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to do good works. For knowing that the income of the great church was insufficient, since he had been its oikonomos in former times, and of the other churches that were customarily served by its clergy, he decreed that eighty pounds of gold be granted to them annually from the imperial treasury as a supplement. He also cut off and completely uprooted the allelengyon, which Constantine had intended to do, but did not manage. He also emptied the prisons of those incarcerated for certain charges, forgiving the public debts and paying off the private ones. He also ransomed the captives held in Patzinakia. He also honored three metropolitans as syncelli, Kyriakos of Ephesus as the patriarch's blood-relative, Demetrios of Kyzikos as one very dear to him even before his reign, and Michael of Euchaïta who was related to him by blood, tracing his lineage back to the so-called Radenoi. As for John, the protonotarios of the emperor Basil, who had already been tonsured from his secular life, he summoned him and, having honored him as syncellus, appointed him as a guard for his wife's sister, Theodora. He also restored many of the ministers of God who had fallen into extreme poverty because of the allelengyon, and he deemed worthy of consolation others who were distressed and oppressed by hardships. He also provided a countless amount of money for the salvation of his father-in-law's soul. He likewise deemed worthy those who had suffered ill at his hands, promoting some to dignities, and consoling others with estates and others with money. 2.487 He also raised to the illustrious dignity of the magistroi his brother-in-law Romanos Skleros, whom Constantine, as we said, had blinded. He also recalled Nikephoros Xiphias from his long exile, who had voluntarily put on the monastic habit in the monastery of Stoudios. At this time God sent moderate rain, and there was an abundance of crops, especially of the olive. And on the day of holy Pentecost a disturbance arose during the liturgy concerning the seating, as the metropolitans did not accept that the syncelli should sit before them on the synthronon.

At this time, the magister Prousianos the Bulgarian, having been accused of conspiring with Theodora, the empress's sister, and of aspiring to the throne with her, was placed under guard in the monastery of Manuel. When the accusation was confirmed, he himself was blinded, and his mother, the zoste, was expelled from the city. And Constantine Diogenes, being the emperor's son-in-law by the daughter of his brother, was transferred from Sirmium to Thessalonica and became doux, but having been accused by Orestes, the servant of the emperor Basil, of plotting a revolt, he was sent as strategos to the Thrakesians. When the accusation became public, he was brought in chains to the capital and thrown into a tower. And his fellow conspirators, the protonotarios and syncellus John, the patrikios and strategos Eustathios Daphno2.488meles, Michael Theognostos and Samuel, the grandsons of the magister Michael Bourtzes, and George and Varasvatze who founded the monastery of the Iberians on Mount Athos, the cousins of the patrikios Theudatos, were cruelly blinded and paraded through the middle of the main street and sent into exile. Theodora was also brought down from the palace and confined in the so-called Petrion. On the 31st of the month of October there was a shower of stars, making its course from west to east. And on that very day a not insignificant defeat of the Roman army occurred in Syria, while Michael Spondyles was strategos of great Antioch. There was also a deluge of rains, which prevailed until the month of March, with the rivers overflowing and the lowlands flooding, so that

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ἀγαθοεργεῖν. ἐνδέουσαν γὰρ τὴν πρόσοδον τῆς μεγάλης εἰδὼς ἐκκλησίας ἅτε οἰκονόμος ταύτης γενόμενος ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν χρό νοις, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὁπόσαις ὑπηρετεῖσθαι ἔθος παρὰ τοῦ ταύτης κλήρου, ὀγδοήκοντα χρυσίου λίτρας ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος χορηγεῖσθαι τούτοις τετύπωκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ταμιείου εἰς προσθήκην. ἐξέκοψε δὲ καὶ τέλεον ἀπερρίζωσε τὸ ἀλληλέγγυον, ὅπερ ἐμελέτα μὲν ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος ποιῆσαι, οὐκ ἔφθασε δέ. ἐκένωσε δὲ καὶ τὰς φυλακὰς τῶν ἐγκαθειργμένων διά τινας εὐθύνας, τὰ μὲν δημό σια χρέα χαριζόμενος, ἀποτιννὺς δὲ τὰ ἰδιωτικά. ἀπελυτρώσατο δὲ καὶ τοὺς κατεχομένους αἰχμαλώτους ἐν Πατζινακίᾳ. ἐτίμησε δὲ καὶ συγκέλλους μητροπολίτας τρεῖς, τὸν Ἐφέσου Κυριακὸν ὡς τοῦ πατριάρχου ὁμαίμονα, ∆ημήτριον τὸν Κυζίκου ὡς λίαν αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας πεφιλημένον, καὶ Μιχαὴλ τὸν τῶν Εὐχαϊ τῶν καθ' αἷμα τούτῳ ἐγγίζοντα διὰ τὸ ἀναφέρειν τὸ γένος εἰς τοὺς λεγομένους Ῥαδηνούς. Ἰωάννην δὲ τὸν τοῦ Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως πρωτονοτάριον, ἤδη τὴν κοσμικὴν κειράμενον τρίχα, μετα πεμψάμενος καὶ σύγκελλον τιμήσας τῇ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συζύγου ἀδελ φῇ Θεοδώρᾳ φρουρὸν κατέστησε. πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν λειτουργῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκ τῶν ἀλληλεγγύων εἰς ἐσχάτην ἐλθόντας πενίαν ἀνεκτή σατο, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους δυσφοροῦντας καὶ πιεζομένους ἀπορίαις παραμυθίας ἠξίωσε. παρέσχε δὲ καὶ χρημάτων πλῆθος ἀριθμοῦ κρεῖττον ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας ψυχῆς τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ πενθεροῦ. ἠξίωσε δὲ παραπλησίως καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι κακῶς ἔπαθον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, τοὺς μὲν εἰς ἀξιώματα προβιβάσας, τοὺς δὲ ἐν κτήμασι καὶ ἄλλους ἐν χρήμασι 2.487 παραμυθησάμενος. ἀνήγαγε δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ λαμπρὸν τῶν μαγί στρων ἀξίωμα τὸν ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ γαμβρὸν αὐτοῦ Ῥωμανὸν τὸν Σκλη ρόν, ὃν ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος, ὡς εἴπομεν, ἀπετύφλωσεν. ἀνεκαλέ σατο δὲ καὶ τῆς χρονίας ὑπερορίας Νικηφόρον τὸν Ξιφίαν, ὃς ἐθε λοντὴς ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Στουδίου τὸ τῶν μοναχῶν ἠμφιέσατο σχῆμα. Κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ὗσεν ὁ θεὸς ὑετὸν σύμμετρον, καὶ εὐφορία γέγονε τῶν καρπῶν, κατ' ἐξαίρετον δὲ τῆς ἐλαίας. ἐγέ νετο δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ἁγίας πεντηκοστῆς ταραχὴ διὰ τὴν καθέδραν ἐν τῇ λειτουργίᾳ, μὴ καταδεξαμένων τῶν μητροπολιτῶν προκαθίσαι αὐτῶν τοὺς συγκέλλους ἐν τῷ συνθρόνῳ.

Κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον διαβληθεὶς ὁ μάγιστρος Προυσιανὸς ὁ Βούλγαρος κοινοπραγεῖν Θεοδώρᾳ τῇ τῆς βασιλίδος ἀδελφῇ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας σὺν αὐτῇ ἀντιποιεῖσθαι εἰς τὸ τοῦ Μανουὴλ μοναστήριον φρουρεῖται. ἐπικρατησάσης δὲ τῆς κατηγορίας αὐτὸς μὲν ἀποτυφλοῦται, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ ἡ ζωστὴ τῆς πόλεως ἐκ βάλλεται. καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ ∆ιογένης, γαμβρὸς ὢν τοῦ βα σιλέως ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ Σιρμίου μετατεθεὶς εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην γίνεται δούξ, κατηγορηθεὶς δὲ παρὰ Ὀρέστου τοῦ θεράποντος τοῦ Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως ὡς μελετῶν ἀποστα σίαν, στρατηγὸς εἰς Θρᾳκησίους στέλλεται. φανερᾶς δὲ τῆς κατηγορίας γενομένης ἄγεται δέσμιος ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι καὶ ἐν πύργῳ βάλλεται. οἱ δὲ τούτου συνωμόται, ὁ πρωτονοτάριος Ἰωάννης καὶ σύγκελλος, ὁ πατρίκιος Εὐστάθιος καὶ στρατηγὸς ὁ ∆αφνο 2.488 μήλης, Μιχαὴλ Θεόγνωστος καὶ Σαμουὴλ οἱ τοῦ μαγίστρου Μι χαὴλ τοῦ Βούρτζῃ ἔκγονοι, Γεώργιός τε καὶ Βαρασβατζὲ ὁ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ Ἄθῳ τὴν τῶν Ἰβήρων μονὴν συστησάμενος, οἱ τοῦ πατρικίου Θευδάτου ἀνεψιοί, δεινῶς τυφθέντες καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς λεωφόρου παραπεμφθέντες ἐξορίᾳ παρεπέμφθησαν. κατηνέχθη δὲ καὶ Θεοδώρα τῶν ἀνακτόρων, καὶ εἰς τὸ λεγόμενον περιωρίσθη Πετρίον. Ὀκτωβρίου δὲ μηνὸς λαʹ χύσις ἀστέρος ἐγένετο, ἐκ δυσμῶν πρὸς ἀνατολὴν τὴν πορείαν ποιοῦντος. καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἡμέ ραν πτῶσις οὐ μικρὰ γέγονε τοῦ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ στρατοῦ ἐν Συρίᾳ, στρατηγοῦντος τῆς μεγάλης Ἀντιοχείας Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Σπονδύλη. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ὄμβρων ἐπίκλυσις, ἐπικρατήσασα ἕως τοῦ Μαρτίου μηνός, τῶν ποταμῶν ὑπερχυθέντων καὶ τῶν κοίλων πελαγισάντων, ὡς