Arsenius Autorianus, Patriarch of Constantinople

you have considered most alien to you; and finally, you have generously despised and held as of little account both this and that, for the sake of the One whom you desired with all your soul and all your mind. I pray, keep our mind and soul pure from every stain, now also, while you exist in heaven; keep away every perverse thought from our souls and transfer our minds to God; and, to express it all briefly, direct the whole manner of our life and speech according to the divine good pleasure. Render to us the merciful God appeased, that we may rightly and without stumbling institute the course of our life, removed from every danger of fall and superior to all evils; and, as we depart from this life, fervently champion us, supplicate instantly, pray earnestly, that, exempted from severe judgment, we may attain some portion of that divine and ineffable blessedness: which may it come to pass for us all, through the grace and kindness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is due all glory, honor, and adoration, with Him who lacks a beginning—the Father—and His holy and consubstantial Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

YEAR OF OUR LORD MCCLXXIII.

ARSENIUS AUTORIANUS, Patriarch of Constantinople

ANACREONTIC ON THE LORD’S RESURRECTION

NOTICE

I saw the Anacreontic of Archbishop Arsenius (on the Lord’s Resurrection) in Vatican Codex 208, and, having found the verses not ungraceful—nay, elegant and redolent of a certain poetic sweetness—I immediately recorded them in my notebooks and handed them to the typesetter. Arsenius, of whom nothing is known except for the notice of Allatius to be cited shortly in the notes, is perhaps the Archbishop of Corcyra, whose hitherto unpublished orations in praise of St. Barbara and St. Andrew the Apostle (a) I recently copied from 11th and 14th-century membranes, at the request of the distinguished Andrea Mustoxydios; the former from Vatican Codex 679, the latter from Vallicellian Codex B, which the Prefect of the Library, the Reverend A. Theiner, offered me with wonderful liberality, as is the custom among learned men. Having prefixed an exhortation to celebrate so glorious a feast, Arsenius poetically pursues a description of spring, which occupies the greater part of the poem; then praises are attributed to the Holy Trinity, and St. George, the protector of the place where Arsenius was staying, is employed as an intercessor before the martyrs. Therefore, there are those who opine that our Arsenius was the Archbishop of Monemvasia, who died at Venice when he was seventy years old (b), and was buried in the church of St. George, although it is evident from the annals of that same church that the first stone of the same was blessed with a solemn rite on the Kalends of November in the year under the prefecture of Marcus Samariarius of Zacynthus, and was finished years later. To me, however, who often considers the purity of the style in the ode, the author appears to be much older than the 16th century.

(a) L. Allatius had proposed to publish these in *Symmicta*, book V, 108. (b) Cf. Ch. F. Boerner, *De doct. hom. Graec. etc.*, p. 155. Leipzig, 1740. * See the note of Cotelerius on the Testament of Arsenius, below.

VERSES OF ARCHBISHOP ARSENIUS ON THE RESURRECTION SUNDAY

Come to me, all you children, come, dearest choir, come, children nurtured by the Muses, uttering a sweet voice, mingling a pleasant song; let us all offer a hymn to the King and Creator of all, for the Queen of seasons is upon us. Come, let us all sound the trumpet, come, let us compose a song, come, let us all sing of God with joyful hearts; for He has left the tomb, He has broken all the bars of dark and bitter death, and the might of all-devouring Hades, and has resurrected all souls, showing forth His unconquerable power. ^A Now all creation leaps for joy, it praises Him who was exalted, all nature celebrates God as the bestower of good things, honoring Him who arose. Who could speak worthily, who could hymn worthily the things which the King of the ages, the sole Creator of all, the most radiant star-bringer, has bestowed upon men? For He is not darkened by clouds; He spreads forth a pure lamp, He beautifies all things with uncontainable light and beauty. ^B You shall see the bright circle of the moon, the radiant choir of stars, illuminating the night with uncontainable torchlight; you may see above the Great Bear and the Lesser, the crown of Ariadne, you may see the zodiac circle pure with its signs; you may see the northern circle, and with it the summer circle again. After these, again, you shall see the circle of the equinox, and after this you shall see the others now with delight; from thence you shall hymn God, such a good Creator. ^C See then the things of earth, receive unspeakable joy, zealously hymn God; now all plants flourish, flocks of birds leap upon the trees, singing, greeting the traveler, hymning the God of all. Who could hymn worthily? Who could speak worthily? Everything now sounds with songs, they utter a sweet melody, they gladden the souls of all. Rational youths, come to me, it is the time of spring, leap for joy, for the density of the clouds has been dissolved in clear weather, the frost has been driven far away, the cold has been put to flight, the gloomy things have passed away, the sky is now clear. ^D Rational youths, come to me, it is the time of spring, leap for joy; the breezes of Zephyrus are sweet, the rivers now flow; the sheep now play securely on the shore, the lambs leap with their mothers through the green fields. Come, rational youths, it is the time of spring, leap for joy. Now the purple bird sings, composing a vernal song, by the pleasant rivers, in the shady plane-trees...

it finds rest. The swallow has just come to seek the daughter of Pandion, and seeks Itys again, the sister. The Pan loves the Echo, and the Cyclops, Galatea; Aphrodite loves Adonis. Come, rational youths, it is the time of spring, leap for joy. The flock of cranes follows; the jackdaw sings, and the cuckoo cuckooes, and the magpie sings shrilly, that animal with a chattering voice; all now are roof-seekers, and the wild-olive eaters along with them flee into the valleys. Come, rational youths, it is the time of spring, leap for joy; the waves of the sea now move very gently, for even the mountains formerly were likened to [the sea] that cannot be traversed; therefore, let him who wishes to sail the sea spread his sails, he sets out far for gain, and the school of dolphins and of porpoises attends him. The roses now bloom smilingly from their calyces, the lilies now flourish; the hyacinth along with the narcissus is a bright sight; [the bee] arises readily, and goes round the valleys, ^B and the flowers of the trees it places into the cells, therefore also a most pleasant food. Come, rational youths, it is the time of spring, leap for joy; O Trinity, undivided nature, incomprehensible depth, unassailable power, having beauty that knows no satiety, God all-ruling and Creator, splendor of the Father, giver of all good things, you who provide wisdom, grant it to us, your humble servants, that we may understand your power and all your goodness among created things; O glory of the celebrated martyrs, we offer to you as mediator George, the patron of the gathering of Arsenius.

ARSENIUS PATRIARCH. PRIVILEGE FOR THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD OF MACRINITISSA.

(Pasini codices Taurinenses, tom. I.)

Hypomnema patriarchae domui Arsenii.

Ὑπόμνημα τοῦ πατριάρχου κυροῦ ᾿Αρσενίου.

apud vos the saying of the old sage holds true. For if the present effort, and the solicitous and assiduous care for the successful accomplishment of some praiseworthy thing is applied, it is not so easily brought to fruition; and if anything opposes it, the ministry of many strong men is needed for it to be brought to an end, and much more so if the delay of other evils, in which the matter is entangled, is added. But it seemed appropriate to our moderation to discuss these things, for we know by experience that these matters are such. The monastery situated near the territory of Demetrias, subject to the patriarchate, under the name of the most chaste Mother of God and called Macrinitissa, has certainly learned, known, and grasped this with accurate skill. For when it had relaxed a little and grew sluggish with a bit of idleness, and inertia had seized it, the danger of a fall immediately threatened it, namely, its transfer from the patriarchate jurisdiction, under which it had been proclaimed, into the episcopal denomination of Demetrias. ^B For how many and in what ways did the bishops of Demetrias, in their own times, attempt to usurp this monastery and cast greedy eyes upon it? Indeed, they were vexed that they were not partakers of this illustrious good; they knew its loftiness and the greatness of its veneration, diminishing the estimation of all and moving every stone, so that they might in some way become masters of their wish. But their labor fell out in vain, and their plans were turned for the worse, and their empty zeal profited them nothing, except that it made the affairs of the monastery more certain and stable. For in those ways by which the monastery had dealings and property from the part of the bishopric of Demetrias, it appeared patently and without any contradiction as patriarchal, and from here it was aroused and confirmed by the patriarchal ^C hypomnemata of the holy Fathers, Lord Germanus and Lord Manuel. And before these hypomnemata, it received a recognition by the blessed despot Lord Manuel, bearing the inscription of other bishops and of the bishop of Demetrias himself, Nicholas Blatta, who first doubted about this monastery. And the recognition itself clearly proves that the Macrinitissa monastery is to be held as patriarchal, and that the bishop of Demetrias has no participation in this Macrinitissa monastery. Indeed, the very successor of Blatta in the bishopric, Neophytus, gave a written declaration and demonstrates that the bishop of Demetrias has no participation in this monastery of Macrinitissa, announcing it openly and clearly to be patriarchal. ^D It is permitted, furthermore, to anyone who wishes to read through the individual instruments and to grasp their force, and to know how the monastery is patriarchal, and that the bishop of Demetrias has no participation in it: and not only in it, but not even in the small chapel adjacent to it under the name of Saint Onuphrius. For that the chapel of Saint Onuphrius is also patriarchal is clearly manifested by the charter of John, deacon of Attica, who at that time was administering patriarchal rights, made on the occasion of a certain disturbance brought about by Demetrias.

PRIVILEGE FOR THE MONASTERY OF MACRINITISSA

^A And it is recorded concerning this in the aforementioned patriarchal records. And it is simply a matter beyond all doubt, and is clear and acknowledged, that both the monastery of Macrinitissa and its dependency, the holy Onuphrius, are patriarchal. Furthermore, although this fact is indubitable and confirmed by many documents, it is yet again further strengthened regarding the matters pertaining to the monastery and its ^B small chapel. The noble Comnenus, Lord Nicholas Maliasinus, our moderation’s most beloved son—who fosters an ardent love for these things, nourishing them in his soul even more than in his body—therefore did not wish to delay any longer. For since he has derived a laudable zeal from his blessed father, the nobleman Comnenus, Lord Constantine Maliasinus, he breathes with his whole soul and his whole mind in support of this monastery of Macrinitissa and its dependency; he strives for their establishment and growth, desires their undisturbed and unshaken status, and endures every labor for this cause. For indeed, the aforementioned blessed father of his also labored much and applied the greatest care to confirm the monastery, simply speaking, just as it is (though this may be known and perceived by consulting the patriarchal records). Therefore, this religious son of a truly religious father, being entirely intent upon divine matters and striving to emulate, above all else, his father’s care in things pertaining to God—what prayers did he not offer to our moderation? How many petitions did he not cease to make, and with what earnestness? He pleaded most intensely not only that I might grant this monastery my own record, but he also prayed greatly and besought with the greatest vehemence and burning zeal for the election and ordering of the hegumen, and he incessantly begged to see the end of his petition. And he, on his part, showed his highest love toward God ^C in this way. Our moderation, however, graciously complying with his excellent purpose and fulfilling the pious vow of this man, issues this present record of total immunity, by virtue of which, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, it is determined that the aforementioned monastery of Macrinitissa and its dependency, the holy Onuphrius, are to be entirely free, as they are and shall always be patriarchal, and will be named as such in accordance with the rights and patriarchal records of the most holy patriarchs, our predecessors, which are possessed by them. Therefore, no person of any order—whether ecclesiastical, or ^D a layman, or a senator, or any private individual—shall ever dare to revoke any right regarding them. Nor shall he who is at any time the bishop of Demetrias have any account or any right to the aforementioned monastery or to the holy Onuphrius. For our moderation excludes him for a specific reason, as he is accustomed to be a cause of disturbances in the monastery. Our moderation defines these things thus; and wishing that they be preserved inviolate forever, it inflicts excommunication from the life-giving Trinity upon those who shall attempt to abrogate any of the things that have been determined; those condemned by this excommunication...

^A must remain in that state.

My moderation prescribes the following regarding the order and election of the superior of the Macrinitissa monastery. When the superior has rendered his due to God and departed this life, let the election of the superior be performed by all the brethren, with the knowledge of that religious man, this most noble Comnenus, Lord Nicholas Maliasinos, who embraces this monastery and all that pertains to it with the greatest spiritual love. For my moderation ordains that the election of the superior should take place with his participation. For my moderation transfers the right of electing the superior to him and to all the brethren of the monastery, and we do not wish for an election to be made without his knowledge and consent. But all the monks and this Comnenus ought to make the election.

When, however, someone has been elected by common consent, if it happens that the Exarch of the patriarchal rights is residing there, let the superior be invested with the cross by him according to ancient ecclesiastical custom. But if perhaps the patriarchal Exarch is absent from those parts, the superior elected by the consent of all the monks and of the Comnenus shall, as has been determined, obtain all things which pertain to the monastery, together with the monastery itself, and he shall manage ^B everything as superior until the return of the patriarchal Exarch, in strict accordance with the manner in which he is to manage matters thereafter, once he has been invested with the cross. But when the Exarch has returned, then let him be invested with the cross by him; for the superior of the Macrinitissa can receive the cross from no one else except from my moderation or from his Exarch.

It is proposed, moreover, that the monastery of the most holy Mother of God, situated near the territory of the most holy Bishopric of Belestinos, built under the jurisdiction of this Bishop of Belestinos, and called [the monastery] of Lord Hilarion, be reduced to a hospice of the Macrinitissa. Since, therefore, its possessors intend to reduce it to a hospice of the Macrinitissa, my moderation decrees that this also be carried into execution, and that this monastery of Lord Hilarion be reduced to a hospice of the Macrinitissa: for this is the legal status ^C of the monastery, and let it receive from him [the superior of the Macrinitissa] the canon and the due tribute. Therefore, I grant this present *hypomnema* of my moderation to the said monastery of the Macrinitissa and to all things pertaining to it for perpetual security. In the month of October of the fifteenth indiction, of the year 6765 [1257], which *hypomnema* we have signed with our own hand as we subscribed, and have suspended the customary bull below. ^D

Verses as if from the person of the founder.

^A in the name of the Precursor of the New Petra. But now, from these heavenly seats, grant me powerful aid, O Word of God, for my wife and my dearest son. For whatever has been done by me in this world tends toward this end, and I seek only to attain this. While I have the excellent Virgin interceding [for me], [I seek] only ready aid, and the greatest splendor of your light shines [upon me], [so that] I might hope to attain [these] vows easily. ^A

TESTAMENT

(In Dotelerius, *Monumenta Ecclesiæ Græcæ*, vol. II)

I. I hear daily the most vocal Prophet-King and father of God, David, saying: «Man, like grass are his days: as the flower of the field, so he will flourish». And: «Man is made like unto vanity; his days as a shadow pass away». By which he signifies nothing else than the swift failure and sudden death of human nature. Similarly, I hear the most wise Solomon ^B proclaiming the same, and concurring with him, through these words: «Vanity of vanities, all is vanity». Since, therefore, all things are vain, and there is nothing firm in present things, nor anything permanent belonging to bodies or adjacent to the body, but the soul is without matter and does not undergo death, it behooves all to expend every care and solicitude upon it and upon things pertaining to it, and also to keep the hour of death continuously in mind, and never to intermit the memory of [one’s] passing. ^C

^A II. Therefore, I who, by the judgments of His own mercy, have received from the first Shepherd the ecclesiastical helm of the patriarchal throne, in order that I might lead the cord of His inheritance—which the good Shepherd redeemed with His own blood—into the pastures of His commandments, now that the day of my departure is upon me, reveal my final will to all, so that they may know my affairs: that I in no wise cooperated or consented in the slightest to the perjuries and crimes that preceded. I call God to witness; I call the elect and holy angels to witness. I did not cease night and day to contend for this.

^B III. Therefore, I confess—O flock of God, and by His concession my own—that I believe as the saviors of the world and divine disciples of my Lord have handed down, as the holy Fathers and teachers of the world have dogmatized, and as the seven holy and ecumenical synods have confirmed. Those whom they rejected and anathematized, I also reject and anathematize; those whom they received, I receive and venerate. After this, listen to me. For I do not speak these things boasting, but declaring the truth: as long as I sat upon the patriarchal throne, I gave no sleep to my eyes, nor slumber to my eyelids ^C (Ps. cxxxi, 4): let envy depart, which censures wickedness and injustice; I never gave up, I did not neglect my own flock, I did not cease night and day to struggle for it.

IV. Those who are learned in affairs know how many struggles I have fought under the reign of the famous and most pious lord, Emperor Theodore Lascaris. The struggle was not for the sake of piety, as if the most pious one had fallen away from piety in any point, but for the sake of widows, orphans, and those suffering injustice. However, after he rendered the debt of nature with supreme repentance and fervent confession, and left behind his son as heir to the empire and his successor, all swore to him—as those who had sworn before had also done—namely, the high priests, the senate, the entire army, and the whole people. ^D Yet, while I was absent, the high priests and the senate made Paleologus head over the rest, because of the emperor’s underage status. I found him already made head when I came from Nicaea to the royal city. He fortified himself with the most horrific oaths and pledged his faith, and tomes with the oaths were drawn up. Not long after, those who had designated him as head created him sovereign. Then again there were documents, again oaths, and these more terrifying than the former. And after this, they even clothed him in the purple, after having inflicted upon me violence greater than the former.

V. I call to witness all who know that immense violence and the security of those horrific covenants and oaths. And if they have lost their sense, or through ma-

malice ^A voluntarily do not confess the truth, I call to witness, like the holy Isaiah, the heaven and the earth, as to how I resisted, how I contended, and how he again made the confirmation of these oaths to me and to the high priests. For he swore thus: "If I should wish to do anything harmful, whether by myself or through another, against my lord and the heir and successor of the empire, may I be cut off from the life-giving and consubstantial Trinity and delivered to the devil." ^B Along with this oath, another oath was also established for all the people, the high priests, the priests, the magnates, the soldiers, and the laymen: if the people should see one of the two emperors deviating into a plot against the other, if indeed the plotter had killed the one against whom the plot was directed, that all should assemble, kill him, and proclaim as emperor from the senate whom they wish; but if the plot should appear to be vain, that the people should seize the one who appeared to be the plotter and kill him, and keep the emperor against whom the plot was designed; but if the people did not act thus, that they too should be excommunicated and anathematized.

VI. By these oaths he bound himself and all the people. And no long time had passed, and he was already pressing me for the imposition of the crown. How could I enumerate the tyrannies which I suffered? How those immense acts of violence, by night and by day, from the high priests, the magnates, the priests, the monks, the ^C Hagiorites, the solitaries, and, to say it once, from almost everyone in authority, in the priesthood, and in private life? But not even women were left exempt from such violence. All those nourished in the truth will bear witness to me of how much I suffered at Syrrhea, Lupadium, and Prusa. But when they did not find me obeying their will, forty high priests and more handed over their own writings to me, professing that they themselves took upon their own heads the violation of the oaths and that I should crown Palæologus first: which was an abomination. For this was an oath and the most horrific and formidable of oaths, that he should have Calo- ^D

-^AJoannes the primacy in all things, in the coronation, and in the acclamations, and in the procession, and in every other honor; but Palæologus the secondary rank; and that those bishops should hold, sustain, and protect the heir of the empire, and after the death of Palæologus, that they should turn over to him his empire as well.

VII. But when he ascended to the empire, and I saw him committing more lawlessness than before, and that from the things taking place it was likely he would perform even more, I withdrew in indignation. And he raised that man from Ephesus to the patriarchal throne. When the sickle of death had harvested him, and sent him to the tribunal of the next life, there to render an account of his actions, he called me back again. But when I had ascended my own throne, what written account could depict the pressures that fell upon me from him? For wishing to reduce Emperor Calo-Joannes to a private status, and to deprive him of acclamation, of memorial, and of every sign of imperial power, he used as aids in this evil pastors and enemies of the Church rather than prelates and protectors; he hoped even to draw me within his own nets, because I had suffered many afflictions in exile. But when the mercy of God delivered me from his snares, and I did not even wish to hear the volume which the wicked and bitter pastors had composed, he knows—the eye that beholdeth all things—how many evils he vexed me with, and with how many calamities he afflicted me. Sometimes he would say to me, "Do not depart to Nicaea, since you were ordained at Constantinople"—at other times, other things worthy of his cunning.

VIII. But when Constantinople was recovered, and we were traveling toward it, how shall I describe to you the pressures that befell me from him at Scutari? How shall I describe the violence? He was forcing me to name that man from Ephesus patriarch, and to accept the bishops, priests, and deacons ordained by him; or if not, the entrance to Constantinople was to be forbidden to me. But seeing that I was in no way compliant—for no one of those who had been ordained by him concelebrated with me, but I held them instead in abomination and detestation, as was fitting—he was indignant, though he granted me entrance. Yet again craftiness, and again countless vexations against me, were concocted by him in Constantinople.

IX. For when he wished to slay his own master and emperor, so that no impediment might appear from me, frauds ^B against me were devised. As if vain ^C indeed were the [previous] oaths. ^D

But then all things fell into vanity. Afterwards, when he had put out the eyes of his master and emperor, and the matter became known to me, I subjected him to excommunication. I had hoped, however, that he would show repentance, and that he might diminish the heavy burden of taxes, tributes from commerce, and other iniquities on account of such a sin, and thus be granted pardon. But because he did not show repentance, nor any diminution of evils but rather an increase, I did not forgive him; but after three years, before the patriarchs, metropolitans, the senate, and all the clergy, I cast him out of the Church as unworthy to enter into it. From that time forth, the frauds against me—which he indeed devised without accusers or witnesses, from mere talk alone—that is, that I had decreed the sultan’s children should be admitted to communion. The Church drove me out, and this even though the most holy metropolitan of Pisidia had confessed in writing that he himself had baptized them and granted them communion; while I, for my part, had professed in writing that I knew nothing of this matter at all.

X. Furthermore, after my exile, he brought upon me a thousand times more slanders and tribulations. Sometimes indeed, as if I had stirred up conspirators to kill him—whence also the adulterous synod sent an excommunication against me; and I subjected myself to excommunication if I were conscious of anything of the sort; but if not, I excommunicated and anathematized those who had practiced fraud and conspired and believed it. At another time, he sent Varangians to Narmara, the place of my exile, to guard me; and then he caused me innumerable inconveniences. I omit what pertains to Tricoccia, and the way in which he imposed their assaults upon me. For if I should strive to relate everything he has done to me and plotted against the Church of God, time would fail the one telling it. I have represented a few things out of the many, on account of the surfeit and excess of discourse, which is, of course, inimical to the ears. I said, however: “From this time forward, satiated with his madness and tyranny toward me and the servants of God, he will cease, and will repent, that he may be deemed worthy of forgiveness.”

XI. But since he turned the Church of God into a den of thieves and a brothel; and brought the one whom I had previously excommunicated and placed him on my throne; and furthermore, attempted to lead the Church of God—which was gathered by immense blood before and after Christ, and through Christ the great sacrifice—into that impiety and the total faithlessness by which the Latins are held; and finally, stirred up a great persecution against that same Church, after so many years [free] from persecutions: therefore, I extend the excommunication to which he himself subjected himself by his own will, for his own desire, for his own enjoyment, for his own