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they were accused of distorting 3.180 the doctrines of the church, while they themselves rather thought wrongly about them, I did not overlook it, but ordered them to proceed to an examination and receive what was just, and I provided pledges that they should expect to suffer nothing terrible. For he said he was afraid that he would be imprisoned. But he nonetheless, even after the pledges, went into hiding and was not known of until his death. But when, later on, Gregoras himself and others sprang up as successors of the heresy of Barlaam and Akindynos, and were disturbing the church and crying out for a tribunal, I did not overlook it again, but I convened a synod of many bishops, and I summoned Gregory Palamas of Thessaloniki to give an account of the charges against him, although I was justified in accepting what had previously been decreed twice. For the emperor Andronikos of blessed memory, with the synod, condemned with all votes not only Barlaam at that time, but also anyone who might later be found holding the same views, and after this, in my absence, the empress Anna with the bishops, when they both deposed the patriarch John on account of his wrong opinion and those holding or who would later hold the same views, at which time most of those who later objected were in agreement, or rather, were leaders in what was being done. Being justified therefore, as I said, in accepting what had been decreed, I did not forbear to conduct the examination of the statements myself, and I did not overlook the principle of justice, but brought forth a true and just verdict, having preferred neither friendship, nor enmity, nor 3.181 anything else that exists to the truth. For I, who have not overlooked what is just even in small and contemptible disputes of some, but have judged all things truly and justly, would hardly, when the trial was concerning doctrines where God is what is at stake, have chosen something other than the truth; but having made the examination of the doctrines clear and pure as if in the presence of God himself, I found Palamas and those who held the same views to be in utmost agreement with the saints and theologians, and to be following clearly in their footsteps, but Gregoras and the others who opposed them, holding the opinions of Barlaam and Akindynos without alteration, opinions which, because they were alien to the truth and contrary to the faith concerning piety handed down by the holy fathers, it was possible to use the earlier Tomes as teachers. Nevertheless, by comparing them ourselves to what was handed down by the teachers of the church, as if to canons, we found the distortion to be clear and pure. For which reason I myself, with all the other bishops voting in agreement, acquitted the former as thinking rightly, and condemned the latter; and thereafter, as was just, I assisted the victors in every way, but as for the defeated, who were shameless and willing neither to return to the truth nor to keep quiet, loving only their own destruction, but also calling others to the same abyss, and resorting to insults shame 3.182 lessly and displaying every excess of impudence, as is the custom from the beginning for the enemies of the truth and the adversaries of the church, I also imposed the fitting penalty, or rather, one falling far short of what they deserved. For I took no thought for them to suffer ill, but rather for them not to be able to do ill. There is, I think, a law also concerning other worldly crimes, both public and private, that the judge, before those who are in disagreement with each other have come to arguments, should not condemn anyone in absentia, unless he wishes to arbitrate. But when they come to arguments, and victory should go to one of them, it is entirely necessary for him also to side with the one who has the advantage and to compel the one in the wrong to do what is just. Surely, then, no one who does wrong will bring an objection against the judge and accuse him of injustice because he sided with the one who was wronged. Which things Gregoras, by doing them now, gains a reputation not so much for lying as for folly and wickedness. Because he himself, having suffered a distortion from the truth and having renounced the ancestral piety and having been led away with the heretics Akindynos and Barlaam

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τῆς ἐκκλησίας διαστροφὴν 3.180 τῶν δογμάτων ἐγκαλοῖντο, αὐτοὶ μᾶλλον κακῶς περὶ αὐτῶν φρονοῦντες, οὐ περιεῖδον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν ἐξέτασιν ἐκέλευον χωρεῖν καὶ τυγχάνειν τῶν δικαίων, καὶ πίστεις παρεῖχον ἐπὶ τῷ πείσεσθαι προσδοκᾷν μηδὲν δεινόν. δεδοικέναι γὰρ ἔλεγε, μὴ εἱρχθῇ. αὐτὸς δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ μετὰ τὰς πίστεις ἀπεκρύπτετο καὶ ἠγνοήθη μέχρι τελευτῆς. χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἐπεὶ αὐτός τε Γρηγορᾶς καὶ ἄλλοι ἀνεφύησαν τῆς Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνου αἱρέσεως διάδοχοι καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐθορύβουν καὶ τὸ δικαστήριον ἐπεβοῶντο, οὐ περιεῖδον αὖθις, ἀλλὰ σύνοδόν τε ἐκ πολλῶν ἀρχιερέων συνεκρότουν, καὶ τὸν Θεσσαλονίκης Γρηγόριον τὸν Παλαμᾶν μετεπεμπόμην λόγον, περὶ ὧν ἐνεκαλεῖτο, δώσοντα, καίτοι δίκαιος ὢν τὰ δὶς ἐψηφισμένα στέργειν πρότερον. βασιλεύς τε γὰρ Ἀνδρόνικος ὁ ἀοίδιμος μετὰ τῆς συνόδου κατεδίκασεν ἁπάσαις ψήφοις οὐ Βαρλαὰμ τότε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τις ὕστερον φαίνοιτο φρονῶν τὰ ἴσα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, ἐμοῦ ἀπόντος, Ἄννα ἡ βασιλὶς μετὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων, ἡνίκα πατριάρχην τε καθεῖλον τὸν Ἰωάννην διὰ τὴν κακοδοξίαν καὶ τοὺς φρονοῦντας τὰ ἴσα αὖθις ἢ φρονήσοντας, ὅτε καὶ τῶν ὕστερον ἀντιλεγόντων οἱ πλείους ἦσαν σύμψηφοι, ἢ προστάται τῶν γινομένων μᾶλλον. δίκαιος οὖν, ὥσπερ ἔφην, τὰ ἐψηφισμένα στέργειν ὢν, οὐχ ὑπέμεινα, μὴ καὶ ἐπ' ἐμαυτοῦ τὴν ἐξέτασιν ποιήσασθαι τῶν λεγομένων, καὶ τὸν τοῦ δικαίου λόγον οὐ παρεῖδον, ἀλλ' ἐξήνεγκα τὴν ψῆφον ἀληθῆ καὶ δικαίαν, οὔτε φιλίαν, οὔτε ἔχθραν, οὔτε 3.181 τῶν ὄντων οὐδὲν ἕτερον τῆς ἀληθείας προτιμήσας. ὃς γὰρ οὐδ' ἐπὶ μικροῖς τισι καὶ εὐκαταφρονήτοις τινῶν διαφερομένων τὸ δίκαιον παρεῖδον, ἀλλ' ἀληθῶς καὶ δικαίως ἐδίκασα πᾶσι, σχολῇ γ' ἂν περὶ δογμάτων τῆς δίκης οὔσης, ἔνθα τὸ κινδυνευόμενον θεὸς, τῆς ἀληθείας ἕτερόν τι προειλόμην· ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπ' αὐτοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῶν δογμάτων σαφῆ καὶ καθαρὰν πεποιημένος, Παλαμᾶν μὲν εὕρισκον καὶ τοὺς τὰ ἴσα ᾑρημένους τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ θεολόγοις ἄκρως συμφωνοῦντας, καὶ κατ' ἴχνος ἑπομένους φανερῶς, Γρηγορᾶν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, οἳ ἀντικαθίσταντο, τὰ Βαρλαὰμ καὶ Ἀκινδύνου δοξάζοντας ἀπαραποιήτως, ἃ ὅτι τῆς ἀληθείας ἔκφυλα καὶ τῆς περὶ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων παραδοθείσης πίστεως ἐναντία, ἐξῆν μὲν καὶ τοῖς προτέροις τόμοις χρήσασθαι διδασκάλοις. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν διδασκάλων τῆς ἐκκλησίας παραδοθεῖσιν, ὥσπερ κανόσι, παραθέντες, τὴν διαστροφὴν εὕρομεν σαφῆ καὶ καθαράν. οὗ ἕνεκα καὶ αὐτὸς, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀρχιερέων συνεπιψηφιζομένων, ἐκείνους μὲν ὡς ὀρθῶς φρονοῦντας ἐδικαίωσα, τούτων δὲ κατεψηφισάμην· τὸ δὲ ἑξῆς, ὥσπερ ἦν δίκαιον, τοῖς μὲν νενικηκόσι πάντα τρόπον ἐπεκούρησα, τοῖς ἡττημένοις δὲ ἀναισχυντοῦσι καὶ μήτ' ἐπιστρέφειν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν βεβουλημένοις, μήτε ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, τῇ σφετέρᾳ μόνον ἀγαπῶσιν ἀπωλείᾳ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἴσον βάραθρον καὶ ἄλλους ἐκκαλουμένοις, καὶ πρὸς ὕβρεις χωροῦσιν ἀνερυθριά 3.182 στως καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπερβολὴν ἀναισχυντίας ἐπιδεικνυμένοις, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἐξαρχῆς τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πολεμίοις, καὶ δίκην τὴν προσήκουσαν ἐπέθηκα, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀξίας ἀποδέουσαν πολύ. οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦ κακῶς ἐκείνους πάσχειν πρόνοιαν ἐποιησάμην, ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι κακῶς ποιεῖν. ἔστι δὲ, οἶμαι, νόμος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν βιωτικῶν, καὶ δημοσίων καὶ ἰδίων, ἐγκλημάτων, τὸν δικαστὴν πρὶν μὲν εἰς λόγους ἀντικαταστῆναι τοὺς ἀλλήλοις διαφερομένους, μηδενὸς καταψηφίζεσθαι ἐρήμην, εἰ μὴ βούλοιτο ἐκδιαιτᾷν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἥκοιεν εἰς λόγους, καὶ ἡ νίκη χωρήσοι πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον, πᾶσα γὰρ ἀνάγκη, καὶ αὐτὸν τῷ τὸ πλέον ἔχοντι προστίθεσθαι καὶ καταναγκάζειν τὸν ἀδικοῦντα τὰ δίκαια ποιεῖν. οὐ δὴ διὰ τοῦτο πᾶς τις ἀδικῶν παραγράψεται τὸν δικαστὴν καὶ ἀδικίαν ἐπικαλέσει, ὅτι τῷ ἠδικημένῳ προσετέθη. ἃ Γρηγορᾶς νυνὶ ποιῶν, οὐ μᾶλλον ψευδολογίας, ἢ ἀνοίας καὶ μοχθηρίας δόξαν ἀποφέρεται. ὅτι δ' αὐτὸς τὴν διαστροφὴν παθὼν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὴν πάτριον εὐσέβειαν ἐξομοσάμενος καὶ συναπαχθεὶς τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς Ἀκινδύνῳ καὶ Βαρλαὰμ