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This
third Book records the events that took place in the Synod, which met at
Chalcedon, after the death of Theodosius, in the days of Marcian, in the year
seven hundred and sixty-four by the reckoning of the Greeks.
And
the number of the bishops was five hundred and, sixty-seven, who were brought
together in consequence of the exertion of Leo of Rome, and the letter that he
wrote to the king and his wife Pulcheria.
And the Synod sent Dioscorus of Alexandria away to Gangra of Thrace, and appointed Proterius bishop in his stead, and received the letter of Leo, which is called the Book.
And
the other matters, which occurred in Jerusalem, or in Alexandria, or in other
places during, the life of Marcian, that is, a space of six years and a half;
behold they are written down here.
Chapter
1.
1.
Since it is
acceptable unto you, and desired by you, Christ-loving Eupraxius dwelling in the
royal palace, and are occupied in the service of kings, to learn what happened,
in the reign of Marcian, to the holy Church of God.
2.
And who
they were who, in regular succession, were the chief priests in Alexandria,
Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem, from the time of the Council of
Chalcedon—that Council which, ostensibly convened about the matter of
Eutyches,
3.
Who
introduced and increased the heresy of Nestorius; and shook all the world; and
added evil upon evil; and set the two heresies, one against the other; and
filled the world with divisions; and confounded the faith delivered by the
apostles, and the good order of the Church.
4.
Which tore
into ten thousand rents the perfect Robe of Christ, woven from the top
throughout: therefore we, banned those two heresies, and every wicked teacher of
doctrine corrupt and contrary to the Church of God, and to the orthodox faith of
the three holy Synods, which skillfully maintained the true doctrine; shall, to
that end, employ this history which you urged us to undertake.
5.
After the
death of the holy Cyril of Alexandria, who carried on the conflict against many
corrupt doctrines, and exposed them, Dioscorus received the throne as his
successor, and he was a peaceable man, and also a champion;
although he
had not the same promptitude and boldness as Cyril.
6.
At that
time Theodoret and Hibo, who, along with Flavian of Constantinople and Eusebius,
were deposed by the second Synod of Ephesus, which met there in the days of
Theodosius, about the matter of Eutyches, and Flavian
7.
Theodoret
of Cyrrhus, because he wrote twelve censures upon Cyril's Heads against
Nestorius ; and Hibo of Edessa, because he wrote a letter to Moris of Nisibis,
reviling Cyril -- were, both of them, upholding the doctrine of Theodore and
Diodorus.
8.
And
Theodore went up to Leo of Rome, and informed him about all
these matters; and, with the gift, which blinds the eyes of the soul; he got the
better of him. Whereupon Leo composed that letter which is called the Book, and
which was ostensibly written to Flavian against Eutychianism.
9.
But Leo
also wrote to Marcian the king, and his wife Pulcheria, and warmly commended
Theodore to them.
10.
This
Marcian favored the doctrine of Nestorius, and was well disposed towards him;
and so he sent by John the Tribune, to recall Nestorius from his place of
banishment in Oasis; and to recall also Dorotheus, the bishop who was with him.
11.
And it
happened while he was returning, that he set the holy Virgin at nothing, the Theotokos,
and said, "What is Mary? Why should she indeed be called the Theotokos!"
And the righteous judgment of God speedily overtook him (as had been the
case formerly with Arius, who blasphemed against the Son of God).
12.
Accordingly
he fell from his mule, and the tongue of this Nestorius was cut off, and his
mouth was eaten by worms, and he died on the roadway.
13.
And his
companion Dorotheus died also. And the king, hearing of it, was greatly grieved;
and he was thinking upon what had occurred, and he was in doubt as to what he
should do.
14.
However,
written directions from Marcian the king were delivered by John the Tribune to
Dioscorus and Juvenalis, calling upon them to meet in Council, and John also
informed them of what had happened to Nestorius and to Dorotheus.
15.
And when
the bishops of every place, who were summoned, were preparing to meet at Nicea,
Providence did not allow them; for the king issued a new order that the assembly
should be convened to Chalcedon, so that Nicea might not be the meeting-place of
rebels.
16.
Then the
Nestorian party earnestly urged and besought the king that Theodoret should be
appointed the president of the Synod, and that, according to his word, every
matter should be decided there.
17.
And when
they met at Chalcedon, Theodoret entered in and lived there boldly, like an
honored bishop; he who a little time before had been ejected from the priesthood
by their means. And Dioscorus and the chief bishops were vexed and troubled on
account of the haughty insolence which the man displayed;
18.
But they
could not put a stop to it, because of the royal authority, though they saw that
the canons were despised by him, and by Hibo also, with the help of the Roman
legates of Leo, who were aiding and abetting them.
19.
And when
Dioscorus was proclaiming the doctrine of the faith in the Synod, and with him
Juvenalis, and Thalassius of Cappadocia, and Anatolius, and Amphilochius of
Side, and Eusebius of Ancyra, and Eustace of Berytus;
20.
Then, as by
a miracle, Eusebius of Dorylaeum also agreed with them; for they saw that the
Nestorian doctrine of the two natures was confirmed, and established there, by
the cooperation of John of Germanicia, who fiercely contended, in the course of
the dispute there, with the side which said,
21.
"It is
right for us to confess Christ after His incarnation as one Nature from two,
according to the belief of the rest of the Fathers, and not to introduce any
innovation or add any novelty to the faith."
22.
Wherefore,
John of Germanicia, and the rest of the Nestorian party, with Theodoret at their
head, brought about the deprivation of Dioscorus; because he said, "It is
right for us to believe that Christ became incarnate from two natures;
and we should not confess two natures after the union, like Nestorius.
23.
And then
Anatolius, the bishop of the royal city, cried out in words to this effect,
"Not for the faith is Dioscorus deposed; but he is set at nothing for
refusing to hold communion with the chief priest, my lord Leo."
24.
And after
the outcry of many, and after the things had been spoken which have been written
in the Acts of that Council, at last those bishops being forced to do so,
defined our Lord Jesus Christ to be in two natures. And they praised the Book of
Leo, and they called that an orthodox definition which said, "There are two
Persons, and two Natures, with their properties and their operations."
25.
And this
being so, they were required to subscribe under compulsion; those very priests
who, a little time before in the days of the blessed Theodosius, being assembled
at the second Council of Ephesus, cried out many times, "If anyone shall
say 'Two natures to two,' let the Silentiarius come up!"
26.
And when
they repeated this over to Dioscorus, by means of John the chief of the
Silentiarius, and asked him to agree to it, and to subscribe, and get back his
throne; he said, courageously, "Sooner would Dioscorus see his own hand cut
off, and the blood falling on the paper, than do such a thing as that."
27.
Whereupon
he was sent into banishment to Gangra, because the Nestorian party published the
report about him, that his opinions were the same as those of Eutyches.
28.
And I think
it well, omitting many of his sayings, both what he spoke and wrote to Domnus of
Antioch, and in the Synod of Chalcedon itself, which testify concerning the
faith of the man, that his faith was like that of Athanasius, and Cyril, and the
other doctors, I think it well to make a written extract out of what he
wrote from his place of banishment to. Secundinus, in the following words.
·
29.
Omitting
many urgent matters, this I declare, that no man shall say that the holy flesh,
which our Lord took from the Virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit,
in a manner which He Himself knows, was different to and foreign from our body.
30.
And,
indeed, since this is so, they who affirm that Christ did not become incarnate
for us are calling Paul a liar. For
he said, 'Not from angels did He take, but from the seed of the
House of Abraham’; to which seed Mary was no stranger, as the Scriptures teach
us.
31.
And again; It was right that in everything He should be made like unto
His brethren,' and that word 'in everything' does not suffer the subtraction of
any part of our nature: since in nerves, and hair, and bones, and veins, and
belly, and heart, and kidneys, and liver, and lungs,
32.
And, in
short, in all those things that belong to our nature, the flesh which was born
from Mary was
33.
"For
if, as the heretics think, this was not so, how is He named 'our brother,'
supposing that He used a body different from ours? And how, again, is that true
which He said to His Father, 'I will declare Thy name to My brethren?
34.
Let
us not reject, neither let us despise, those who think in this way. For He was
like us, for us, and with us, not in fantasy, nor in mere semblance, according
to the heresy of the Manichaeans, but rather in actual reality from Mary.
35.
To comfort
the desolate and to repair the vessel that had been broken, He came to us new.
And as Immanuel, indeed, He is confessed, for He became poor for us, according
to the saying of Paul, 'that we, by His humiliation, might be made rich.
36
He became,
by the dispensation, like us; that we, by His tender mercy, might be like Him.
He became man, and yet He did not destroy that which is His nature, that He is
Son of God; that we, by grace, might become the sons of God.
37.
This I
think and believe; and, if any man does not think thus, he is a stranger to the
faith of the apostles."
·
38. And although this apostolic man had been well versed in this confession of faith from the beginning of his life, yet he was deposed and sent into banishment, because he would not worship the image, with its two faces, which was set up by leo and by the council of Chalcedon.
39.
And
because he refused to hold communion with theodoret
and hibo,
who had been deprived on account of their blasphemies.
40.
But the
story goes that when on one occasion he saw Theodoret sitting upon the throne in
the Council, and speaking from it, and not standing and making his defense, as
one should who had been canonically deposed from the priesthood;
41.
Then he
himself arose and descended from the throne and sat upon the pavement, saying,
"I Will not sit with the wicked, nor with vain persons will I enter
in."
42.
Whereupon
the partisans of Theodoret cried out, "He has deposed himself." But
the other bishops cried out, "Our faith is perishing. If Theodoret, who
holds the opinions of Nestorius be accepted, we reject Cyril." Then Basil,
the bishop of Tripolis, stood up and said, "We ourselves have deposed
Theodoret."
43.
But they
say that Amphilochius was beaten on his head by Aetius the deacon to make him
sign. It was this Aetius who went to Theodoret by night, and made a complete
copy for him of the symbol of the two natures; and when it was accepted by the
bishops, then Theodoret insolently derided them, saying, "See how I have
made them taste the leaven of the doctrine of Nestorius, and they are delighted
with it!
44.
"But
Eustace of Berytus, when he signed the document, wrote in short hand, "This
have I written under compulsion, not agreeing with it." And he wept very
much, as did also others who proclaimed the compulsion and exposed the
hypocritical profession of faith which was made.
45.
Because the
chief senators were present time after time at the discussions, and closely
watched the proceedings of the Synod. But at last, the king came there, with his
wife Pulcheria, and he delivered a public address in the Martyr Church of
Euphemia in the following terms:
·
46.
"From
the first time that we were chosen and accounted Worthy of the kingdom by God,
amidst all the care of public business, no concern whatever in which we might be
involved was allowed to hinder us, but we made it our choice to honor the true
faith of the Christians.
47.
And to
accustom the minds of men to it, with purity; all novelty of false doctrines and
preaching that do not agree with the well proved doctrine of the Fathers, being
taken out of our midst.
48.
Therefore
we summoned this holy Synod that it might cleanse away all darkness, and put
away filth of thoughts: that so, in pure mind, the doctrine of the faith which
is in our Lord Jesus Christ might be established," and so on, to the same
effect.
49.
When the
king had finished his public address, the bishops praised him and the Senate,
and also the letter of Leo, affirming with respect to it that it agreed with the
faith of the Apostle Peter.
Chapter 2
1.
The Synod
having received such an end as this, Dioscorus
was decreed to be a confessor, and was sent away to live in Gangra; and proterius
was appointed bishop in Alexandria, in his stead. This proterius
had been a presbyter on his side, and had contended earnestly against the Synod
at first, but afterwards, with the object of snatching the see for himself, he
became like Judas, a betrayer of his master,
2.
And like
Absalom, of his father; and he showed himself a rapacious wolf in the midst of
the flock. And many who were unwilling he afflicted and ill treated, to force
them into agreement with himself.
3.
And he sent
them into banishment, and he seized their property by means of the governors who
obeyed him in. consequence of the king's command.
4.
Whereupon,
indeed, the priests, and the monks, and many of the people, perceiving that the
faith had been polluted, both by the unjust deposition of Dioscorus and the
oppressive conduct of proterius and his wickedness.
5.
They
assembled themselves in the monasteries, and severed themselves from his
communion. And they proclaimed Dioscorus, and wrote his name in the book of life
as a chosen and faithful priest of God.
6.
And proterius
was very indignant, and he gave gifts into the hand of the Romans to arm them
against the people, and he soiled their hands with the blood of believers, who
were slain; for they also strengthened themselves, and made war.
7.
And many
died at the very altar, and in the baptistery, who had fled and taken refuge
there.
Chapter 3
1.
And in
Palestine, indeed, there were evils like these and worse. But from what cause I
shall now tell. When Juvenalis was summoned to Chalcedon, and he learned from
John the Tribune the will of the king; and also that Nestorius, who had been
recalled, died on his return from banishment;
2.
Then he
summoned the clergy, and gathered the monks and the people together; and he
exposed this false doctrine, and condemned it. And he confirmed the souls of
many in the true faith. And he charged them all, that if he should be perverted
in the Synod, they should hold communion with him no more.
3.
And at
first when he went there, he made a great struggle, along with Dioscorus, on
behalf of the faith. But because the royal pressure was brought to bear;
and because of the flattery and compliments of the king, who himself waited
personally upon the bishops at the banquet, and showed great condescension to
them;
4.
And because
the king also promised that he would give the three provinces of Palestine to
the honor of the see of Jerusalem; then the eyes of his mind were darkened, and
he left Dioscorus the champion alone, and he went over to the opposite side.
5.
And he
treated with contempt the oaths, which he had made in the name of God. And both
he and the bishops who were with him agreed and subscribed.
6.
And when
Theodosius the monk, and his companions who were in close fellowship with him,
and who zealously watched what was taking place in the Synod, heard about this
they returned quickly to Palestine; and they came to Jerusalem, and told about
the betrayal of the faith. And they called all the monks together, and gave full
information to them.
7.
And the
monks assembled, and prepared themselves, and went to meet Juvenalis as he was
coming. And they reminded him of his promises, and that he had failed to keep
them. And they made this one request of him, that he would censure the
proceedings, which had taken, place, and condemn them.
8.
But he
showed himself like Pilate, saying, "What I have written, I have
written." And the monks said to him, "We will not receive you then,
for you have broken your oaths and your promises." So he returned to the
king.
9.
But the
assembly of monks and clergy went back to Jerusalem. And the people, and the
bishops who were with them, were distressed, and they consulted together as to
what they should do. And they decided to appoint another bishop instead of
Juvenalis.
10.
When they
were speaking of the chaste monks, Romanus and Marcian, and of other men of
wonderful excellence; at length it was agreed that they should appoint
Theodosius, who had been found zealous, and who also had contended for years on
behalf of the faith.
11.
And they
took him by force, while he persisted in refusing, and conjuring them not to do
so, and begging them to allow him to be the helper of the person whom they
appointed from amongst themselves. However, they would not yield to his
entreaties; but blessed him and placed him on the throne.
12.
And when
the other cities of Palestine heard it; inasmuch as they knew him to be a man of
surpassing virtue, and zealous for the truth; they severally brought persons to
receive his blessing and be admitted to the priesthood.
Chapter 4
1.
Among these
also was Peter the Iberian, a man wonderfully celebrated throughout the world, a
king's son, who had been given as a hostage to Theodosius; and who was beloved
by him and by his wife Eudocia, on account of his excellent parts. And he was
brought up in the king's palace; and he was placed in charge of the royal
horses.
2.
But he
resigned this appointment, and gave himself up to the discipline of Christ along
with John the Eunuch also, who was his sponsor, and his father by water and the
Spirit. And they prospered, and God wrought signs by their means in
Constantinople.
3.
And they
fled from thence, and betook themselves next to the wilderness of Palestine, and
there they loved and cultivated the monastic life. And although after this
manner they desired to be hidden, yet they became greatly celebrated; and they
wrought signs like the apostles.
4.
And as they
were changing from place to place, they arrived opposite to Gaza and Majuma. And
the men and the women and the people of all ranks and ages went out and seized
Peter, and brought him to Jerusalem to Theodosius, whom they besought to make
him their bishop.
5.
And he laid
many charges against himself, and refused ordination. And against his will
Theodosius laid his hand upon his head and consecrated him, for he knew the man.
6.
And when he
became violently agitated, and called himself a heretic; then Theodosius
hesitated a little, and said to him, "My cause and thine are before the
Judgment Seat of Christ." And he changed his words, saying, "A heretic
indeed I am not, but a sinner."
7.
And
Theodosius, being well acquainted with the man, blessed him as priest for the
people of Gaza.
But
there were other excellent deeds done by this man, which, however, I omit, lest
I should make my narrative too long.
Chapter 5
1.
And when
Theodosius was prospering in this manner, the report of all that he was doing
reached Marcian the king. And Juvenalis returned, having with him Count
Dorotheus and an army; for the purpose of taking Theodosius, and making him a
prisoner.
2.
And for
deposing all the bishops whom he had made in his district, and punishing the
monks and the people, and expelling them in consequence of their insolence and
rashness in setting up Theodosius as bishop in Jerusalem.
3.
But by the
desire of the queen, Peter the Iberian alone was to be spared; even though he
should not consent to hold communion with the other bishops.
4.
And when
Juvenalis arrived at Neapolis, he found a large number of monks there; and at
first he tried to seduce them, simple men as they were, and single-minded, whose
arms and helmet were the true faith and works of righteousness. These he
endeavored to persuade to hold communion with him.
5.
And when
they turned away from this proposal with disgust, unless he would condemn the
violent transactions of Chalcedon; he then said, "It is the king's
will."
6.
And they
still refused. Whereupon he gave orders to the Romans and the Samaritans, who
smote and killed these monks, while they were singing psalms and saying, "O
God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance, and they have defiled Thy holy
temple; and behold they are making Jerusalem a waste place!
7.
And some of
the Romans were overcome with pity, and wept. But some of them, along with the
Samaritans, killed many of the monks, whose blood also was poured out upon the
ground.
·
8.
There was a
certain blind Samaritan who deceived his own guide, and said, "Since mine
eyes cannot see the blood of the slaughter of these Christians, so that I may
delight myself in it; bring me near that I may feel it." And when the guide
brought him near and caused him to feel it, he dipped his hands in the blood.
9.
And he
prostrated himself upon the ground; and wept with prayer and supplication, that
he might be a sharer in their martyrdom. Then he arose, and smeared his eyes,
and lifted up his hands to heaven; and his eyes were opened, and he received his
sight.
10.
And all who
were witnesses of this miracle were astonished and believed in God. And the
blind man also believed, and was baptized.
But the party who administered the king's orders, laid hold upon the
surviving believers, and expelled them from the whole district.
11.
But they
say that Peter the Illustrious was at rest, being left undisturbed by all, both
on account of the king's orders, and the loving care of the queen for him.
12.
But he saw
the Lord in a vision, saying to him indignantly, "How now Peter! Am I being
expelled in My believing servants, and art thou remaining quiet and at
rest?" Then Peter repented and obeyed, and he arose and left Gaza; and he
joined those who were expelled, and departed with them.
Chapter 8
1.
And
Juvenalis, having by means of the armed force of the Romans expelled the
believers and the monks who were in the country district, arrived at Jerusalem
and sat upon the throne.
2.
And he paid
no regard at all to his promises, nor to the slaughter, which had occurred upon
his entry there, nor to the falsehood of his oaths.
3.
Then a
certain monk, Solomon by name, was stirred in his spirit; and in this honorable
garb of chastity, and as if desiring to be blessed by the chief priest himself,
acted cunningly, and filled a basket with dust and ashes, and placed it under
his armpit, and drew near to Juvenalis.
4.
And the
latter was glad when the monk came in to him. And Solomon being received by him,
said to him, "Let my lord bless me."
5.
And, as the
Roman guard permitted him to draw near and come close to Juvenalis, he took out
the basket of dust and emptied it on his head, saying, "Shame upon thee,
shame upon thee, liar and persecutor! "
6.
And when
the Roman guard was about to strike him, Juvenalis would not allow it. And he
was not enraged, but was rather moved to penitence by this, and shook the dust
from his head. So they only put out the monk from his presence.
7.
And he
ordered that money for his expenses should be given to him, and that he
should leave his country. The monk, however, refused the money, but left the
country.
Chapter 9
1.
But
Theodosius, when he was sought for by the king's orders through the whole
province, assumed the garb of a Roman, having on his head hair and a helmet; and
he went about confirming and encouraging the believers.
2.
At length,
however, when he arrived at the parts about Sidon, he was taken and delivered up
to the Romans by one of his own friends.
3.
And the
Nestorian party were so enraged against him, because he had been going about
through the whole world, and exposing and banned the false doctrine of
Nestorius, that they went up to the king, and persuaded him to grant that the
man should be given into their charge and keeping.
4.
And they
took him and imprisoned him in a small house, belonging to the monks, in which
there was quicklime. And these
followers of Nestorius used to go to him in troops, and dispute with him, hoping
that under pressure of great affliction he would change his mind, and agree to
their will.
5.
But he
prevailed over them all and repulsed them; and as they departed from him
ashamed and confounded, he said,
6.
"Even
though I am imprisoned and thereby prevented from going about in the different
places, according to my former custom; yet as long as the breath is in my
nostrils, the word of God shall not be imprisoned in me; but it shall preach
that which is true and right in the ears of the hearers."
7.
But the
Eutychian party also imagined that he would agree with them; and they came
together to him, and entered into discussion with him.
8.
And in like
manner, contrary to their expectation, he showed them to be in agreement with
Valentinus, and Manes, and Marcion; and that their heresy was a wicked one,
worse even than that of Paul of Samosata, and Apollinaris, and Nestorius.
9.
And so they,
in their turn, departed from him, being condemned by him.
And because they laid one affliction after another upon him, his soul
also continued steadfast in the good fight.
10.
And while
there he met with some writings of John the Rhetorician from Alexandria, which
were full of false doctrine and very defective, and it is a heresy; and he
exposed the man and condemned him.
11.
And having
finished his course, contending in the fight, and kept his faith, at length he
died. And departing from the prison, he went to be with Christ our Lord. And he
left an example of courage to the believers.
Chapter 10
1.
John was an
adherent of Palladius the Alexandrian sophist, and was second to him; and for
that reason he was called the Rhetorician; because that next to sophistry comes
rhetoric, and therefore by that name the philosopher is surnamed.
2.
This man,
in the days of Proterius who succeeded Dioscorus, saw that the whole city of
Alexandria hated Proterius, some in consequence of their zeal for the faith, and
others because they had been plundered and persecuted by him, with the object of
making them agree to the Synod and accept the Book.
3.
He then
sought to ingratiate himself with the people, and to present a fine appearance,
and to collect money for himself, and to be celebrated with this empty glory.
4.
And not
having read the Holy Scriptures, and not understanding the meaning of their
mysteries, and not having exercised himself in the writings of the ancient
doctors of the holy Church, and not knowing what he was saying.
5.
Or that
about which he was contending, he was puffed up to write a sort of proof that,
after the manner of a seed, God the Word was wrapped up in the body; and that He
suffered in His own Nature, if indeed He suffered at all.
6.
But he
denied that the Word was united to a human body; and he would not confess the
natures from which One Christ appeared. But he prepared and collected words,
saying, "It can by no means be called a nature, as indeed without the seed
of a man in the Virgin the incarnation took place, therefore Christ was neither
by her nor from her."
7.
With vain
words such as these he used to chatter; and also wrote books. And in these he
was contradictory; sometimes agreeing with Apollinaris, sometimes with Eutyches;
and again, stating what was quite new.
8.
And because
he was in doubt about the subject of his writings, lest they should be reviled,
he did not subscribe his books with his own name.
9.
But at one
time he wrote the name of Theodosius, the bishop of Jerusalem, upon one; and
again, the name of Peter the Iberian upon another; that even the believers might
be deceived by them and accept them.
10.
But they
say, that on one occasion, Peter the Iberian met with one of them, which had
been written in his own name, in a certain monastery; and when he took it and
read it he was full of indignation, and he condemned the man who wrote it.
11.
And not
there alone, but also in Alexandria, and in Palestine, and in Syria, both he and
Theodosius condemned the writings of this man.
Chapter 11
1.
But when
the report of the death of Dioscorus reached the Alexandrians, there was great
trouble and sorrow. And after his death, on account of the love that they had
for him, they proclaimed him as a living man, and his name was set in the
Diptych. But let no man even of those, whose endeavor it is to revile what is
not done in exact order, find fault.
2.
But the
believing party was desirous of appointing a bishop instead of Dioscorus.
However, they were afraid of the threats of Marcian the king; for he was sending
letters in every direction, and fulminations against all who would not agree to
the Synod.
3.
For so it
was, that when he heard of the men of Alexandria, and of their intention to
appoint a bishop for themselves after the death of Dioscorus, he sent John, the
chief of the Silentiarii, with a letter from himself exhorting the Alexandrians
to be united to Proterius.
4.
And this
John was of the same mind as the king, and he was an astute man. And when he
came and saw the crowd, the numbers of monks arrayed in chastity, and possessing
readiness of speech in defense of the faith,
5.
And also
the strong body of the common people who were believers, with whom he had to
deal, he was astounded, and said, "I am ready, if the Lord will, to inform
the king and to plead with him on your behalf."
6.
And he
received from them a petition— which gave information concerning their faith;
and concerning all that happened to them at the hands of Proterius; and
concerning the impious conduct of the man, and his wickedness, and the Church
property which he expended upon vanity.
7.
And when
John returned to the king and told him about these matters, he said to him,
"We sent you to persuade and exhort the Egyptians to obey our will: but you
have returned to us, not according as we wished, since we find you an
Egyptian."
8.
However,
when he perceived the things that were written about Proterius, in the petition,
which the monks sent, he blamed the pride and the craftiness of the man. And
while he was occupied with this matter, he died, having reigned six years and a
half.
9.
And Morian
also, who reigned four years along with him, died. And after him Anthemius, and
Severus, and Olybrius received the kingdom. And one year after, Leo the First
was associated with them. So that the lives of these four made up seven years.
Chapter 12
1.
When
Anthemius had reigned five years he was killed by Ricimer. And Severus, having
reigned one year with him, died. And Olybrius, who reigned after Severus along
with Anthemius for one year, died. And Leo the First also died, having reigned
with Anthemius for three years, and two years after.
2.
In the
first year of Leo, Antioch was overturned by the earthquake that occurred there,
and there was also a great fire. And in the second year of his reign, Sulifos,
the Gothic tyrant, was killed. And in the third year of his reign, Aspar the
general and his sons were killed.
3.
So there is
in this Book written here, a period of thirteen and a half years. And it is made
up in the following manner:
4.
Of Marcian
and Morian six years and a half; and of Anthemius, and Severus, and Olybrius,
and Leo the First, who reigned in succession and together, seven years.
5.
And this
period begins from the third year of the three hundred and fifth Olympiad, and
it ends in the three hundred and eighth Olympiad.