NICEPHORUS CALLISTUS XANTHOPULUS ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY VOLUME XV
CHAPTER I. Concerning the reign of Marcian. What signs preceded it, portending his imperial rule, and what his character was.
A Marcian, having firmly established the foundations of his empire, proved himself to be even more excellent than the hopes that had been entertained of him. But if you wish, let us recount who he was, whence he came, and how he attained the imperial throne; and then, in due course, let us go through the events that occurred during his reign. This celebrated Marcian, as Priscus the rhetorician also says, was Thracian by birth, born of a soldier father. When his father died, and he had determined to follow in his father’s footsteps and engage in military service, he set out for the city of Philippopolis, where he judged he would properly enlist. B While on his journey there, he happened upon the fresh corpse of a man who had been slain, which lay thrown carelessly upon the ground. He halted for a short time at this sight, for in addition to the other excellent qualities with which he abounded, he was also outstandingly humane and merciful; and, taking pity on the man’s fate, he performed the customary burial rites for the deceased. But when some passers-by saw him occupied with burying the corpse, they reported the matter to the officials in Philippopolis. They subsequently apprehended Marcian as he arrived, and set themselves up as judges of his murder. C Since the circumstances made the case seem probable, and the conjectures formed at the outset, along with the truth itself, carried more weight than the speech of Marcian denying the crime laid against him, he would have paid the penalty for homicide, had not a certain person, by divine providence, been brought into the court as the perpetrator of the slaughter, who, by paying the penalty for the crime with his own head, preserved the head of Marcian. Thus, unexpectedly absolved by that judgment, he went to the rank of the soldiers, there to take the military oath. And he...
A, since those who knew him had judged him well, was received kindly and enrolled—in no mean position, as the law provides—but in a certain perfect rank of a man of that name who had already departed this life, whose name was Augustus. Thus, his name was written with the appointment: Marcian, who is also Augustus. From this it was sufficiently clear that, along with the appellation, the purple of Augustus had also reached him; and it was as if this surname would not remain in him without the dignity itself, and that the dignity, in turn, required no other name for its magnificence. Thus, the same word, being both proper and appellative, became one, clearly indicating by a single title both the dignity and the name. This, then, was the first omen and sign in Marcian that portended he was to ascend to the imperial dignity.
But another event also occurred from which it was possible to conjecture that he would be emperor. Marcian was serving under Aspar against the Vandals; and after they had gained the victory, he, too, was led away as a captive with others from the battlefield across the plain. Gaiseric, the leader of the Vandals, wished to see the captives along with the other slaves. And when they were gathered in a certain place B, Gaiseric, sitting on a high hill, feasted his eyes on the multitude of the captives. As time was passing, he permitted them to do whatever each wished; for by Gaiseric’s order they had been freed from their bonds. While others were doing various things, Marcian, overcome by the intense heat of the sun on the plain, fell asleep. An eagle, flying thence from somewhere, lowering its wings against the sun and hovering directly above him, created an aerial cloud and a sort of shadow, by which, by divine will, it refreshed him not insignificantly. Seeing this, the barbarian immediately conjectured openly what would become of him; and summoning Marcian to him, he granted him his liberty and bound him by the sanctity of an oath that, should he be raised to imperial power, he would be faithful to him and the Vandals and never wage war against them. This Marcian did by means of an oath, as he [Gaiseric] wished, and kept his faith in deed, as Procopius writes.
Before this, while marching against the Persians, he came into Lycia to a city named Sidema. Having fallen ill C, he formed a deep friendship with two brothers, men of distinction there, Julian and Tatian, who received him into the hospitality of their home, cared for him as was fitting, and later went out hunting with him. At midday, all were overcome by sleep. When Tatian first awoke from his sleep, he saw a wondrous sight: an eagle of vast size spreading its wings over Marcian and casting a shadow, as it were, upon him. Having awakened his brother, he made him see the same thing. Marveling at the bird’s benevolence, they predicted to Marcian what would come to be, and asked that, if what they divined should come to pass, who would be [his ministers] by his side. D
Having then treated him with gold, they sent him on to Constantinople. After he had attained to his work, he sent for those mentioned from Lycia and declared them to be fathers to him. And to Tatianus A he attached the dignity of the city, while to Julianus he entrusted the administration of the Lycians. Such portents did they consider to be a betrothal of the sovereignty to Marcian. But let us return to the subject at hand. Marcian was, if any man was, pious toward God, living in justice, holding wealth to be not the gathering of others' goods for all purposes, but [the ability] to be sufficient to assist those in need. He was also exceedingly formidable, not in the execution of punishments, but in the expectation of being punished; and, I think, it was for this reason that they gave him the sovereignty not as an inheritance of merit, B or as a reward for virtue, with all the votes of the senate and all others filling out the judgment of Pulcheria the Empress; she indeed lived with him in the imperial court and administered the empire with him, yet remained a virgin until old age, as Marcian kept the faith given to her by the religion of an oath. Subsequently, Valentinian, who ruled the Roman city, when he became more certain of his virtue, confirmed the sovereignty to him with his own vote. But above all, Marcian busied himself with one thing: that a common reverence toward God be held by all, that heresies be removed from the midst, that the Church be established unified through concord, and that the religion be honored under one doxology.
Chapter 2. For what reasons the fourth holy universal synod was convened at Chalcedon in Bithynia.
C While he was thus minded, Pope Leo incited him with letters, that in a universal council there should be an inquiry into the outrages Eutyches and Dioscorus had dared to commit against the faith and against the most celebrated Flavian. Furthermore, all who had been treated with contumely by those men also came, begging that their cause be judged; most of all Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum, who, having become [the champion of the cause], stirred up the matter, asserting that it was by the machinations of Chrysaphius—who had abused the rights of Theodosius—that he himself and Flavian had been deposed; because when Chrysaphius sought gold from Flavian for his election and consecration, Flavian, pleading his poverty, and in order to shame him, had offered the sacred vessels of the church. He added, D moreover, that Chrysaphius embraced the same religion as Eutyches; and, what was the greatest thing, that Flavian had been, in a cruel manner, cast out by Dioscorus in the brigand-synod, trampled by heels, and murdered. For these reasons, by the letters of the rulers, the priests from everywhere were summoned, and the synod was gathered at Chalcedon; which, indeed, was first gathered at Nicaea, where also Leo, the president of Rome, sent Paschasinus and Lucentius and others by his letters to serve...A in his stead. But it was translated to Chalcedon in Bithynia, because the emperor himself wished to be present at the synod, imitating the great Constantine, with whom he competed in glory to the highest degree, and so he doubled that holy assembly, having exerted himself to gather six hundred and thirty-six Fathers instead of the three hundred and eighteen. But Zacharias the rhetor, led by personal bias, records that Nestorius also was summoned to this synod; yet that the matter is not so is most clearly shown by the fact that he was, almost everywhere, struck with anathema by the synod. And Eustathius, bishop of Berytus, makes this even clearer still, writing to Bishop John and another, John the priest, about the things done in the synod, in which letter these words also occur: "Those who seek the remains of Nestorius came forward again and cried out against the synod, 'Why are the holy men anathematized?' So that the emperor was indignant and ordered his guards to drive them away to a distance." How, then, the synod could have summoned him, whose remains the dead-seeking men looked for, I cannot fathom. B
CAPUT III. Description of the temple of the holy and celebrated martyr Euphemia, which was constructed at Chalcedon from its very foundations.
After the synod arrived at Chalcedon, it was gathered in the sacred fane of the glorious martyr Euphemia, which was constructed at Chalcedon, and is distant about two stadia from the Bosphorus, situated in a very pleasant and gently sloping place, so that he who wishes to ascend to the martyr’s temple does not feel the labor of walking, and easily and at once reaches the basilica. And as he turns his eyes around from that elevated spot, he beholds the whole field below, green with tender grass and waving with a deep harvest of crops, and C containing trees of every kind planted there; moreover, hills beautifully rising to the heights, and some gradually curving themselves and showing a dense foliage. Various waves of the sea also meet him: some indeed are resonating with purple serenity and stillness, and are playing placidly and sweetly against the shore; others are noisy with waves and swelling, but in the heat itself are rolling sea-shells, seaweeds, and whatever other light things there are, and colliding with the greatest ease. The temple itself, constructed opposite the city, so lies that it is easy to infer from the very site that it is conspicuous and pleasant to look upon from so great a city. This temple is divided into three vast structures: one of which is an open-air hall, extended to a great length and adorned with frequent columns; the second has an equality with that one in width and length, D though it has fewer columns, and it differs from it in this one thing: that it is covered by a roof of baked brick; it is not built toward the north, the part where it happens that the sun rises, but has been erected in a circular fashion.
A It is elaborated with great skill, and is itself adorned within by columns of the same material, size, and color, which stand in a circle like a choir, embellishing the inner part of the temple. Above these, a high portico is constructed under the same roof, so that anyone who wishes may be present at the rites performed, and at the same time offer prayer to the martyr herself, facing toward the east. Inside the dome itself is another very beautiful sanctuary; where it happened that the martyr was laid in a long coffin, which some even call the Long [Coffin], enclosed on all sides by silver skillfully cast and fashioned with exceptional beauty. B But the miracles which the martyr used to perform in former times were evident to all Christians. For she would very often appear in a dream to the bishop presiding over the region, or to some other person living an illustrious life who happened to enter her temple, and would exhort them to gather the fruit of such miracles. When this became known to those throughout Constantinople, the whole crowd of people flocked there; both he who held the scepter, and those who held the sacred reins, and those who stood at the head of other offices, desiring to see the things being performed. And indeed, with everyone watching, the bishop of Constantinople, along with the priests about him, would enter the aforementioned vault where that martyr’s body lies. C There was attached to the coffin on the left side a small, venerable opening, secured with small doors most precisely; through which they would let down a rather long iron implement, to the end of which a sponge had been tied. They would turn this sponge around the all-holy relics of the martyr with the iron, and draw it out again full of blood and thick with clots, mingled with the martyr’s moisture. When the multitude caught sight of this, they would immediately bow to the ground, honoring God with a great shout, raising their hands and being struck with amazement at the miracle. So great and abundant was the fluid that flowed forth from there, that not only did the emperors and bishops, and the people who were accustomed to gather there, benefit richly from the liquids flowing forth from it, but D they also carried them to whomever they wished to any place. And neither did the clots fail in time, nor was the divine blood altered in any way, but it always preserved its highly red appearance. These things were not done according to any fixed period, but as the sanctity of the life and character of the presiding bishop allowed. For the account says that whenever he who governed the Church lived illustriously and adorned his life with virtue, this miracle occurred more frequently; but when the high priest of the sacred things was not such a man, the miracle appeared more rarely, and the wondrous thing did not proceed so easily from the martyr. This is how I know it to have happened. But that which neither day nor any time interrupts, but flows perpetually and is available to all the faithful and those who are otherwise, I shall now declare. If anyone comes into the sanctuary where the coffin and the saint’s holy relics are now stored like a treasure, an immense scent, beyond the grasp of nature, and [surpassing] all the scents that human art—
even when a perfumer works at it, blending fragrant things according to weight—could produce. For it is something exceedingly great and in much greater measure that is sent forth from thence, providing evidence of the power of Him by whom it is sent forth.
Chapter IV. The acts of the synod; and how the episcopate was abrogated for Dioscorus and his followers.
In this holy sanctuary of the martyr, which we have said was moved from Nicaea, the synod was gathered, thirty years after the third synod, in the five thousand nine hundred and sixty-sixth year from the creation of the world. B On the right side of the temple sat the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Antiochenes; on the left, the Alexandrians and the Hierosolymitans; and in the space between them sat the princes and the senators. And when those things which Eutyches in Constantinople and Dioscorus in Ephesus had schemed in their eagerness for innovation were brought into the midst, Dioscorus took refuge in ignorance of the acts, an excuse by which he tried to defend himself. And because he could not escape the crimes objected to him, he was of doubtful mind: but when, the truth being brought into the open, he could not evade the plain necessity of pleading his case (for those who had sat with him in that predatory synod refuted him, and demonstrated his deceit and the force and constraint which had been brought upon them by the threats of the magistrates), C he was cast into great shame and disgrace. And indeed those who had been the instruments of his violence, having asked for pardon, were received into favor, and crossed from the left side to the right; one of whom was Juvenal of Jerusalem. But Dioscorus, as one crime after another was charged against him, since he could not obtain pardon from those just judges, refrained from coming to the synod. But after the synod, following the canon, had cited him three times, and he did not obey, by the common vote of all, with the God-beloved Emperor himself present, they both deposed him and Eutyches, and struck them with anathema. Then they confirmed the decrees of the holy universal synods issued for the establishment of the faith, namely those which were gathered D at Nicaea, at Constantinople, and previously at Ephesus. Furthermore, in the third session, they included in their acts the letters of the admirable Cyril written to Nestorius; to which they also joined the letter of Pope Leo to the divine Flavian, and moreover the tome which the same Leo sent to the synod and to the Emperor Marcian, which was also called a pillar of orthodoxy. For this Leo—
having judged Eutyches and Dioscorus—convened a local synod in Rome, A in which he cast out both Eutyches and Dioscorus, and as many as chose to follow them; and he sent the record of his action to the synod and to the Emperor, so that those aforesaid who brought in the confusion and jumbling of the two natures of Christ might, on that very ground, be deposed without any pretext. He exhorted them, teaching that the Church of Christ should be built up and established by these doctrines: that one should know Christ as one God, perfect in subsistence, consubstantial with the Father, without mingling, without change, without alteration, and without confusion, the two natures of divinity and humanity being seen in Him, from which He is composed, and in which He is contemplated, and which He truly is. B
CAPUT V. Concerning the miracle which occurred at the shrine of Saint Euphemia, regarding the decision between the double decree of faith, of the orthodox, I mean, and of the heretics.
When a great dispute had arisen over this matter (for wickedness is unassailable and most studious of contention), it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to the eminent men C who had gathered that the definition of the faith should be written down, and that the judgment and the resolution of the matters in dispute should be entrusted to the all-praised martyr and virgin Euphemia. For she was, in ancient times, a local citizen and alumna of the city of Chalcedon. Under the impious Diocletian, standing before a certain detestable governor, and proclaiming with a clear voice that Christ is God and the Son of God, she was first tested with infinite tortures, and then, cast to the beasts and killed by the bite of a bear, she received the crown, having completed her struggle for Christ; and her divine body, preserved whole and incorrupt, was deposited in the church of Chalcedon in a marble tomb, producing such prodigies as I have mentioned a little earlier. D Therefore, to her all-pure and holy body—as to an impartial judge of the faith concerning them—both the orthodox and those who thought otherwise, having separately committed the definition of the faith as it seemed best to each of them onto two papers, placed them at the feet of the martyr, having secured them with locks and seals. And having spent the whole night in prayer, they came on the following day, and opening the lid of the casket, they saw an extraordinary sight, and one worthy of the right judgment. For the tome of the orthodox was held fast in the hands of the victorious martyr; but the other, as it happened, lay cast aside at the feet of the martyr as something vain and of no value. But since, even after such a heavenly verdict, shamelessness still waged war against the truer faith, the condemnation was yet more firmly confirmed as being thoroughly legitimate; and to those who chose not to agree with the decrees of the synod, dishonor and disgrace were allotted by God and men.
A Many other things having also been done, the decree of the synod was proclaimed, setting forth these things word for word:
CAPUT VI. The Decree of Faith of the Holy and Universal Fourth Synod
B “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, confirming the knowledge of the faith to his disciples, said: ‘My peace I give to you; my peace I leave with you,’ so that no one might dissent from the dogmas of piety, but that all might equally proclaim the preaching of the truth. And after the divine Creed had been read, and furthermore that of the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers, they added: ‘This wise and saving Creed of divine grace was indeed sufficient for the perfect knowledge and confirmation C of true piety; for it teaches the perfect doctrine concerning the Father and the Holy Spirit, and sets forth the incarnation of the Lord to those who receive it with faith. But because the enemies of the truth, who strive to abolish the preaching through their own heresies, have brought forth empty talk, and some have dared to adulterate the much-graced dispensation of our Lord and have dared to deny this word Theotokos, [Mother of God]; while others, introducing confusion and commixture, foolishly imagine that the nature of the flesh and the divinity is one, and monstrously assert that the divine nature of the Only-Begotten is subject to suffering through confusion: D for this reason, this present holy and great ecumenical synod, wishing to close every trick and machination against the truth on their part, and vindicating the integrity and inviolability of the ancient doctrine, first of all decrees that the faith of the three hundred holy Fathers remains unshaken. And it also confirms by its own authority the doctrine concerning the essence of the Spirit delivered in later times by the one hundred and fifty Fathers who gathered in the imperial city against the enemies of the Holy Spirit, which those Fathers made known to all, not as introducing anything lacking to those who preceded them, but declaring more clearly, by testimonies recorded in writing, the nature of the Holy Spirit, wishing to confirm certain things concerning His power.
But because of those who dare to deprave the mystery of the oikonomia [economy/dispensation], and who shamelessly and abusively say that He who was born of the holy Virgin Mary is a mere man, it [the synod] received the synodal epistles of the blessed Cyril, who was pastor of the Church of the Alexandrians, written to Nestorius and to the bishops of the East, since they are rightly written both for the refutation of the insane madness of Nestorius and for the declaration of the meaning of the saving Creed to those who seek it with pious fervor; to which it also [received] the epistle of the prelate of the greatest and elder Rome, the most blessed and most holy archbishop…
A Leo, written to the bishop Flavian, who is among the saints, for the sake of refuting the malevolence of Eutyches; which, agreeing as it does with the confession of the great Peter, and existing as a kind of common and public pillar against those who hold wrong opinions, he deservedly joined [to the acts] for the confirmation of right dogmas. For it contends against those who attempt to rend the mystery of the Economy into a duality of sons, and it thrusts from the sacred assemblies those who dare to say that the divinity of the Only-Begotten is subject to suffering; and it withstands those who devise a mingling or confusion of the two natures of Christ; and it drives away those who rave that the form of a servant, which He took from us, is of a heavenly or some other essence. And it anathematizes those who fable that there are two natures of the Lord before the union, but who fabricate one after the union. B Following, therefore, the holy Fathers, we all with one voice teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, truly God and truly man, the same [consisting] of a rational soul and body, consubstantial with the Father according to the divinity, and consubstantial with us according to the humanity, in all things like unto us without sin; begotten of the Father before the ages according to the divinity, but in the last days the same, for us and for our salvation, [born] of Mary the Virgin and Theotokos according to the humanity; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-Begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the difference of the natures being in no way taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one person and one hypostasis: not as though He were partitioned or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-Begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; just as the prophets taught concerning Him from of old, and Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the Creed of the Fathers has handed down to us. »
CHAPTER VII. On the remaining matters which the synod decreed.
Therefore, these things having been formulated by us with all accuracy and diligence, the holy and universal synod decreed that it is not permitted for anyone to produce, or to write, or to compose, or to think, or C to teach others any other faith. But those who shall dare either to compose another faith, or to bring it forth, or to teach, or to hand down another creed to those who wish to return to the knowledge of the truth from Greek superstition and Judaism, or from any other heresy whatsoever, these, if they are bishops or clergymen, shall be alien from the episcopate and from the clergy, but if they are monks or laymen, they shall be anathematized. After D these things, the Emperor Marcian, who was present at the synod, when those things which were fitting,
A had been spoken before the assembly, returned to the imperial palace. The synod also rightly and in order resolved the controversy that had arisen between Maximus, who was established as successor to Domnus in the church of Antioch, and Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem, regarding the boundaries of the provinces. In addition to this, both Theodoret and Ibas recovered their own sees. It was also decided there that the see of New Rome should hold the primary rank among the other sees, following after the precedence of Old Rome. Many other things also were set in motion at this council, all of which I shall, beginning from the start, recount as best I can in the discourse at the end of this present volume, so that anyone who wishes may more clearly understand the matters transacted there. For I deemed it somehow inopportune to set them forth at present, lest I should interrupt the continuity of the history. And for this reason, I judged that it was not necessary to treat them at length at this time. Therefore, he who desires to know exactly the matters of this synod, let him read that summary narration which has been appended to the end of the fifteenth book. Now I shall proceed to continue the history. B
Chapter VIII. Concerning the sedition which arose in Alexandria on account of the ordination of Proterius, the successor of Dioscorus.
There were, then, fulfilling the synod from Old Rome, Paschasinus, Lucentius, and Bonifacius, holding the place of Leo, the prelate of Rome. There were present also Anatolius, bishop of New Rome, Maximus of Antioch on the Orontes, Juvenal of Jerusalem, and Dioscorus himself, presiding over Alexandria; who, as we have said, being deposed and condemned to exile, was ordered to dwell in the region of Gangra in Paphlagonia. Furthermore, the divine Proterius was allotted the bishopric of Alexandria by the common consent of the synod. And when he received his throne, a great struggle C broke out among the multitude; the crowd and the tumult divided the common people into various opinions. For, as is wont to happen in such times, some—who were the greatest part—courageously defended the new pastor, while to others Dioscorus seemed more suitable for administering the ecclesiastical province. And the matter progressed to a great danger. For Priscus the orator, in writing his histories, says that at that time he had come to Alexandria from the province of the Thebans and saw a huge crowd, causing a sedition against the magistrates; and when the soldiers strove to restrain it, [the mob] used as weapons the very stones which were lying scattered about on account of the occasion, and compelled them to flee to the temple which formerly had the name of Serapis. D Now Serapis is Zeus, or the Nile, or Apis, a certain man in the city of Memphis who, during a time of famine, supplied grain to the Alexandrians from his own stores. Upon his death, they consecrated a temple and a statue to him, in which also an ox, having certain signs and marks, was reared—as a symbol, one might conjecture, of agriculture—which they also called Apis, after its master. And the temple was built by Alexander.
A For it is permitted to know by this sign and proof, whom they also called Apis, by the same name as his master. But when the coffin of that man—which in Greek is called a temple—was translated, they named his statue Sorapis, or even Serapis, through a transposition of the letters. Whose temple was most beautiful, and the image was by far the largest and most dreadful, being constructed of various materials so that with both hands it touched either wall. In the middle of the image, however, there was another deceptive temple, in which another bronze figure, not large, was suspended, to whose head they had fixed iron. And when they had placed a magnet in the moldings of the roof right above the perpendicular, they suspended it high in the air in such a way that it touched neither the ground nor the roof itself. B Into this very temple the people compelled the magistrates, and then burned the captives alive with fire. When this matter was reported to the emperor, he sent two thousand soldiers, who, favored by a following wind, arrived at the great city of Alexandria on the sixth day. They, using wanton insolence towards the wives and daughters of the Alexandrians, afflicted them with sufferings more severe than those they had experienced before. The populace, however, taking this indignity ill, at last petitioned Florus, who administered the military affairs and at that time was also managing urban affairs there, when he had gathered to watch the Circensian games, that they might have restored to them the usual distribution of grain which had been taken away from them, and that he might return the baths and theaters and other things which, in such a dissolute and disturbed state of the city, they were compelled to abstain from. He, as the common people had wished, promising under certain conditions that he would do so, received their request. And in that manner he gradually sedated the sedition. Such were the affairs in Alexandria. C
CHAPTER IX. How a sedition also arose in Palestine, stirred up by a certain monk named Theodosius: who also invaded the see of Jerusalem, having expelled Juvenalis: and what things happened under him. Also concerning Athanasius the deacon, the confessor.
Nor indeed was there any tranquility in Palestine. For certain monks who had been present at the synod, and who thought differently from its decrees, when they had come to Jerusalem, shouted that the faith had been betrayed, lamenting and striving to incite and urge on the monastic order to rescind the things that had been rightly done in the synod. But when Juvenalis recovered his see, and they wished to compel him to abolish the acts of the synod and subject them to anathema, he D departed for the city of the emperor. The leader of the whole crowd was a certain monk named Theodosius. This man, having drawn Eudocia Augusta (for she was still alive at that time) to his side and having reconciled all the fellowship of the monks to himself, after the manner of a robber and a bloodthirsty man, since Juvenalis (as we have said) had departed for Constantinople, [took to himself the see of Jerusalem].
He used as his helpers in this those who opposed the constitutions of the synod and wished to gratify Eudocia. And when the bishops had not yet returned from the synod, he himself sent others whom he had ordained into every city. Severianus, the bishop of Scythopolis, because he would not yield to his malice, he drove out of the city and slew. He also stirred up a great persecution in the holy city against those who refused to be in communion with him; for he tormented some with tortures, plundered the property of others, and set fire to the houses of still others, so that the city appeared to have been captured by barbarians. Concerning him, the monastic order later wrote in a letter sent to Alcison: that since he had been caught as a malefactor and one unfaithful to his own bishop, he had been expelled from his monastery; and because he had also been a rebel against Dioscorus at Alexandria, he had been beaten with many stripes, and as a seditious man, had been led through the city riding on a mangy camel. The same man, going around the cities of Palestine, compelled them to choose bishops for themselves. One of the latter was even Peter, of Iberian origin, who had been entrusted with the reins of the episcopate of the city of the Gazaeans, which is named Majuma.
To such a degree did this happen that a certain Athanasius, who had been enrolled in the order of deacons, having gathered the courage to speak in the midst of the church at Jerusalem, while the abomination of iniquity sat upon the most holy throne, uttered this noble cry: "Cease, Theodosius, from committing such carnage; cease to wage war against Christ, and from casting out his flock like a robber from the divine sheepfold; and at last, finally, recognize our goodwill toward our true and genuine shepherd; for we have not learned to follow a stranger, nor to listen to a foreign voice." When he had said these things, he was seized by the satellites of Theodosius and dragged out of the church. C And having endured every kind of insolent petulance and torture for Christ's sake, and having been cut by many lashes, he finally lost his life by the sword. His corpse was dragged by the feet through the whole city, and finally was thrown out as food for dogs.
Furthermore, Dorotheus, who was administering the province of Palestine, having received it from the emperor, and who was at that time occupied in the region of Moab in a war against barbarians, when he learned what was being done in the city in this manner, hurried with the utmost celerity with a strong army to deal with the present state of affairs. D Yet the satellites of Theodosius and Eudocia, having shut the gates, did not admit him before he had promised them that he too would defect to their side, just as the entire order of monks and the whole multitude of the city had done. Thus for twenty months the baneful Theodosius exercised tyranny over the see of Jerusalem. When Marcian learned of this matter, he was ejected by Dorotheus; though he did indeed attempt to capture him (for such was the emperor's command), he was unable to do so, because that plague had fled to Mount Sinai. For which reason very many who had favored his cause were subjected to torments, not only common men, but also those who, on account of
A their having been listed in the monastic order, had been held in high regard. After the flight of Theodosius, Juvenal, having been restored to his throne, immediately stripped of their dignity all whom he [Theodosius] had ordained. Many other sad things, moreover, coming from here and there, befell the multitude, which the mind—at the prompting of the envious and God-hated demon—suggested to him through the changing of a single letter: so that, by the pronunciation of one letter, it was permitted to introduce something entirely different. So much so, that it was thought that by many a change was effected, and that the sense was carried into a meaning contrary, diametrically opposed, and that one was being destroyed by the other. For he who confesses Christ *in* two natures says that he is *from* two, inasmuch as, while confessing Christ in divinity and humanity, he says that he is composed of divinity and humanity; and he who says *from* two necessarily brings in the confession *in* two, for if he says Christ is from divinity and humanity, he confesses that he exists in divinity and humanity, with neither the flesh being changed into divinity nor the divinity passing over into flesh: from which that ineffable union exists, so that through the expression "from two," the expression "in two" is appropriately understood here, and through "in two," "from two," and neither is left behind by the other; seeing that, according to the customary way of thinking, not only is the whole perceived from the parts, but the whole is also perceived in the parts. And yet, men, by a certain habit regarding the glory of God, have thought these things to be thus separated from one another, or [have been] preoccupied with such a desire, and [have become] deranged in every concept, or [have refused] to come to the assent of that which is. Because of which the confusions I have mentioned arose. And these things, in this way, occurred both in Alexandria and in Palestine. B
CHAPTER X
Concerning the famine and plague simultaneously that attacked the cities of the East; and how the earth of its own accord brought forth fruits in the following year.
At the same times, there was an immense drought, and a famine and plague simultaneously in Phrygia, Galatia, and Cappadocia; and the calamity progressed clearly even as far as Cilicia itself, so that the inhabitants of the regions we have mentioned, in the greatest penury, reached such straits—as needs were lacking—that they used forbidden, unusual, and deadly foodstuffs. And as the famine prevailed to such an extent, men, their diet having been changed, fell into maladies. For their bodies, on account of the greatest inflammations and the tumor that was conceived, first lost their sight; then, with a cough supervening, they died on the third day. C Against that plague there was nowhere any help. But as for those who survived it, of whom there were very few, the all-preserving Providence brought them aid and relieved their hunger. For in that year when the fruits did not grow, it nourished them with aerial food, just as it is recorded to have done formerly for the ancient Israelites, showering down upon them what is called manna. In the following year, however, it brought it about that the fruits grew of their own accord. These evils spread also through the land of Palestine D and many other regions; and the calamity
A traveled, as it were, step by step, throughout the whole land of the East.
CAPUT XI.
Concerning the end of Valentinian, who ruled in the West; and concerning his wife Eudoxia and her children; and how Genserich took the city of Rome; and concerning those who ruled in Rome by succession after Valentinian.
Such were the evils that encompassed the East; but in the West, other evils occurred no less serious than those mentioned. For Aetius, who governed the city of Rome, ended his life in a wretched manner; and the emperor of the Western realm, Valentinian, held fast to the correct dogmas of the Church, as we have already said above, though in the daily habits of his life he sinned B greatly. For, dwelling with a wife who was beautiful of face and adorned in other respects, Eudoxia, the daughter of the younger Theodosius, he foully profaned foreign marriages. Frequently, too, by holding open converse with those who practiced curious arts, he brought his life to a most foul end. For the son of that Maximus who, having slain the emperor Gratian, seized the tyranny and was afterward killed by the great Theodosius—this man, namesake of his grandfather, holding the primary dignity among the patricians, laid a snare for the emperor Valentinian because he had defiled his wife. Fearing Aetius, who governed the imperial hall (for he stood against his designs), he first slandered him to the emperor on the charge of high treason. C When, for this reason, the latter had been wretchedly put to death, Maximus, entering the palace with no effort, killed Valentinian, and took his wife as his own, and by offering much violence, defiled her; for by the very things through which one sins, by those same things is one chastened. Afterward, he even usurped the empire for himself. But Eudoxia, affected by such a great insult, because she bore such an unexpected infamy with difficulty, decided to cast every die, as the saying goes, so that she might avenge herself upon the author of the injury, who had dared to commit such a crime against her own husband, and furthermore, to pollute her nobility and freedom. For a woman is accustomed to be fierce, and she is in no way D bent or persuaded to immediately lay aside her grief, if the chastity which she strives to keep is taken from her by force, and that, too, by him who had simultaneously destroyed the former guardian of her chastity, dignity, and honor. Eudoxia, therefore, harboring these things in her mind, since she thought there was no hope of aid from Byzantium, because her father Theodosius had long since departed this life, and because for a very long time the divine Pulcheria had held the empire there—who had not yet laid aside the anger she had conceived against her mother Eudocia—sent a vast amount of gifts to Libya to Genserich, and asked him to come to her aid in such a great extremity and to free her from the wickedness of Maximus; and she offered him hope, if only he would move,
A that he would attain the Roman empire, which it promised would readily surrender to him.
Thus, after Maximus had not even possessed the tyranny for a year, he was killed. Genserich, however, arrived with great forces and captured Rome. Being a barbarian in mind and unstable and fickle, he did not keep his pledge to Eudoxia, but after plundering the city and setting its public buildings on fire, he departed and returned to Libya, taking with him Eudoxia and her two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia, as captives. He also carried off many ecclesiastical and precious vessels, among which were not a few Hebrew vessels, which Vespasian and Titus had taken to Rome after they had ravaged Jerusalem. Genserich then united the elder of the daughters, Eudocia, in marriage to his son Huneric; but having learned that Placidia had been betrothed to the patrician Olybrius, a leader of the Roman senate—who was at that time a refugee in Byzantium when the city was taken—he sent her, together with her mother Eudoxia, with great ceremony and a royal retinue to Byzantium, intending to appease Marcian, who had been greatly enraged against him, both because he had burned Rome and because he had so insulted the empresses. Olybrius, by the command of Marcian, took Placidia as his wife.
After Maximus, Avitus held power in Rome B for eight months. When he ended his life by famine, Majorian held the empire for two years. After he was treacherousy killed by Recimer, the commander of the Roman military, Severus reigned there for three years. After him came Anthemius, to whom Marcian had betrothed his own daughter, at the request of the Western Romans through an embassy. When he, too—being a most Christian man—was killed by treachery, Olybrius was proclaimed emperor by Recimer. After him succeeded Glycerius; and after he had held that dignity for five years, Nepos was entrusted with the rule, having made Glycerius bishop in the city of Salona in Dalmatia. But Orestes also deprived this man of the throne of power, C to whom his son Romulus, who was also called Augustulus, succeeded; he became the last emperor of the Romans, one thousand three hundred and three years having passed since Romulus, the first king. After him, Odoacer seized the Roman government, having stripped himself of the imperial and royal title and being the first to call himself king; it was at this time that Leo the Great departed from this life. D
CHAPTER XII.
A How Empress Eudocia was reconciled to Empress Pulcheria; and concerning Eudocia the younger, the daughter of Eudoxia.The Empress Eudocia, while still residing in Palestine, having been informed of the affairs of her daughter Eudoxia, and of her husband and their children, was cast into the depths of anxiety. Accordingly, having moved every stone, as the proverb has it, she was reconciled to Pulcheria through the agency of the patricians Valerius and Olybrius; and she also requested of her that she might bring aid to those who were in captivity. And when peace had been made between Gaiseric and Marcian, Gaiseric sent Eudoxia and Placidia to Byzantium, at the request of Pulcheria, as I have said. But Eudocia the younger remained with her husband Huneric in Africa, with whom she lived for sixteen years, and bore him a son, Hilderic. Furthermore, as the association with her husband, who professed the Arian religion, was little pleasing to her, she escaped from his hands by a ruse, and, imitating her grandmother Eudocia, she departed to the holy places, and long afterwards she kissed her tomb. There she herself lived for a short time, but being laid to rest in the blessed sleep, she was also placed in a magnificent monument beside the tomb of her grandmother. Whatever property she had, she consecrated it to the poor and to the holy Resurrection of Christ.
CHAPTER XIII.
C How by the management and art of Pulcheria, Eudocia accepted the holy fourth synod, being led by Symeon the Stylite and the great Euthymius.Pulcheria Augusta, as soon as she was reconciled to Eudocia, exhorted her brothers and daughters to send frequent letters to her, so that she might depart from the opinion of Eutyches and Dioscorus, and might choose to communicate with the holy and catholic Church. Eudocia, having received letters of this kind, and as the blessed Bassa was also always troubling her to think the same as she did in matters of religion, fearing that she might not be acting according to the will of God, thought that she ought to refer this matter to the God-bearing Fathers, that they might instruct her with certainty concerning the true worship of piety. Accordingly, having summoned the chorepiscopus Anastasius, she wrote through him to Saint Symeon the Stylite, who at that time was illuminating the world with his virtues. To him she also revealed her conscience in a letter written with her own hand, promising that she would embrace whatever he decided. That holy man wrote back to her in these words: "Know, my child, that the devil, seeing the wealth of your virtues, sought you out to sift you like wheat. And that destructive Theodosius, having become a vessel and instrument of that evil one, darkened your God-loving soul and troubled it. But take courage; for your faith shall not fail. But I indeed have wondered greatly at this, that while you had the fountain within yourself, you were ignorant of it, and sought to draw water from afar. You have, therefore, the God-bearing Euthymius; follow, therefore, his instructions."
doctrines and exhortations and you will be saved.” A Having learned these things, Eudocia did not behave with negligence; but having sent for the holy Euthymius, she summoned him to the tower which she had recently constructed. And when he arrived, she was filled with unspeakable joy, and throwing herself at his feet, she cried out with a loud voice, “Now I know that the Lord has visited my unworthy self with the grace of your presence.” The holy man bestowed a blessing upon her and ordered her to be more attentive henceforth. “For you must know,” he said, “that the grievous and harsh things that have happened to you have come about for no other reason than that you have sustained communion with the impious Theodosius. Therefore, abandon entirely this irrational contentiousness, and concerning the three holy and universal councils—the one first gathered at Nicaea against the impious Arius, the one at Constantinople against Macedonius, B and the first one at Ephesus against Nestorius—you must accept as well the definition recently proclaimed by the council gathered at Chalcedon. And having rejected the communion of Dioscorus, join yourself to Juvenal of Jerusalem, and do what is customary for you to do in the Church.” Having said these things, and having sent up a prayer to God for her, he returned to his own monastery. Eudocia, for her part, sought the holy city and performed in the Catholic Church what was fitting. A great multitude, both of the common people and of the monastic order, who had followed the error of Theodosius, partook of the holy communion along with her. Those who chose not to follow her were still receiving the customary gifts of Eudocia, but only for the sake of the affection she felt, not for the sake of an agreement and union of sentiment and opinion. But after Eudocia had C submitted herself to the universal Church, she stripped off and cast away the inclination toward their wicked and erroneous opinions. And not long afterward, having left this dust behind on earth, she migrated to God, as I have said, with a happy and blessed passing.
CAPUT XIV. Concerning the pious works of Augusta Pulcheria; and concerning the three greatest temples which she built for the Theotokos—that of the holy casket in the Chalcopratia, that of the Hodegetria, and that of the Blachernae; and what Juvenal related concerning the holy dormition of the most holy Theotokos, and her funeral wrappings.
Pulcheria, the most celebrated Augusta, performed many illustrious deeds throughout her life; she established many public hostels and shelters for the poor, as well as cemeteries for strangers and other evidences of her pious mind, among which is the temple of the martyr Laurence. D She also erected from their very foundations three immense houses for the Mother of God. One of these is in the Chalcopratia, bearing the name of the holy casket, in which she treasured the girdle of the Mother of God, of which we made mention in the second chapter of the book immediately preceding this one. In this temple, she ordained that a vigil and supplication with lanterns and lamps should take place every fourth day of the week, and she herself would go there on foot, accompanied by light, which the lamp provides.
A Another is that of the Hodegetria, in which is deposited the image of the Mother of the Word sent from Antioch, which the divine Apostle Luke painted with his own hands, while she was still living, and—as she looked upon the design—infused her grace into the likeness. This image was first in the place called the Tribunal, where the miracles that occur even to this day were performed. In that church he also arranged for a vigil and intercession to be performed every third day of the week, a custom that is observed even until now.
A third church, decorated with incredible beauty and materials of every kind, was consecrated to the Mother of the Word, known as the Blachernae. Pulcheria, having adorned it with lavish beauty throughout the time when Marcian held the scepter of the Roman Empire, exerted great effort to find the most venerable, immaculate, and God-bearing body of that same [Mother of God], so that it might be deposited in that church. She therefore summoned Juvenal, Archbishop of Jerusalem, and the bishops from Palestine who had come for the sake of the Council of Chalcedon, and asked them whether the divine temple of the Theotokos in Palestine, which is truly extraordinary, and her divine body, were still resting in the tomb where they had been placed at the beginning. She wished to have it transferred from there and brought into this temple, so that it might be the protection and fortress of the imperial city. For, since both the city itself and the temple were dedicated to her, she said it was right that her sacred body should not be absent from them.
In response to these words, Juvenal replied that the passing of the holy and ever-virgin Theotokos Mary is in no way recorded in the holy and divinely inspired Scriptures, but that it is accepted by a most ancient and entirely truthful tradition: that as her end approached, the Apostles, who had been scattered to the ends of the earth for the sake of preaching, were suddenly brought to Jerusalem, raised upon clouds. By a more divine vision, a hymn of divine powers was heard resonating. B And again, in an ineffable way, without noise, the Word and her Son descended to receive her divine spirit into His hands. Her most godlike body, having been carried out by angelic and apostolic hymnody, was placed in a tomb in the region of Gethsemane, and for three days the hymn of the angels remained in that place, honoring the Theotokos with unceasing hymns. When that ceased, one of the choir of the Apostles, who had been absent, arrived after the third day, and, having urged that holy choir to open the tomb so that he might also pay the final honor due to the Mother of the Word, he prayed with great earnestness. When the seal was removed and the sepulcher opened, her sacred body was found to be entirely missing; however, her burial wrappings remained in their place, untouched and inviolate, just as if they had only just been vacated by that body, gleaming with an ineffable fragrance. C More struck by this, and having sealed the tomb again, they departed, astonished at the paradox of the event, concluding only that which it was proper to conclude, namely, that the One who was born of her had, by His own power... D
A willed—ineffably and incomprehensibly—to take on flesh and be born, He who is the Lord of glory, and then, after the ineffable birth, to preserve her virginity inviolate; and that He Himself, after her departure from this life, deigned to honor her supernaturally immaculate, untainted, and most holy body, even before the general and common resurrection of all, with incorruption, and by angelic translation removed it to certain places above the heavens and to the incorruptible regions of the celestial mansions, bestowing upon her, as a singular prize, what He did not grant to the rest of mankind—even to those who had highly distinguished themselves—namely, to be raised up thus. There were present at that time with the apostles the most holy Timothy, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the great and wise Hierotheus in divine matters, just as Dionysius himself says in those things written by him to Timothy concerning the blessed Hierotheus, speaking as follows: "For we also, along with our God-inspired hierarchs, both I myself, as you know, and many of our holy brethren, had gathered for the sight of the life-originating and Theotokos-bearing B body." There was present also James, the brother of the Lord, and Peter, the supreme and most venerable pinnacle of the theologians. Then it seemed good, after the viewing, that all the hierarchs should, each as he was able, sing a hymn to the infinitely powerful goodness of the divine strength, and after the divine words, all surpassed the other sacred mystagogues, as you know, being wholly transported, wholly going out of himself, and experiencing the communion with the things being hymned. And he was heard and known and seen by all as a God-inspired hymn, and was judged a divine cantor of hymns. And what should I tell you concerning the things theologized there? And if I have not altogether forgotten myself, I know that I have often heard from you parts of those divinely-inspired hymns as you sang them." When Juvenalis had said these things, the princes themselves asked him to send that holy tomb to them, properly sealed, along with the sacred garments; and it, having been sent thus by Juvenalis, they consecrated C and deposited with pious hands in the great temple of the Blachernae which had been built by them, very close to the holy and divine table, while Marcian was still alive. For the venerable garment was brought not long after, under Leo, and was placed in the round temple which Leo the Great built, as we shall say when we come to recount his history.
Chapter V. On the death of Pulcheria and Marcian; and how, after him, Leo the Great was proclaimed Emperor of the Romans.
A The blessed Pulcheria, in the sixth year of the reign of Marcian, having left behind her great praise and glory, and having preserved her virginity intact even to the very end, departed this life after having done many and very great good works, and having dedicated all her substance to the temples of God and to the poor. Marcian accepted this donation with favor and distributed her properties, which were very great. She was buried in the temple of the Holy Apostles. Not two years having passed in their entirety, Marcian also ceased to be among men—a man who exercised much piety and holiness. For he went on foot in the public processions that were held, and distributed vast sums of money to those in need. He was as Christian as any man who ever lived, and he left his reign to all men as a monument of a life lived piously. While he reigned, there was a tranquil peace in the Roman domain, such that those days were considered to be a golden age. However, when he had passed to a better life, by a common calculation of the senate, Leo, who was from the tribunes and a Thracian by race, was proclaimed Emperor of the Romans and crowned with the diadem by the patriarch Anatolius. He was also called "Macelles," because he immediately put to death Aspar, the greatest of the military commanders, who had raised him to the empire, and his son Ardaburius, on account of their plotting against the empire.
Chapter VI. How, a sedition having arisen again in Alexandria among those who did not accept the decrees of the holy fourth synod, Proterius, Bishop of Alexandria, was killed and dragged by the feet through the city, at the instigation and by the treachery of Timothy Aelurus, who occupied the episcopal see; and how, after he had been expelled by Leo, the Alexandrians elected another Timothy, surnamed Salophaciolus; and how, on the death of Anatolius, Gennadius obtained the see of Constantinople.
C The plebs of Alexandria, and even the leading men who were addicted to Dioscorus, did not accept the decree of the Council of Chalcedon; and, having learned of the death of Marcian, they were once again incited with great fury against Proterius, showing the greatest fervor in driving him out. The populace everywhere is, in truth, easily driven to anger, and it seizes upon any matter that chance offers as a spark and kindling for tumult. The Alexandrian plebs is no less prone and ready for D things of this kind, having been collected from the countless multitude that has flowed in from everywhere. Therefore, it acts beyond all reason and is carried away by a demonic impulse. For they say that it is free for anyone there, having seized upon whatever cause and occasion at random, to quickly excite the people to sedition with certain intemperances, and to lead them wherever he wishes. And the people are in great part given to jokes and playful things, as Herodotus says in writing about Amasis. This is the nature of the Alexandrian people in this regard; but as for its other qualities, they are not...