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and the brothers of Ancyra with other metropolitans plotted to depose Alexios from the throne and to install John on the throne in his place. To them Alexios the patriarch, with the remaining part of the church, sends messages, declaring, "Since, as you say, not by the vote of archbishops, but by the command of Basil the emperor I ascended the throne uncanonically, let those whom I ordained as metropolitans during the eleven and a half years I have guided the church be deposed, and let the three emperors 2.518 whom I crowned also be anathematized, and I yield the throne to whoever wants it." Having received this message, the party of Demetrios, and being filled with shame and fear (for the majority of them had been ordained by him), embraced silence, and thereafter John restrained his desire to seize the throne.

In the year 6540, in the 6th indiction, on the 2nd day of November, an earthquake occurred around the 10th hour of the day, and the earth continued to shake until the entire month of January. And there was also a famine throughout Thrace and Macedonia, Strymon and Thessalonica, and as far as Thessaly. And when the clergy of Thessalonica cried out against Theophanes the metropolitan for withholding their customary grain allowances, the emperor, who was staying in Thessalonica, used words of exhortation toward him, and advised him not to deprive the people of the church of their lawful rations. But since he was harsh and would not yield, the emperor decided it was necessary to outwit him by a trick and punish his greed. He therefore sends one of his servants, asking him to lend him one kentenarion, until gold could be brought from Byzantium. But he denied under oath that he had more than thirty pounds. And the emperor sent him away, but after sending men to search his treasuries, he found thirty-three kentenaria of gold; from which he gives to the clergy what was owed from the first year of the episcopate of Theophanes until the present time, 2.519 and distributes the rest to the poor, and he expels the metropolitan from the church and confines him to a certain estate. And he appoints Prometheus to the metropolitan see, from whom this one also was ordered to receive rations and to live by himself. And when Pankratios, the ruler of Abasgia, was pressing hard upon Iasites, the katepano of Iberia, John sent out Constantine, the domestikos of the scholae, his own brother, with all the tagmata of the east, promising to send out with him Dalassenos as well, so that he might have him as a counselor and supporter in the wars. But he did not do this, and so the domestikos returned without success. And when John was about to take a purgative medicine, the empress Zoe, learning of this through one of her most intimate eunuchs named Sgouritzes, corrupted the physician with not a few gifts, promising to bring him to a conspicuous station in life and an abundance of wealth, if he would mix poison with the medicine. But when a certain servant-boy of the physician revealed the plot to John, and the conspiracy was exposed, the physician was exiled to Antioch, his homeland, and Constantine Moukoupeles the protospatharios, who had prepared the poison, was expelled from the city, and the empress was held in greater suspicion. 2.520 And just as George Maniakes the patrikios had taken Sicily, its rulers, who were also brothers, having made a truce with one another, hastened to drive him from the island. For this reason they also summoned an allied force of fifty thousand from Africa; when it arrived, a mighty battle took place at the place called Rhemata, and Maniakes utterly routed the Carthaginians, with so much slaughter occurring that the nearby river flooded with blood. And after this he took thirteen Sicilian cities, and advancing little by little he subdued the entire island. In the year 6540, in the 6th indiction,

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καὶ Ἀγκύρας οἱ αὐτάδελφοι σὺν ἄλλοις μητροπολίταις ἐβουλεύσαντο τοῦ θρόνου καταγα γεῖν τὸν Ἀλέξιον καὶ ἀντ' αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἰωάννην τῷ θρόνῳ ἐγκαταστῆσαι. πρὸς οὓς Ἀλέξιος ὁ πατριάρχης μετὰ τοῦ λοιποῦ μέρους τῆς ἐκκλησίας μηνύματα ἐκπέμπει, δηλοῦντα "ἐπειδή, ὥς φατε, οὐ ψήφῳ ἀρχιερέων, ἀλλὰ προστάξει Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπέβην τοῦ θρόνου ἀκανονίστως, καθαιρεθήτωσαν οὓς ἐχειροτό νησα μητροπολίτας ἐπὶ ἕνδεκα πρὸς τῷ ἡμίσει χρόνους τὴν ἐκκλη σίαν ἰθύνας, ἀναθεματισθήτωσαν δὲ καὶ οὓς ἔστεψα τρεῖς βασι 2.518 λεῖς, καὶ ἐξίσταμαι τῷ βουλομένῳ τοῦ θρόνου." ταύτην δεξά μενοι τὴν ἀγγελίαν οἱ περὶ τὸν ∆ημήτριον, καὶ αἰσχύνης καὶ δέους πλησθέντες (ἦσαν γὰρ οἱ πλείους ὑπ' αὐτοῦ χειροτονηθέντες), ἠσπάσαντο σιωπήν, καὶ λοιπὸν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐπέσχε τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ κα τασχέσει τοῦ θρόνου ὄρεξιν.

Τῷ δὲ #22φμʹ ἔτει, ἰνδικτιῶνος ʹ, ἡμέρᾳ Νοεμβρίου βʹ, γέγονε σεισμὸς περὶ ὥραν ιʹ τῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ διετέλεσεν ἡ γῆ σειο μένη ἄχρις ὅλου τοῦ Ἰανουαρίου μηνός. γέγονε δὲ καὶ λιμὸς κατά τε Θρᾴκην καὶ Μακεδονίαν, Στρυμόνα καὶ Θεσσαλονίκην, καὶ μέχρι Θετταλίας. καταβοησάντων δὲ τῶν κληρικῶν Θεσσα λονίκης Θεοφάνους τοῦ μητροπολίτου ὡς ἀποκρατοῦντος τὰς συνή θεις σιτήσεις αὐτῶν, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῇ Θεσσαλονίκῃ ἐνδιατρίβων λό γοις παραινετικοῖς ἐκέχρητο πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ παρῄνει μὴ ἀποστε ρεῖν τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας λαὸν τῶν ἀπὸ νόμου σιτηρεσίων. τοῦ δὲ τραχυνομένου καὶ μὴ ὑπείκοντος, ἔγνω δεῖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπάτῃ περιελθεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ κολάσαι τὴν ἀπληστίαν αὐτοῦ. πέμπει οὖν τινὰ τῶν ὑπηρετούντων αὐτῷ, ἐξαιτῶν ἐκδανεῖσαί οἱ κεντηνάριον ἕν, μέχρις ἂν ἐκ Βυζαντίου χρυσίον διακομισθείη. ὁ δὲ ἐνωμό τως ἀπηρνήσατο μὴ ἔχειν πλὴν τριάκοντα λιτρῶν. καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἐκποδὼν μεθίστησιν ὁ βασιλεύς, ἀποστείλας δὲ καὶ τὰ ταμιεῖα αὐτοῦ διερευνησάμενος εὗρε χρυσίου κεντηνάρια τριάκοντα καὶ τρία· ἐξ ὧν δίδωσι μὲν τοῖς κληρικοῖς τὰ ὀφειλόμενα ἀπὸ πρώτου ἔτους τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης τοῦ Θεοφάνους ἕως τῆς ἐνεστώσης ὥρας, 2.519 τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πένησι διανέμει, καὶ τὸν μητροπολίτην ἐξωθεῖ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ ἔν τινι κτήματι περιορίζει. ἐφίστησι δὲ Προμηθέα τῇ μητροπόλει, παρ' οὗ καὶ οὗτος σιτηρέσια λαμβάνειν τετύπωτο καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν διάγειν. Παγκρατίου δὲ τοῦ ἐξουσιαστοῦ Ἀβασγίας σφοδρῶς ἐπι κειμένου τῷ κατεπάνω Ἰβηρίας τῷ Ἰασίτῃ, ὁ Ἰωάννης μετὰ τῶνταγμάτων τῆς ἕω πάντων τὸν δομέστικον Κωνσταντῖνον τῶν σχο λῶν, τὸν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφόν, ἐκπέμπει, καθυποσχόμενος συνεκπέμ ψαι τούτῳ καὶ τὸν ∆αλασσηνόν, ὡς ἂν ἔχῃ τοῦτον σύμβουλον καὶ παραστάτην ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις. τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἐποίησε, καὶ λοιπὸν ἄπρακτος ὁ δομέστικος ὑπενόστησε. Μέλλοντος δὲ τοῦ Ἰωάννου καθαρσίου μετασχεῖν φαρμά κου, γνοῦσα τοῦτο Ζωὴ ἡ βασιλὶς διά τινος τῶν οἰκειοτάτων αὐτῇ εὐνούχων τοῦ λεγομένου Σγουρίτζη δώροις ὑποφθείρει τὸν ἰατρὸν οὐκ ὀλίγοις, ὑποσχομένη ἐς βίου τε περιφάνειαν ἄξειν αὐτὸν καὶ πλούτου ὑπεροχήν, εἰ κεράσει τῷ φαρμάκῳ καὶ δηλητήριον. παι δαρίου δέ τινος τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων τῷ ἰατρῷ μηνύσαντος τὸ σκευώρημα τῷ Ἰωάννῃ, καὶ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς ἐλεγχθείσης, ὁ μὲν ἰατρὸς εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν αὐτοῦ πατρίδα ἐξορίζεται, ὁ δὲ τὸ δη λητήριον συσκευασάμενος Κωνσταντῖνος πρωτοσπαθάριος ὁ Μου κουπέλης ἐξωθεῖται τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς ἐν ὑποψίαις ἔκειτο μείζοσιν. 2.520 Ἄρτι δὲ καὶ Γεωργίου πατρικίου τοῦ Μανιάκη τὴν Σικε λίαν καταλαβόντος, οἱ ταύτης ἄρχοντες καὶ αὐτάδελφοι σπεισά μενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔσπευδον ἀπελάσαι τοῦτον τῆς νήσου. διὸ καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐξ Ἀφρικῆς μετεπέμψαντο χιλιάδας πεντήκοντα· ἧς ἐλθούσης γίνεται συμβολὴ κραταιὰ κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα Ῥή ματα, καὶ τρέπεται κατὰ κράτος τοὺς Καρχηδονίους ὁ Μανιάκης, τοσούτου γενομένου φόνου ὡς τὸν παραρρέοντα ποταμὸν πλημμυ ρῆσαι τῷ αἵματι. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα εἷλε πόλεις Σικελικὰς ιγʹ, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν προϊὼν πᾶσαν ἐχειρώσατο τὴν νῆσον. Τῷ δὲ #22φμʹ ἔτει, ἰνδικτιῶνος ʹ,