Orationes forenses et acta
each one of you has received benefits from him, that having set this forth here with goodwill toward him you might sway the votes, and by showing favo
having beset it and stirred herself up to be divinely inspired and worked herself into a Bacchic frenzy. Now, that the many are deceived by this, I do
of her, nor anything else of the things forbidden to me, but which are proclaimed and honored by them. For someone might perhaps excuse him for the fi
to be enumerated? For divination is for the time being sufficient. But I think, if this had happened before, he would have nobly recorded these things
of the difference of theurgies, at the end he adds: One must remove in advance all obstacles to the visitation of the gods and impose a total tranqui
In these matters I would gladly ask of you, whether it is permitted for a priest to be initiated into such mysteries and to be deemed worthy of such r
Immediately, therefore, all blushed, or rather, indeed, they shouted with their voices and condemned the leaders of the impiety and named their writin
has he discerned? But if indeed the part of the synod has not joined with the senate council nor with the chosen of the Nazirites—for this part was no
Aristotle's theology and the psychogony of Plato and the new numbers and the remodeling of doctrines and the expense of the divisible, who of all ever
What argument is left to you concerning this, or how is it that you dispute with one another over matters of such importance and postpone the decision
And I gladly admire in you the encomium of the good man in your memorandum. For where he holds on to the whole and bears the burden of common cares, y
all those, with whom we disagree, have advocated for confusions or divisions. For what do matter and ideas have in common with our doctrines? But sinc
and of the one who is lifted up and of the one seated on it. Know the cherubic and seraphic wings, the perfection of their number, the symbolic coveri
they have shaken. For if they happened to be uninitiated in our doctrines and completely uninstructed in the mysteries of the spirit, perhaps, having
For he who receives a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, from the contrary and greater, he who receives an impious man will receive the punishme
he has despised all things equally, although the law, standing as it were at his ears, cried out: Let no one teach or learn profane things. and agai
he both strung together and vomited up, this twenty-third writing he thinks, or rather he places it between those who were then in every way our own p
depicting the madness of Nestorian rage. I have left it to you to compare it with the dogmas of the Massalians. I brought forth to them from the inner
The patriarch has acted impiously, clearly and openly. And it is not permitted for any of you who wish, nor for those zealous on his behalf, to defend
and having brought over certain forces from the west, he stirred them up for war, and they come face to face with each other from both sides. And a fi
delaying he is persuaded and is moderate and descends with them. And he dares against two emperors, of whom the one the imperial court held, adorned w
being torn apart. But Pilate sat judging my divinely-moved emperor, the Lord's anointed, who was being considered, not hesitating, not washing his han
to kill the emperor, unless he came down quickly and bowed his head to him, but he, fearing the tyrannical cruelty and cowering lest he suffer anythin
an innovative rank and would come to be below. There, then, the morning star raged against the first goodness, but here the evening star has attacked
demonic in his life. But again I have turned to you, the judges, and again I ask: has anything been dared by this man or not? You will surely say the
Then failing to achieve their purpose, they chose to strike and kill. Is it not clear to all that, while digging through and breaking into the houses
ruin, if he should object saying that he neither urged these things nor wished them, but even punished many of those who dared with all punishments, w
in the parts on the right, somewhere near the entrance, but you have immediately ascended into heaven on earth itself, as if considering it a terrible
disregarding the divine temples, he was destroying them? And he did not cease, piling one on top of another and making them abandoned ruins. For not o
leaning together walls collapsed together with their icons and statues. and everything was as if in a great earthquake, the air being darkened, the e
and the remains of the apostle Luke are burned by fire and reduced to dust. I fear that the bodies of martyrs also lay here. I am afraid that some of
I shall grant you this also. He had no need, it is true, of the burial robes. I admit it, since they had all already decayed. But he did have need of
let us not even examine the scene after that, but let these things be considered by him as theaters and hunts. But where the mercy-seat is, and around
seeing what was happening was exulting and rejoicing, like of old the whelp of the beast, I mean the one from Isauria. But you consider for me what a
fire was burning us and the zeal of the Lord was consuming us, long ago the man would have perished, or rather, he would not even have had access to t
to me the Macedonian, to the right the spear, at a walk the half-file leader, captain, wheel around. And nothing new nor incredible for one who has
I pray with the high priest, but the mixture and the sheath which has grown with us turns the mind, being raised aloft, back toward itself. Therefore
He would trace his genealogy from Cronus and Rhea and from those even further back, I mean Hericapaeus and Phanes and that Orphic Night and he traced
and the same color over all, none of which moved or influenced him? But never to converse even with the more divine words nor to unroll any tablet, th
The emperor's treasury is not supplied only from mines nor from the recesses of the earth, nor do tributes alone fill it, nor contributions from land
and to speak of the audacity, or rather—but how could I speak, intertwining things?—and the diligently pursued plot, through which almost everything w
granting that you may meet with more benevolent judges above. and then the drink of deposition here will truly appear to you as a purification. and ma
suspicious to many. But if he has nothing in common with the one he has chosen to accuse, nor has anything come between them, it is somehow still unac
they anticipate my tongue, scattering against me the things they did wrong on account of their own greed, and I confidently awaited the court, as one
to vote against a priest on the spot the penance exceeds all punishment the examination and the penance must proceed canonically. and, as it seems,
of the whole age, an unbeliever, so that I may speak truly, to believe against a believer? For this would be far from reason and thought. For where we
But I, but what might I say about this? He living the life of a private citizen, but I clothed in the high-priestly vestment. And such a man is agains
with misfortunes and your example, for the sake of argument, let someone come forward as a condemned man to have his neck cut. And let the sword be ha
do you receive? For the pardon testifies that the deposition did not seem so even to himself. For if, according to you, it is like a cutting off, what
Is the cause the comparison of the matter to a beheading? For from this, one absurdity having been granted, these many nonsensical things were consequ
an evil tale about me for years, leave me to my former wounds, do not card new ones upon me. So may the Lord heal you, if indeed there is anything in
This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. But he introduced a new kind of writing into the
of voice, for not even this is unworthy of the art, and with a rhythmic turn of the tongue, you perhaps might only approach him, you who indeed gaped
has been debarred from studies? But for you in deep old age, what share is there of education? Who of all people has known you, as far as I know, afte
which they say came into being of their own accord. But these things are not acceptable to you, and for this reason we shall laugh at you again, havin
ever, not in courts, not in counsels, not in public, not in private. For this was not even without accusation, but the speech had some defense. From w
and the nature of fire did not burn, and the steep rock sent forth springs, and the wood here sweetened the bitterness, and there lightened the heavy
did he transcend this time? And it is likely, O best one, for Christ possessed a nature more free even according to human standards. Whether, then, th
from himself, having allotted a great portion of reason to his soul This man, therefore, having long ago established for himself a little adopted dau
a contest, but more brilliant was the victory of Elpidius, and he went away having overcome the vestarches by all votes and crowning himself with the
receiving. When the most compassionate soul heard this supplication, since she also knew the circumstances concerning the bestarches, and that for man
I will let my tongue go from forbidden deeds. And first I shame myself relating unspeakable and improper things, since I will also become a stumbling
The amounts owed will be reckoned against each other, and the fine will be reckoned to Elpidios in place of the protospatharios's fee, and the protosp
having received a seaside property from him, I give back to him in exchange a mainland one as a permanent dwelling by gift. But the Kalai property was
most complete, not measured by time, not defined by partial successions nor by these alienations or those, but eternal, sufficient for all successions
indicating by the documents, which it is also necessary to go through in order. And so that we may make the summaries concise, and not, by going throu
at that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been i
but the rest testified that they themselves were not present at such a sale, but had heard from the subscribing witnesses in the confirmatory document
He marveled at our western setting sun as a morning sunrise, and with the unspeakable pangs of his soul he discerned the ineffable will of God concern
On both sides the gift is valid for those who received it from there. For the estate was perhaps of the daughters of Nicholas’s wife through paternal
harmony, who of all could dissolve such a great bond, or rather these wonderful and in reality altogether indissoluble connections? For the first and
he has made known by an agreement to whom indeed you also entrusted everything under oath and, whatever they themselves should do, you have promised
emperor of the Romans, Doukas. Konstantinos, in Christ the God faithful emperor of the Romans, Doukas. Ioannes, most humble archbishop of Constantinop
Orationes forenses et acta
Accusation of the High Priest before the Synod. The purpose of this speech, O divine and sacred synod, is a touchstone and examination of truth, or rather, if one must speak the truth openly, an exposition and proof of confessed and common concepts. For I will not use others as witnesses for my undertaking, but you; and I do not take from you the dignity of judging, but I make it all the more august because you will come to the vote not by alien voices, but by your own knowledge and judgments. Such then is the purpose of the speech, but the end, and that to which all things converge, is the destruction of impiety, the demonstration of piety, the denunciation of new doctrines which we do not know, and the establishment and confirmation of the customary and true ones. And if on these grounds you vote against a high priest, one must not be surprised. For he who bewitches the word of the dogma, as from a citadel, from his presiding seat runs down our souls, and just as if one should wish to check the streams of rivers, he blocks up the very eye of the spring, so in the same way, if we too must check the inflows of heresies, we must cut off their very source, from which the muddy and undrinkable stream of evil doctrine has come forth. For even if the first and divine Word removed the middle wall of partition and joined together the things that were separated by inserting himself as the cornerstone, yet he also came to cast fire upon the earth and he hastens its kindling and divides the families more than any two-edged sword and deepens the cut to the thoughts of the heart and the marrow of the soul. What does the Word signify in each case? In the former, the concord of souls regarding the first union and the joining of the first and second peoples, but in the latter, the cutting off and division of alien members and the consumption of evil habits. And alien members would reasonably be understood by you to be all that are not joined fast to the reception of the transmitted doctrines. Therefore, even if they hold the place of hands, let them be cut off; and if of eyes, let them be cast out; and even if one should have for us the dignity of a head, but should see perversely or speak things stunted and inarticulate, let him be cut out. And must we not disregard even fathers and generations yet more distant, when God is what is at stake? I at least have not composed the present speech out of hatred for the patriarch, nor have I chosen to make this indictment for the sake of private matters, but because I have long seen that he is not at all devoted to piety, and does not observe the canons of the fathers strictly, but associates with those whom the sacred law does not permit and has fellowship with those whom it forbids, and fearlessly mixes the stale, watery, and cheap dregs of the heresies with the pure, clear, and heart-gladdening drink of the divine doctrines, and muddies and adulterates our undefiled faith, I have indicted him for impiety, and have been moved, if you are willing, to accuse him with you. And as I am about to begin the contests themselves, I forewarn and stipulate this much to you, that though for the time being I indict the high priest on many charges—impiety, tyranny, murder, sacrilege, and moreover indifference—and though I am making descriptions of his words and deeds, I am not setting them all forth mixed together, but I will go through them separately, according to each of the main points. And that our indictment may proceed in an orderly way, let the main point concerning heresy be examined first. And I ask you not to come to the judgment of this speech with your own preconceptions, nor, if anything
Orationes forenses et acta
Πρὸς τὴν σύνοδον κατηγορία τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. Ὁ μὲν τοῦ λόγου σκοπός, ὦ θεία καὶ ἱερὰ σύνοδος, ἀληθείας ἐστὶν βάσανος καὶ ἐξέτασις
ἢ μᾶλλον, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς ἀνακεκαλυμμένως ἐρεῖν, ἔκθεσις καὶ ἀπόδειξις ἐξωμολογημένων καὶ κοινῶν ἐννοιῶν. οὐ γὰρ ἑτέροις ὧν
ἐπικεχείρηκα, ἀλλ' ὑμῖν χρήσομαι μάρτυσι· καὶ οὐκ ἀφαιροῦμαι ὑμᾶς τὸ τοῦ δικάζειν ἀξίωμα, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτο ποιοῦμαι σεμνότερον,
ὅτι μὴ φωναῖς ἀλλοτρίαις, ἀλλ' οἰκείαις γνώσεσί τε καὶ κρίσεσι πρὸς τὴν ψῆφον ἐλεύσεσθε. ὁ μὲν οὖν σκοπὸς τοῦ λόγου τοιοῦτος,
τὸ δὲ τέλος καὶ πρὸς ὃ πάντα συννένευκε, καθαίρεσις μὲν ἀσεβείας, ἐπίδειξις δὲ εὐσεβείας, καὶ καινῶν μὲν δογμάτων καὶ ὧν οὐκ
ἴσμεν στηλίτευσις, τῶν δὲ συνήθων καὶ ἀληθῶν ἑδραίωσις καὶ βεβαίωσις. εἰ δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀρχιερέως καταψηφιεῖσθε, θαυμάζειν
οὐ χρή. ὁ γὰρ βασκαίνων τῷ τοῦ δόγματος λόγῳ, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀκροπόλεως, τῶν προκαθημένων κατατρέχει τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, καὶ ὥσπερ
εἴ τις τὰ τῶν ποταμῶν ἐπισχεῖν ἐθελήσειε ῥεύματα, αὐτὸν ἀποφράττει τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν τῆς πηγῆς, τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον, εἴ γε καὶ ἡμᾶς
χρεὼν ἐπέχειν τὰς ἐπιρροὰς τῶν αἱρέσεων, τὴν γένναν αὐτὴν ἀνακοπτέον, ἀφ' ἧς τὸ θολερὸν καὶ ἄποτον ῥεῦμα τοῦ πονηροῦ δόγματος
προελήλυθεν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀνεῖλε τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ ὁ πρῶτος καὶ θεῖος λόγος καὶ συνῆψε τὰ διεστῶτα ἑαυτὸν λίθον ἀκρόγωνον
ἐμβαλών, ἀλλὰ καὶ πῦρ ἦλθε βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐπισπεύδει τὴν ἄναψιν καὶ διαιρεῖ τὰ γένη ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν δίστομον μάχαιραν καὶ
τὴν τομὴν ἐμβαθύνει ἄχρις ἐννοιῶν καρδίας καὶ μυελῶν ψυχῆς. τί τοῦ λόγου δηλοῦντος ἐν ἑκατέροις; ἐκεῖ μὲν τὴν τῶν ψυχῶν περὶ
τὴν πρώτην ἕνωσιν σύμπνοιαν καὶ τὴν τῶν πρώτων καὶ δευτέρων συναφήν, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων μελῶν ἐκκοπὴν καὶ διαίρεσιν
καὶ τὴν ἀνάλωσιν τῶν πονηρῶν ἕξεων. ἀλλότρια δὲ μέλη εἰκότως ἂν ὑμῖν νοοῖντο, ὅσα μὴ συγκεκόλληνται πρὸς τὴν τῶν παραδεδομένων
δογμάτων παραδοχήν. κἂν εἰ χειρῶν οὖν ἐπέχοιεν λόγον, ἀποκοπτέσθωσαν· κἂν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἀποβεβλήσθωσαν· κἂν εἰ κεφαλῆς ἀξίωμά
τις πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχοι, διεστραμμένως δὲ ὁρῴη ἢ κολοβὰ καὶ ἄναρθρα φθέγγοιτο, ἐκτεμνέσθω. κατολιγωρητέον δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ πατέρων καὶ
τῶν ἔτι πορρωτέρω γενῶν, ἔνθα θεὸς τὸ κινδυνευόμενον; Ἐγὼ γοῦν οὐ τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἀπεχθανόμενος τὸν παρόντα λόγον ξυγγέγραφα,
οὐδὲ οἰκείων ἕνεκα ὑποθέσεων τὴν γραφὴν εἱλόμην ποιήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ πάλαι τοῦτον ἑωρακὼς οὐ πάνυ τι τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ προσκείμενον
καὶ μήτ' ἐξακριβοῦντα τοὺς τῶν πατέρων κανόνας, καὶ ὁμιλοῦντα μὲν οἷς ὁ ἱερὸς νόμος δίδωσι μή, κοινωνοῦντα δὲ ὧν ἀπείργει,
ἀναμιγνύντα τε ἀδεῶς τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ διαυγεῖ καὶ καρδίαν εὐφραίνοντι τῶν θείων δογμάτων πόματι τὸ ἐξίτηλον καὶ ὑδαρὲς καὶ εὔωνον
τῶν αἱρέσεων καὶ τὴν ἄχραντον ἡμῶν πίστιν ἐπιθολοῦντα καὶ καπηλεύοντα, ἀσεβείας αὐτὸν ἐγραψάμην, καὶ προῆγμαι, εἴ γε βούλεσθε,
σὺν ὑμῖν τούτου κατηγορεῖν. μέλλων δὲ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀγώνων ἐφάπτεσθαι τοσοῦτον ὑμῖν προλέγω καὶ διορίζομαι, ὅτι πολλῶν ἐγκλημάτων
τὸν ἀρχιερέα τέως γραφόμενος, ἀσεβείας, τυραννίδος, φόνου, ἱεροσυλίας, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἀδιαφορίας, καὶ λόγων καὶ πράξεων χαρακτῆρας
αὐτοῦ ποιούμενος οὐκ ἀναμὶξ ἅπαντα τίθεμαι, ἀλλ' ἰδίᾳ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν κεφαλαίων ἐπέξειμι. καὶ ἵνα γε κατὰ λόγον ἡμῖν ἡ γραφὴ
προχωροίη, τὸ περὶ τῆς αἱρέσεως πρῶτον ἐξεταζέσθω κεφάλαιον. Ἀξιῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς μὴ μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων προλήψεων ἐπὶ τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ λόγου
ἐλθεῖν μηδ', εἴ τι
