ὅ,τε γὰρ ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει πατριάρχου τοῦ Ἰωάννου γεγενημένος, ὃν καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων πατριάρχης ὑπογέγραφε, πολλὴν ἀσέβειαν Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνου κατηγορεῖ καὶ τῶν ὀρθῶν δογμάτων διαστροφὴν, δι' ἃ καὶ πατριάρχης ὁ Ἰωάννης καθῃρέθη, ὡς ταὐτὰ φρονήσας Βαρλαὰμ, καὶ ὁ πρώτως ἐπὶ τῇ διαγνώσει βασιλέως Ἀνδρονίκου τοῦ νέου γεγενημένος, ἡνίκα καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Ἰωάννης τῆς συνόδου προστάτης ἦν, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπεσημήνατο χερσὶν οἰκείαις, οὐ μόνον Βαρλαὰμ καὶ 3.170 Ἀκινδύνου καταψηφίζεται, ὡς ἀδίκως κατηγορηκότων τῶν μοναχῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τις, φησὶν, ἕτερός τι τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Βαρλαὰμ βλασφήμως καὶ κακοδόξως κατὰ τῶν μοναχῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτῆς λαληθέντων ἢ συγγραφέντων φανείη πάλιν τῶν μοναχῶν κατηγορῶν, ἢ ὅλως ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις καθαπτόμενος, τῇ αὐτῇ καταδίκῃ παρὰ τῆς ἡμῶν μετριότητος καθυποβάλλεται, καὶ ἀποκήρυκτος ἔσται καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ἀποτετμημένος καὶ τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καθολικῆς καὶ ἀποστολικῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τοῦ ὀρθοδόξου τῶν Χριστιανῶν συστήματος. οὕτω μὲν καὶ ὁ τρίτος τόμος ἀκόλουθος τοῖς δυσὶ προτέροις ἐγεγόνει, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ κατεψηφίσατο τῶν τὰ Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνου ᾑρημένων. ὃν πατριάρχης τε ὁ Κάλλιστος μετὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ὑπογέγραφε καὶ βασιλεὺς πρὸ αὐτῶν ὁ Καντακουζηνός· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ ὁ Παλαιολόγος Ἰωάννης βασιλεὺς ὁ νέος σύμψηφος γενόμενος τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἐρυθροῖς καὶ αὐτὸς γράμμασιν ὑπεσημήνατο. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα εἶχε τέλος τὰ περὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῶν δογμάτων, καὶ ὁ τόμος οὐδενὸς ἐδεῖτο ἔτι, Καλλίστου τοῦ πατριάρχου ἐν τῷ νεῷ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας τὴν θείαν ἐπιτελοῦντος μυσταγωγίαν μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρχιερέων, καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς πᾶσαν σκευὴν βασιλικὴν ἐνδὺς καὶ τῶν ἀδύτων ἐντὸς γενόμενος, πατριάρχῃ καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἐκ 3.171 κλησίᾳ τὸν τόμον ἐπιδέδωκεν. μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ οἱ τὰ Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνου ᾑρημένοι ὑπὸ βασιλέως καὶ πατριάρχου τοῦ Καλλίστου ἐκελεύσθησαν μηδὲν περὶ δογμάτων μήτε λέγειν, μήτε γράφειν, ἵνα μὴ διαφθείροιεν τοὺς ἀκεραιοτέρους ἐξαπατῶντες. οἱ μὲν οὖν αὐτῶν ἐπείθοντο καὶ ἦγον ἡσυχίαν, τοῖς δὲ οὐκ ἤρκει σιωπᾷν, ἀλλὰ καὶ