Methodius the Confessor

ON ST. METHODIUS THE CONFESSOR,

PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE:

847.

His cult among the Greeks and Latins, and the Acts of his life.

Methodius the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople (St.)

G. H. & D. P.

Among the chief athletes of the orthodox faith under the Iconoclast Emperors—Leo the Armenian, Michael the Stammerer, and his son Theophilus—St. Methodius shone forth; Memorial among the Greeks: by far the most illustrious in erudition, in piety toward God, in chastity, in zeal for the Catholic religion, in the endurance of blows often inflicted, in the suffering of exile and the most extreme hardships; and at last, after the death of the impious Emperors, Patriarch of Constantinople, the glorious restorer of the orthodox faith; who, about to receive the reward of his merits, passed to eternal life in the year 847, on this 14th of June. On this day his memory is recalled with most celebrated solemnity among the Greeks, both in the Typicon and in the Synaxarion of the Ms. of the Church of Constantinople, and in other Menaea written by hand and printed in type; and an Ecclesiastical office, very illustrious, is found joined mixed together with the office of St. Elisha the Prophet.

[2] We found it described separately in Greek and Latin by Nicolaus Logotheta the Macedonian, an alumnus of the College of the Greeks at Rome, with its proper Canon, in that same place, and we would have given it below as a specimen of others similar, if we had found the beginnings of the individual stanzas to correspond to the Acrostic which is prefixed to it. But since these are wholly different from what the Acrostic promises, and the Interpreter ascribed to Methodius certain things that should have been left to Elisha, it has not seemed worth the trouble to set forth things so badly arranged, since concerning so many other Saints far better ordered hymns can be had in the Menaea. Therefore receive the Acrostic alone.

Ἀρχιερῆα Θεοῖο Μεθόδιον ἄσμασι μέλπω

I praise in song Methodius, the Archpriest of God.

[3] At Vespers there is set, among other things, from the Octoechos a Sticheron or Versicle, to be sung to the modes of the third tone, as a Poem of Photius the Patriarch: and as evidence of the miracles, frequent at the urn of the Saint,

Εὐφροσύνως σήμερον ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ στολίζεται, ἀγαλλομένη κραύγουσα· Ἐλαμπρύνθη μου τὸ κάλλος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν πόλιν· ἰδοῦ γὰρ τῶν Ἀρχιερέων τὸ μέγα κειμήλιον, ὁ ἔνδοξος Μεθόδιος, τὴν πορείαν πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐποιήσατο. Δεῦτε οὖν, φιλέορτοι, τῶν ὀρθοδόξων τὸ σύστημα, χοροστατήσαντες ἅμα τὴν θείαν λάρνακα, ἰαμάτων πλημμύραν λαβόντες παρ᾽ αὐτῆς, ἱκετεύωμεν αἰτήσασθαι Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ ῥυσθῆναι τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀπο πάσης αἱρέσεως.

Festively today is the Church of God adorned, and exulting it cries out: My beauty has been made resplendent above every city: for behold, the precious gem of the Archpriests, the glorious Methodius, has made his journey to the heavens. Come therefore, lovers of this feast, you company of the Orthodox, and standing in chorus together around the ark, receiving from it the overflowing grace of healings, let us beseech, that he may entreat Christ our God, that He may free the whole world from every heresy. A holy prayer, which would that its very Author had not rendered void, by bringing in a most pernicious schism! Meanwhile we learn from it that the brightness of miracles was not lacking to the Saint after death.

[4] In the Matins Office, between the Seventh and Eighth Ode of the Canon, there is placed a historical eulogy of the same Saint, with this kind of Distich prefixed:

Ὁ Μεθόδιος λύχνος ὢν Ἐκκλησίας, Μεθεὶς ὁδεύει τὰ κάτω πρὸς τὸν πόλον.

Methodius, being a lamp of the Church, leaving earthly things, sets his journey toward the pole.

The eulogy, moreover, is also reported in the Constantinopolitan Synaxarion in these words: Μνήμη τοῦ ἐν Ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μεθοδίου Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως τοῦ Ὁμολογητοῦ: Memorial of our holy Father Methodius, Archbishop of Constantinople and Confessor. Οὗτος ὁ Ἅγιος τὴν πλάνην τῶν αἱρέσεων καὶ ἰκονομάχων σοφαῖς ἀποδείξεσι, καὶ γραφικαῖς ῥήσεσι παντοίως ἀνατρέψας καὶ καθελὼν, καὶ τὴν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαις βραβεύσας, καὶ πολλὰς κακώσεις ὑπὸ τῶν αἱρετικῶν, ἐν τῷ προσκυνεῖν τὰς ἁγίας καὶ σεπτὰς εἰκόνας ὑποστὰς, ἀνεπαύσατε αἰωνίως, λύτρωσιν τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἡμῖν ἐξκιτούμενος. Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτοῦ σύναξις ἐν τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ οἴκω, ἐν ᾧ τὸ τίμιον αὐτοῦ κατάκειται λείψανον, τῷ ὄντι ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ πανευφήμων Ἀποστόλων τῶν μεγάλων.

[5] This Saint utterly overthrew and destroyed the errors of the heresies and the iconoclasts with most wise demonstrations and with the sayings and testimonies of sacred Scripture, and with a brief eulogy: and restored the orthodox faith of Christ to the Churches, and endured many afflictions from the heretics on account of the holy and venerable images honored, and at last fell asleep in the Lord, about to obtain from Him the pardon of our sins. His solemnity is celebrated in his most holy shrine, in which his venerable Relics rest, and that shrine is enclosed in the temple of the holy and illustrious Great Apostles. Concerning this church—the most celebrated of all the Basilicas after St. Sophia, and built by Constantine the Great for the burial of himself and his successor Emperors—burial at the Holy Apostles. Du Cange treats at length in book 4 of his Christian Constantinople, chapter 5; where he teaches how Justinian restored it from its foundations, and made it larger and more beautiful, and Justin the Younger adorned it. He teaches next that not only the Emperors, but also the Patriarchs, by the mind of the Founder, were always laid to rest there; (to whom also the Empresses and the children of the Emperors, or Caesars, are to be joined) he ordered all others to be excluded. After the example of the Greeks, St. Methodius too was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, having already before been entered into the Latin calendars, by Molanus, Genebrardus, and others.

[6] The Acts of his deeds are had twice in Greek in the Vatican library, The Life translated from the Greek. marked with the numbers 655 and 1667, which we took care to have copied for ourselves, and we give them here, rendered into Latin by Leo Allatius, Custodian of the Vatican Library while we were at Rome, a man most renowned everywhere for books partly translated by him from the Greek

into Latin, partly worked out by his own genius: who, in his Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons, page 121, sets forth the beginning of the Life; and although he does not know the author (whom they judge to be plainly ancient and almost a contemporary), nevertheless he does not judge it to have been composed or embellished by the said Simeon Metaphrastes. The title in the Mss. is this: Ὑπόμνημα τῆς θεαρέστου πολιτείας τοῦ ἐν Ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Μεθοδίου Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως: Selections from various sources. A Commemoration of the God-pleasing manner of life of our holy Father Methodius, Archbishop of Constantinople. To these we append Selections, from the chief Greek Writers who flourished in the same or nearest centuries and are all historians; namely George Cedrenus, John Scylitzes, John Zonaras, Constantine Manasses, Michael Glycas; to whom are added Theophanes the Priest in the Life of St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, an author contemporary in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, Sabas the Monk, Peter the Monk, and Metaphrastes in the Life of St. Joannicius. We subjoin some things concerning certain of his writings, among which there are also several Lives of Saints.

THE LIFE

By a contemporary Author, translated by Leo Allatius.

Methodius the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople (St.)

INTERPRETER ALLATIUS.

CHAPTER I.

Birth, studies, monastic life, torments endured, exile in a cave.

[1] Ἱεράρχην, καὶ Ἀσκητὴν ἅμα, καὶ Χριστοῦ Μάρτυρα, μόνοις δ᾽ ἂν γένοιτο δυνατὸν Ἀγγέλοις ἐγκωμιᾶσαι ἀξίως, ἢ Ἀρχαγγέλοις Θεοῦ, οἵγε τὴν πρώτην καὶ θείαν ἱεραρχίαν κοσμοῦσιν, τούς τε ἀξίους ἱεράρχας μυσταγωγοῦσιν, καὶ τοῖς ἀσκουμένοις τε καὶ ἀθλοῦσι ῥῶσιν καὶ προθυμίαν ἔχουσιν· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώποις τοῦτο δοθεῖ, τοῖς τῷ ἀνδρὶ πάντως ὁμοτάγεσι, καὶ ὁμοτίμοις, ἱεραρχία μέν ἱεράρχην, ἄσκησιν δὲ σπουδή, καὶ ἀθλοφόρος τὸν στεφανίτην καταγεραίρει.

Τί οὖν, εἰ μηδεὶς τῶν τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τῷ πανευφήμῳ Μεθοδίῳ τοιοῦτόν τινα λόγον προκατεβάλετο, αἰδοῖ τῆς ὑπεροχῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς σιγῇ τούτων ἀποθαυμασάντων καὶ σεμνυνάντων, ἄραγε ἀνιστόρητον παντὶ τοσαύτην ἀνδρὸς ἀρετὴν, εἰ καὶ ἐλάχιστοι, καταλήψωμεν, καὶ οὐκ ἀναγγελοῦμεν τὰς θεῶθεν δι᾽ αὐτοῦ γεγενημένας εὐεργεσίας. Καὶ πότε δὴ γνησιώτερον τὴν κελεύουσαν πατέρα τιμᾷν πληρώσομεν ἐντολήν; εὐχαριστίαν προσάγοντες τῷ καθεκάστην γενεὰν τοὺς οἰκείους θεράποντας δίκην φωστήρων ἐξανατέλλοντι, καὶ τῶν τὸν σκότον ἀποδιώκοντι· πλὴν οὐ τοσοῦτον μανίας ἢ μέθης ἀναπεπλήσμεθα, ὡς κατ᾽ ἀξίαν τὸν Δίκαιον ἐγκωμιάζειν ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι· ἀλλ᾽ ὅν τρόπον οἱ ἄρτι εἰς διδασκάλους φοιτῶντες, τοὺς μὲν ἀρχετύπους τῶν γραμμάτων χαρακτῆρας ἀπομιμοῦνται, οὐκ ἐφικνοῦνται δὲ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς ἐμφερείας αὐτῶν, ὡς τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐοικέναι, οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος, ψελλίσει μὲν ἴσως διανοίας ἀτέχνου προβεβλημμένος, τ᾽ ἀληθῆ δὲ καὶ συντόμως λέξεται κατὰ δύναμιν.

[2] Ὁ ἐκλεκτὸς Θεῷ Μεθόδιος τὰς Συρακούσας ἔσχε πατρίδα, γονέων εὐκλεῶν καὶ πλουσίων υἱὸς γεγονώς· ἐν αἷς πᾶσαν γραμματικῆς τέχνην καὶ ἱστορίας, ὀρθογραφίαν τε καὶ ὀξυγραφίαν κατωρθωκὼς ἐκ παιδὸς, ἤδη λοιπὸν εἰς ἄνδρα τελῶν, τὴν βασιλίδα καταλαβὼν, πλεῖστα χρήματα ὅσα ἐπαγόμενος, βασιλικῶν ἀξιωμάτων τυχεῖν ἐφιέμενος, καὶ τῷ βίῳ περιφανὴς καταστῆναι· συντυχὼν δέ τινι Ἀσκητῇ ἐκ προνοίας Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐρωτηθεὶς, δι᾽ ἣν τῶν ἑσπερίων πρὸς τὴν ἕω μεταφύτικε, τὸν ἴδιον ἐξειρήκει σκοπόν. Ὁ δὲ σοφὸς ἀνὴρ ἐκεῖνος φησίν· Καὶ εἰ οὕτω δόξης ἐρᾷς, ὦ νεανία, διὰ τί μὴ τὴν μένουσαν μᾶλλον καὶ τὴν θείαν ἀντὶ τῆς παρερχομένης καταπλουτήσειας; Τὰ μὲν οὖν χρήματα τοῖς πενομένοις κατασκορπίσας, τὸν σταυρὸν δὲ Χριστοῦ ἄρας, καὶ τοῖς δεσποτικοῖς τῷ ὄντι βασιλικοῖς ἴχνεσιν ἐπακολουθήσας; Ἢ οὐκ ἐν εὐαγγελίοις ἑκατονταπλασίονα ὧδε ταῦτα ἀπολήψεσθαι, Χριστοῦ λέγοντος ἤκουσας, κἀκεῖ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομῆσαι; Ὥστε εἰ πεισθείης νῦν τῷ ἐμῷ λόγῳ, πτωχὸν σεαυτὸν καὶ ἄδοξον καταστήσεις, μετὰ δυναστῶν λαοῦ καθείσεις, καὶ θρόνου δόξης κατακληρονομήσεις.

[3] Εὐθὺς οὖν ἡ ἀγαθὴ καρδία ἐκείνη, ὥσπερ καλὴ γῆ τὸν σπόρον δεξαμένη, πάντα μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπετέλεσεν. Ἀποκείρεται τοίνυν ἐν τῇ Χηνολάκκου μονῇ, κἀκεῖσε τὴν ἀσκητικὴν ἐξανοίγει παλαίστραν, μηδ᾽ ὅτι οὖν τοῦ κανόνος ὑπερβαλέσθαι, ἢ καταλῆψαι σπουδάζων, σαφῶς ἐπιστάμενος τὴν εἰς ἑκάτερα κλῆσιν τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι ἀπόπτωσιν.

[4] Καὶ οὕτως μὲν οὗτος ἐφιλοσόφει, μέχρις ὅτε λοιπὸν ἡ βαθεία καὶ σκοτεινὴ νύξ τῆς αἱρέσεως τῶν μισούντων καὶ ἀρνουμένων τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου οἰκονομίαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν αὐτοῦ καθαιρούντων καὶ καθυβριζόντων εἰκόνα τὴν οἰκουμένην κατέλαβεν, ὅση ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλίδα, ὅγε ἁγιώτατος πατριάρχης Νικηφόρος τοῦ θρόνου ἐλαύνεται, καὶ ἐξορίαν καταδικάζεται, καὶ πάντες οἱ τοῦ ὀρθοῦ δόγματος μετανάσται καὶ φυγάδες καὶ ἀλίται γεγένηνται, ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς συγκλειόμενοι. Τότε γὰρ λοιπὸν τοῦ φροντιστηρίου ἐξάρας τὴν Ῥώμην καταλαμβάνει, ὡς ἔξω τυγχάνουσαν τῆς κακοῦ ἐξουσίας μέντοιγε κἀκεῖσε φιλοπονότερον ἀσκεῖ πρᾶξιν καὶ θεωρίαν, ὡς ἀμφοτέρωθέν τε κραταιωθῆναι, καὶ οἱονεὶ τὴν ἐξ ὕψους δύναμιν προσλαβέσθαι. Βλέπων δὲ τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ δυναστείαν σφοδρότερον ἐπιμαινομένην, τάς τε τῶν ἱερέων κειμηλίων ἀποτεφρώσεις, καὶ τὰς τῶν πιστῶν φυγαδείας, τὰς δημεύσεις, τὰς ἐξορίας, τοὺς καυστηριασμοὺς, τὰς ἀφορήτους μάστιγας, τὰς εἰρκτὰς, τὸν λιμὸν, τὰς διαβολὰς, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἐστὶν παραπλήσια, ἐδάκρυεν, ἐδέετο τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιτιμῆσαι τῇ καταιγίδι, καὶ στῆσαι ταύτην εἰς αὔραν.

[5] Οὐ πολὺ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ ἀναιρεῖται ὁ ἄγριος Λέων ὑπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καθ᾽ οὗ ἐδυσφήμησεν, καὶ παραλαμβάνει Μιχαὴλ τὸ βασίλειον. Τότε δὴ οὖν μὴ φέρων ὁρᾷν, τὴν μὲν ἀλήθειαν καταφιμωθεῖσαν καὶ ἀφασίαν καταδικασθεῖσαν, τὴν δὲ ἀδικίαν μέγα βοῶσαν, ὡς εἰς οὐρανὸν τὴν κραυγὴν αὐτῆς ἀκουσθῆναι, καὶ μηδένα εὑρίσκεσθαι τὸν ταύτην ἐπιστομίζοντα ἢ ἐλέγχοντα, τόμους δογματικοὺς ἤτοι ὅρους ὀρθοδοξίας παρὰ τοῦ Πάπα λαβὼν, ἀνέρχεται πρὸς τὸν διάδοχον Λέοντος, ἐλπίσας τοῦτον ἄξαι πρὸς τὴν ὀρθοδοξίαν, καὶ ἀποκαταστῆσαι τὸν ἐν ἁγίοις Νικηφόρον τῷ ἰδίῳ θρόνῳ. Ὁ δὲ τοὺς μὲν τόμους δεξάμενος, ὡς ἱστὸν ἀράχνης ἐφαύλισεν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὰ τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως τρανῶς καὶ παῤῥησιασμένως διαγγέλλοντα, ὡς ταραχῆς φησιν αἴτιον καὶ σκανδάλων, περὶ τὰς ἑπτακοσίας ἀνήρτησε μάστιγας, καὶ οὕτως ἡμιθνῆτα λοιπὸν καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα πνέοντα, πρῶτον μὲν φρουρᾷ, ἔπειτα δὲ ἔν τινι τάφῳ εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Ἀνδρέου νησίον κατέκλεισεν. ἐν ᾧ τάφῳ καὶ ἕτερος ἐπὶ τυραννίδι κατακέκλειστο· ὡς πᾶσαν αὐτῷ ἀθυμίαν πανταχόθεν ἐγγίνεσθαι, ἀπὸ τῶν πληγῶν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθεράπευτον εἶναι, ἀπὸ τοῦ καταδικασθέντος ἀγρίκου ἀνδρὸς, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ τάφου στενοχωρίας, καὶ τὸ δεινότερον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀφεγγοῦς σκότους. Οὐκ ἔτι οὖν ἡμῖν δεήσει λοιπὸν τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα σκυθρωπὰ ἐξειπεῖν, τὸ εἶδος τῆς βασάνου μαθοῦσι, πάντων εἰδότων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν, καὶ τὸ ἄθλιον τῆς πηλοῦ ταύτης καὶ ἐπίνοσον σκεῦος, ὁπόσων ὀδυνῶν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐμπίπλησιν· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἐτέθη καὶ αὐτὸς ζῶν ἀπρονόητος ἐν λάκκῳ κατωτάτω, ἐν σκοτεινοῖς καὶ ἐν σκιᾷ θανάτου. Αὕτη τοῦ μακαρίου Μεθοδίου ἡ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ πρώτη ἄθλησις· τὰ γὰρ ἑξῆς, αὖθις εἰρήσεται· τοῦτο τὸ σφοδρὸν καὶ ἐπιτεταμένον μαρτύριον τοῦ μεγάλου ὄντως Χριστοῦ Μάρτυρος.

[6] Διαφόρως τοίνυν ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ βούλετο ἐνυβρίσαι εἰς τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα, καὶ τῆς εἰρκτῆς ἀφεθῆναι, μυριάκις ἔλεγεν τοιούτους καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτους ὑποίσειν θανάτους, ἢ κἂν γοῦν ἄτιμον ἔννοιαν κατὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν εἰκόνος ἐνθυμηθῆναι. Ἐννέα τοίνυν ἐκεῖσε συγκεκλεισμένος ἐνιαυτοὺς, μόλις ἀφέσεως γραφείσης κοινῆς τοῖς δεσμίοις τοῦ παρανόμου βασιλέως, κατὰ τὰς τελευταίας πνοὰς, κελεύσαντος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπελύθη, Πνεύματος ἁγίου πεπληρωμένος, καὶ τῆς ἀθανάτου ζωῆς τοὺς ἀῤῥαβῶνας, τὰ στίγματα λέγω τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παθημάτων οἰκείῳ ἐπιφερόμενος σώματι· λαῖος ὅλος τὴν κεφαλὴν, καὶ νεκροῦ μηδὲν διαφέρων, μόνοις ὀστοῖς, καὶ δορᾷ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀποσώζων σχῆμα καὶ τὴν προτέραν ὁμοίωσιν. Οὕτω τοίνυν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν καταστὰς (οὐ γὰρ ἦν φροντιστήριον τῆς αἱρέσεως ἄμοιρον) ὡμίλει τοῖς ὁμοζήλοις αὐτῷ ἀσκηταῖς τε καὶ Χριστοῦ μάρτυσιν, τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ τῆς ἐξορίας ἄρτι ἀπολυθεῖσιν· ὡμίλει δὲ καὶ τοῖς τῆς συγκλήτου. ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ τοῖς ἰὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως πεπωκόσι τὰ σωτήρια δόγματα παρετίθει, καὶ τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν κινδύνου ἀπήλλαττεν· πολὺς γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἡδὺς καὶ βαθὺς τὴν διάνοιαν, τὰ τῶν θείων γραφῶν εὐφυῶς συμβιβάζων καὶ προβαλλόμενος, ὡς ἴδιον μᾶλλον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἐπιῤῥεῖν, ὕδωρ ψυχρὸν καὶ ἡδὺ δεδιψηκότι λάρυγγι.

[7] Τοῦ τοίνυν Ἐθνοφίλου μᾶλλον ἢ Θεοφίλου τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς βασιλείαν διαδεξαμένου, τότε τῆς μιαρᾶς ἐκείνης αἱρέσεως ἔκπωμα πεπωκότος εἰς μέθην, πάλιν οἱ ὀρθόδοξοι ἐδιώκοντο, ἐξορίζοντο, ἀξιωμάτων ἔπιπτον, κτημάτων καὶ οἰκημάτων ἀπεστεροῦντο· οὐκ ἦν εἶδος κακοπαθείας, ὃ μὴ ὑπέμενον. Τότε τοίνυν διαβάλλεται τούτῳ τῷ ὄφει ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀριστεὺς καὶ μάρτυς Μεθόδιος, τὴν αἵρεσιν φανερῶς ἀπελέγχων, καὶ μεγάλας ὑπενεγκὼν βασάνους τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως χάριν. Μετακληθέντος τοίνυν αὐτῷ, ἔφη ὁ Βασιλεύς· Οὐ παύσῃ, Μεθόδιε, τὰς ποινὰς ὑφιστάμενος ἐξ ἀκαίρου φιλονικείας, καὶ τῶν κρατούντων τὴν εὐνομίαν ταράττων; ποίας ταύτης φησὶν, ὅτι δὴ πράγματος ἀτελοῦς χάριν, τῆς λεγομένης εἰκόνος, ταραχῆς τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπλήρωσας, ὡς καὶ τὸν Πάπαν Ῥώμης παρασκευᾶσαι, τόμους καταπέμψαι τῷ ἐμῷ πατρί. Τότε ὁ Μεθόδιος· Καὶ εἰ οὕτως παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ὁ τῆς εἰκόνος εὐτελὴς ἔτι λόγος, καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς φροντίδος ἄξιος, διὰ τί οἱ τὴν Ῥωμαίων λαχόντες ὑμεῖς ἀρχὴν, τὴν ὑμετέραν οὐ συγκαθαιρεῖτε τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνι καὶ ἀφανίζετε, ἵν᾽ ὁμοίως Χριστῷ συνδοξάζησθε, ἀλλ᾽ ὁσημέραι ταύτην ἐπιτείνετε, καὶ ἐπαίρετε; ἥ σαφής τε καὶ φανερὰ ἡ αἰτία, κἂν ἡμεῖς αὐτὴν μὴ λέγομεν.

[8] Καὶ ὅς γε τοῦ ἐλέγχου ὕβριν οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν, εἰς θυμὸν τὴν παραίνεσιν μεταποίησεν, καὶ τοῖς ἱμᾶσι ταθῆναι κελεύσας, γυμνοῖς τοῖς νώτοις αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς στέρνοις ὑπὲρ τὰς ἑξακοσίας κατέφερε μάστιγας, καὶ οὕτως ἡμιθανῆ καὶ τῷ αἵματι πάντοθεν πεφυρμένον, ἔν τινι ὑπογαίῳ ἄντρῳ τοῦ παλατίου, διά τινος στομίου, ῥιφῆναι προσέταξεν. Νυκτὸς δὲ καταλαβούσης, ὑπό τινων ἀναληφθεὶς φιλοχρίστων, καὶ θεραπείας ἀξιωθεὶς, αὐτὸς μὲν ἀναῤῥώσεως ἔτυχεν· ὁ δὲ τοῦτον θεοφιλὴς τεθεραπευκὼς οἶκος, δημεῦσαι παντελῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ μισοχρίστου καὶ λυσσητῆρος τυράννου καταδικάζεται. Τοιαύτη τοῦ μακαρίου πύκτου καὶ ἡ δευτέρα διὰ Χριστὸν πάλη, καὶ μετὰ Χριστοῦ νίκη.

[9] Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁ δόλιος ὄφις ἐκεῖνος συνιδὼν, ὅτι μὴ ταῖς βασάνοις ἥκειν φύσεως ἔχει ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιώτης, φερεπόνου τυχὼν ψυχῆς καὶ δυνάμεως, ἐπὶ τὸ ταύταις ἀντικείμενον μέρος ἐχώρησε, κολακείᾳ τοῦτον συλῆσαι καὶ δόξῃ παραδοκήσας. Καὶ δὴ προσκαλεσάμενος, σὺν ἱλαρότητι καὶ ἡπιότητι προσομίλει, καὶ γραφικὰς πεύσεις παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λύεσθαι ἡδέως ἔχειν ἂν ὁμολόγει, θέλος, ἔνδον τοῦ παλατίου μένειν σὺν τοῖς γνησίοις προστάττει θεράπουσιν. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ οὕτω μᾶλλον ἐκράτει, ἢ ἐκρατεῖτο· τοὺς γὰρ οἰκειωτάτους τῷ Βασιλεῖ πάντας ὀρθοδοξεῖν ἐξεπαίδευσε, καὶ τὸ

τοῦ Βασιλέως δὲ ἄκρατον περὶ τὸ δύσφημον καὶ ἀνέπαφον εἰσκεκραμμένον πῶς καὶ ἀμφίδοξον μετεσκεύασεν, ὡς μήτε τῷ συνήθει θράσει κατὰ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων χωρεῖν, μήτε μὴν τῇ οἰκείᾳ δόξῃ ὡς ἀμωμήτῳ καταθαρρεῖν.

[1] [The Author excusing his own slenderness on account of the greatness of the matter] To extol with worthy praises a Bishop of holy things, and likewise an Ascetic, and at the same time a Martyr of Christ, would be possible only for the Angels, or for the Archangels of God (as those who are the ornament of the first and divine Hierarchy, and shape the worthy Presidents of holy things, and add strength and courage to those who train and contend). But if even to men this should be granted, it would be given only to those who are of the same rank and dignity: so that the Hierarchy might praise the Hierarch, effort the discipline, and the victor the wreathed conqueror. What then, if none of such men down to these times has laid before the all-praiseworthy Methodius any such discourse, all being deterred by reverence for the preeminence of so excellent a man, and so venerating his deeds with silence and admiration; shall we therefore on that account abstain from speaking of so great a Hero, and pass over such great virtue, however despicable we ourselves are, and he proposes to write a few and true things nor proclaim the benefits divinely conferred through him on the whole world? And when, indeed, shall we more genuinely fulfill the precept of honoring our father, giving thanks to Him who in every age makes His servants to rise like luminaries, and drives away the darkness of souls? Yet we shall not fall into such madness and drunkenness as to profess that the Just one is to be celebrated by us with worthy praises. For just as those who are first instructed by teachers imitate the archetypal forms of the letters, though they do not render their exquisite outlines, so that all things are exactly like them; so too this our discourse, setting forth thoughts polished by no art, will perhaps stammer, yet will set forth true things, and with what brevity it can.

[2] Methodius, acceptable to God, had Syracuse a as his fatherland, born the son of parents conspicuous in fame and very wealthy, where, instructed from his very boyhood in all grammar, the knowledge of histories, and the art of writing correctly and swiftly, when he had now put on manhood; he came to the Queen of Cities, attended by a great force of wealth, Methodius, born at Syracuse, that there he might be distinguished with royal dignities and grow illustrious by the magnificence of his expenditures. But, providence of the Deity thus leading him, when he had fallen in with an Ascetic, and was asked for what cause he had transferred himself from the Western parts to the Eastern; he uttered what he had previously conceived in his mind. Then that shrewd man: If, said he, and having set out for Constantinople you are so urged by the desire of glory, O young man, why have you not rather procured for yourself that abiding and divine glory, in place of the fragile and quickly-flying one, by pouring out your wealth on the needy, by taking up the cross of the Lord, and following the Lordly and truly royal footsteps? Have you not heard in the Gospels Christ proclaiming that you would receive a hundredfold of these things even in this world, and obtain the inheritance of eternal life? by the exhortation of the pious Ascetic Wherefore, if you will hear me, and put faith in my word, you will bring it about that you be poor and inglorious; and thus you shall sit with the mighty of the people, and inherit the throne of glory.

[3] At once therefore that excellent soul, like fruitful earth receiving the seed, with the greatest effort carried out what was said. Wherefore he lays aside his hair in the b monastery of Chenolaccus, he enters the monastery of Chenolaccus: afterward he is perfected in the ascetic wrestling-school, striving with the utmost zeal that no one should swerve below or above the rule in any respect—holding that this is the loss of everything.

[4] And in this manner indeed he ordered his life soberly and moderately; until at length the dark and gloomy c night of the heresy—of those hating and denying the economy of the Word of God, and on that account overthrowing and treating with insult His Image—seized the whole world that obeys the royal City. the heresy of the iconoclasts flying ahead, Then the most holy Patriarch d Nicephorus is driven from his See, and cast into exile; and all the rest, well-thinking concerning the faith, e were hidden as outcasts, exiles, and wanderers in the mountains and caves and clefts of the earth. Then he himself, going out from the monastery, betakes himself to Rome, as to one that was free from the dominion of such a plague; he departs to Rome: remitting nothing of his purpose, but there much more ardently he devotes himself to action and contemplation, with his exercises uninterrupted; so that, having gotten for himself helps from both, he might be made firm, and might receive the strength conferred upon him from on high. But when he beheld with his own eyes the harm of the evil one growing daily more savage and raging, and the burnings of the sacred treasures of the priests, the flights of the faithful, the proscriptions, the exiles, the brandings, the unbearable scourges, the prisons, the famine, the calumnies, and very many other things like these; he wept, and was afflicted in wretched ways, and as a suppliant besought God to rebuke the storm, and to change it into a gentle breeze.

[5] Not long after it came to pass that that savage f Leo was slaughtered beneath the altar to which he had been injurious, and g Michael became master of the Empire. Then at last, bearing ill the silence imposed upon truth, while impiety so loudly clamored that its voice was now heard among the Heavenly ones, Leo the Armenian having died, and there was none to stop its mouth or refute its utterances—having received tomes treating of doctrine, or rather definitions of the orthodox faith procured from the Roman h Pontiff, he proceeds to the successor of Leo; sent from the Pope to the Emperor Michael: hoping to lead him to the right faith, and to restore i St. Nicephorus to his own throne. But that man, having received the tomes, made light of them like spiders' webs; and Methodius—who clearly, freely, and intrepidly championed the right faith—he, as the author of sedition (as that man said) and of scandals, having suspended, beat with nearly seven hundred lashes; and thus half-dead and now about to expire, he shut him up first indeed in prison, then in a k sepulcher on the island of Andrew the Apostle; in which sepulcher another also, paying the penalty for attempted tyranny, was enclosed: so that the wretched man, pressed on all sides by hardships, scourges, lack of medicines, he is sorely punished by him, and shut up in a sepulcher, the company of that condemned and boorish man, the narrowness of the burial, and—what is worst of all—the dark gloom, was tortured in soul. There will therefore be no need hereafter to recount to you the manifold hardships and sorrows that followed from these, since you who know what manner of torment it is. For no one is unaware of how great anguishes of soul both the weakness of human nature, and this wretched vessel of clay, prone to diseases, inflict upon a man when he struggles with such evils. For truly he himself was placed, alive, in darkness and in the shadow of death, no one caring for his safety. This is the first combat of the blessed Methodius for Christ; the things that followed afterward I shall tell presently; this was the vehement and intense martyrdom of the great athlete, truly Christ's.

[6] When therefore he was urged in many ways to do injury to the image of Christ, and so, taken out of the cage, to live free; he kept saying that he would rather endure six hundred such deaths, and much more, than conceive even the slightest dishonorable thought in his mind against the image of Christ our God. Having therefore been shut up there for nine l years, when the Emperor had ordained that all who were held bound should be released, with himself drawing his last breath of life, he too was sent forth; whence, brought out after the 9th year, yet full of the Holy Spirit, and bearing in his own body the pledge of immortal life, I mean the stigmata of the sufferings of Christ; his whole head bald and hairless, and most like the dead, preserving the human form and his former likeness only by bones and skin. Then, living to himself alone (for there was no monastery free from the plague of heresy), he associated with Ascetics who were led by the same zeal as he, he inculcates the orthodox faith on all. and with the Martyrs of Christ, then first released from chains and exile. He associated also with those who were in dignity, and of the Senate, who nevertheless thought rightly concerning the faith. He was also with those who had imbibed the poison of heresy, that he might set before them the saving doctrines, and free them from the danger oppressing their soul: for he was strong in many persuasive and most acute sentences, and with surpassing genius, aptly composing the words of the divine Scriptures, he repeated them to others; so that his discourse flowed more pleasantly into the ears of the hearers than cold and sweet water is poured into a thirsting throat.

[7] When therefore Theophilus—a lover of paganism rather than of God—succeeded his father in the empire, and had drained to drunkenness the m cup of that infamous heresy; the adherents of the right faith were again put to flight, driven into exile, cast down from their dignities, deprived of all goods and possessions, and afflicted with every calamity. reproved by the Emperor Theophilus, Then too to this monstrous serpent Methodius, the most valiant soldier and Martyr of Christ, is reported, as one who openly refuted the heresy, and had endured huge torments for the sake of the orthodox faith. The Emperor therefore, having summoned him, addresses him: Will you never rest, Methodius, having now suffered punishments for that ill-timed and obstinate zeal of contention, he defends the cause of the images. to confound the arrangement of those who rule? and that, for the sake of a most worthless thing, an image, I say, for which you have filled the world with so many tumults, so as even to drive the Roman Pontiff to write tomes to my father? Then Methodius: If the account of the image is so worthless among you, and esteemed of no worth, by what reason do you, who hold the Roman Empire in your hand, not destroy and abolish your own image together with the image of Christ, that you may attain glory equally with Christ—but daily multiply and exalt it? Is not this cause, even with us silent, clear and manifest?

[8] Then that man, not bearing to be refuted, turned the exhortation into rage, and ordering him to be stretched out with thongs, and after 600 blows is shut up in prison: he inflicted upon his bare back and breast six hundred and more lashes; and thus, half-dead and everywhere defiled with blood, he commanded him to be cast into a subterranean cave, which was in the palace, through a certain opening. But when night had come, taken up by some pious men, and granted treatment, he himself indeed recovered well; he is set free by the pious, who are therefore punished: but the house dear to God which had administered the medicine to him was condemned to total confiscation by the Christ-hating and raging tyrant. This was the second wrestling-match of the blessed boxer for Christ, and his victory with Christ.

[9] recalled by Theophilus But that crafty serpent, seeing plainly that the soldier of Christ knew not how to yield to bodily torments, as one who had both a soul patient of toil and strength enough; turned himself to the opposite course; thinking to vanquish the man and win him to himself by flatteries and by the hope of greater glory. Wherefore, summoning him, he renders him much more moderate he conversed sweetly and gently, and confessed that he would gladly have questions drawn from Scripture solved by him; and at last he willed him to remain in the palace with his most faithful servants. Nevertheless the man of God, even by this means, conquered more than he was conquered. For all those whom the Emperor most familiarly employed, he instructed in the right faith; and the Emperor's own anger, and his impulse and fury toward every sacrilege, he transferred into a certain moderate sobriety and wavering;

so that he was neither carried with his accustomed audacity against the orthodox, nor trusted in his own opinion as though it were beyond reproach.

ANNOTATIONS BY G. H.

CHAPTER II.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople: the things done in it, his sickness, his death.

[10] Ἐν τούτοις τοῦ ἁγίου ἀνδρὸς ἐξεταζομένου, θάνατον ἀπέστειλε Κύριος ἐπὶ τὸν Βασιλέα, καὶ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν αὐτοῦ· ἅμα γὰρ ἐτέθνηκει, συντελευτᾷ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ αἵρεσις. Τοῦ γὰρ παιδὸς Μιχαὴλ, σὺν τῇ μητρὶ τὴν βασιλείαν παραλαβόντος, ἡ ὀρθόδοξος Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησία παῤῥησίαν λαμβάνει, καὶ τὸ κίβδηλον τῆς αἱρέσεως, ὡς ἀνθρωπίνῃ χειρὶ φυέν τε καὶ κρατηθὲν ἀπηλέγχετο, καὶ οἱ λαλεῖν καὶ ἀκούειν βουλόμενοι, περὶ τούτων ἐκωλύοντο. Ἰωάννου τοίνυν ἀνδρὸς γοήτου καὶ ὑδρομάντεως τῆς εἰρημένης προϊσταμένου αἱρέσεως, καὶ τῷ θρόνῳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως συμπεφορημένου, κανονικῶς ἐξεληλαμένου σὺν παντὶ τῷ κλήρῳ αὐτοῦ· ἐζητεῖτο λοιπὸν ὁ ἄξιος τῷ θρόνῳ ἐπιστηριχθῆναι μέλλων πράξει καὶ θεωρίᾳ ἀνθρωπίνων κεκοσμημένος, καὶ πολυπειρίᾳ τῶν θείων γεγυμνασμένος, δυνατὸς λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ κατὰ τὴν θείαν γραφήν. Πολλῶν τοίνυν μεγάλων καὶ ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν προβεβλημμένων, μόνος προκρίνεται καὶ καθίσταται ὁ ἀθλοφόρος Μεθόδιος, ἀσκήσει πάντας ὑπερβάλλων, καὶ γραφῶν ἐμπειρίᾳ, καὶ προφορᾶς εὐγλωττείᾳ καὶ ἄθλων ὑπομονῇ, καὶ φρονήματος μετριότητι, καὶ συναναστροφῇ καὶ συνουσίᾳ χαριεστάτῃ.

[11] Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀσκήσεως καὶ εὐφυΐας ἐμνήσθημεν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, ἓν αὐτοῦ κατόρθωμα εἰρηκότες, περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὑμῖν διανοεῖσθαι παραχωρήσωμεν. Ἑπτὰ τοίνυν ψαλτήρια πλήρη ὁ σοφὸς Μεθόδιος ἔγραφε, καθ᾽ ἑκάστης τὸ ἓν ἑβδομάδος νήστης ἀποπληρῶν, οὐδὲ γὰρ ὕδατος ἀπεγεύετο, πλὴν σαββάτου καὶ κυριακῆς. Τοιαύτη, ὡς ἐν συντόμῳ εἰπεῖν, τοῦ Ὁσίου ἡ ἄσκησις· τοιοῦτον ἐκ πολλῶν τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ τὸ μαρτύριον· αὕτη καὶ τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης ἡ προεδρία.

[12] Ἣν μέντοι παραίνεσιν τότε, ἤτοι δημηγορίαν παντὶ τῷ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας λαῷ, στὰς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν, ἐποιήσατο, ὡς τύπῳ εἰπεῖν, τοιαύτη τις ἦν· Κοινὴν μὲν οὖν, ὦ πατέρες καὶ ἀδελφοὶ, εὐχαριστίαν, ἐγώ τε καὶ πάντες ὑμεῖς, τῷ καλῶν δωτῆρι Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ ἐποφείλομεν ὅτι γε σχεδόν που, ὅλοις τριάκοντα πεπονημένους ἔτεσιν, ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς αἱρέσεως βαρυτάτου ζυγοῦ, σήμερον ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερίας ἠξίωσεν· ἐποίησε γὰρ ἀληθῶς καὶ νῦν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ, καθεῖλεν τε δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων καὶ ὕψωσε ταπεινοὺς, καθὼς ἐλάλησε πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους αὐτοῦ μαθητάς τε καὶ φίλους, Θλίψιν ἔξετε ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον. Κοινὴν εὐφροσύνην πάντες οἴεσθε ἔχειν ἐμέ τε καὶ πάλιν ὑμᾶς, καὶ πῇ μὲν, τ᾽ ἀληθῆ ὑπολαμβάνετε, πῶς γὰρ ἂν οὐκ ἂν ἀγασθείην τὸ σκότος ἀπεληλαμένον τῶν ψυχῶν, καὶ τὸ φῶς Χριστοῦ βλέπων πανταχοῦ καταλάμπον; ἐγὼ δέ τινα καὶ λύπην τῇ εὐφροσύνῃ συμμιγῆ κέκτημαι, οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις, μισητὸν γὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἀγαθοῖς σχετλιάζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι με ὑπὸ μεγάλους πόνους, καὶ μείζονας φροντίδας τῆς προεδρείας ταύτης ἐθήκατε, εἴγε ὅσον τὸ ὑψηλὸν καὶ ἐπίδοξον, τοσοῦτον καὶ τὸ ἐπίπονον καὶ ἐπίφθονον κέκτημαι. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἡγοῦμαι τὴν ψυχήν μου τιμίαν ἐμαυτῷ, μόνον εἰ τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν ὀρθοτομοῖ κήρυγμα· καὶ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ἀρετῶν ἀρετὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἡ ὀρθόδοξος πίστις ἐστὶν, ὡς τῷ μεγάλῳ Παύλῳ δοκεῖ λέγοντι, Ἀδύνατον χωρὶς πίστεως εὐαρεστῆσαι Θεῷ.

[13] Δεῖ οὖν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀμώμητον τὴν ὀρθόδοξον τετηρηκότας πίστιν, κἂν εἰ πολλὰς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀθλίων τῇ αἱρέσει δεδουλωμένων ποινάς τε καὶ θλίψεις ὑπέστημεν, ἀεὶ τῆς κυριακῆς μεμνῆσθαι φωνῆς, Πάτερ ἄφες αὐτοῖς, οὐ γὰρ οἴδασι τί ἐποίησαν. Μᾶλλον νῦν οὖν οἱ θερμότεροι εἴγε τούτους ἀνταμύνασθαι βούλεσθε, ἐμοὶ πειθόμενοι, τὴν ἐνοῦσαν ταῖς ψυχαῖς αὐτῶν αἵρεσιν ἀπελάσετε, ἥτις ἤσασαν αὐτοὺς καθ᾽ ὑμῶν ὁπλίζειν. Αὕτη κραταιωτάτη κατ᾽ ἐχθρῶν νίκη, τὸ κινοῦν αὐτοῖς ἀνελεῖν αἴτιον, καὶ εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον τὸ δι᾽ ἐναντίας ἀγαγεῖν φρόνημα· ὡς τόγε σωματικῶς πεπονθότα, σωματικῶς τὸν κακώσαντα ἀνταμύνασθαι, σχῶν τε καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων ἀλόγων ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ μὴ εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκὶ χρησώμεθα, λιπανθέντες καὶ πλατυνθέντες κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν παλαιὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἄρτι τοῦ πηλοῦ καὶ τῆς πλινθείας ἀπαλλαγέντα, καὶ τὸ δύσφημον σιωπάσθω. Μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν τὸν τῆς αἰνέσεως εἰς τὸν τῆς εὐχαριστίας καὶ εὐαρεστήσεως καιρὸν ἀμειψόμεθα, τῆς παρὰ πόδας μεμνημένοι κακώσεως· ἴστε γὰρ ὡς οὐ δεῖται καιροῦ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ζῆν ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι, μήτιγε τὰ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντα· τὰ δὲ τούτων ἐναντία, καὶ χρόνου καὶ πόνου πολλοῦ πολλάκις τυχόντα, οὐ προσεκτήθη. Καὶ ὑμεῖς γε, οἱ χθὲς κατ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ἀνδριζόμενοι μᾶλλον ἢ κατ᾽ ἡμῶν, μὴ ὅτιγε τοῦ τυραννεῖν εἴργεσθε σκυθρωπάζετε, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐπαύσατε, ἥδεσθε καὶ ἁμαρτίαν τὴν ἄλλων χειρίστην· ποία γὰρ μείζων ἁμαρτία, τοῦ τὰ θεῖά τε δυσφημεῖν, καὶ τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς τιμωρεῖν. Ἴδετε μέγεθος εὐεργεσίας Θεοῦ; ἴδετε πανσόφου προνοίας βουλήν; μιᾷ οὖν ἐμπλάστρῳ ἀμφοτέρους ἰάσατο, τούς τε διώκοντας καὶ τοὺς φεύγοντας, καὶ τοὺς μὲν σωματικῆς, τοὺς δὲ ψυχικῆς ἀπαλλάξας κακώσεως.

[14] Οὐδὲν οὖν ἧττον οἵ τε εὐσεβοῦντες ἀεὶ καὶ οἵ ποτε δυσσεβοῦντες τῆς εὐχαριστίας ὑπόχρεοι, μόνον μὴ ὡς ἀσπὶς τὰ ὦτα βύσετε, τὰ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας δόγματα ὡς ἐπάσματα λαθεῖν βουλόμενοι, μόνον τὸν μανιχαϊκὸν ἰὸν, τῶν ψυχῶν ἐξεμέσατε, καὶ οὕτω καθαραῖς ταῖς διανοίαις ὑμῶν πιστεύσατε, ὅτι ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρὸς, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνοὶ τῶν ἀκουσάντων γένησθε, Μακάριοι γάρ οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες, ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει, καθὼς ἐμὲ θεωρεῖτε. Τοιαῦτα, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πλείω ὑπὲρ ταῦτα δημηγορήσας, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀπέλυσεν· ἡμεῖς δὲ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐχώμεθα.

[15] Πιστευθεὶς τοίνυν τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς καὶ οἰκουμένης φροντίδα, εὐθὺς μὲν ἀνίστησι διαπεπτωκότα τὸν ἱερὸν κανόνα καὶ νόμον. Πατὴρ ἦν ὀρφανῶν, προστάτης χηρῶν, καὶ ἀδικουμένων ὀξυτάτη βοήθεια· πρὸ πάντων δὲ οὐκ ἐδίδου ὕπνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, οὐδὲ τοῖς κροτάφοις ἀνάπαυσιν, ἕως οὗ τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐκ παντὸς τοῦ ποιμνίου ὡς λύμην ἀποδιώξῃ, καὶ τὴν ὑγιῆ καὶ ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν ταῖς πάντων ψυχαῖς ἐνιδρύσῃ. Συνεχεῖς οὖν ἐποιεῖτο χειροτονίας, τὰς ἐπισκοπὰς προκαταρτίσαι βουλόμενος· καὶ ὁ ζῆλος εἷλκεν, καὶ χάριν ἤδη τῷ τὴν χειροτονίαν ἐρχομένῳ, μόνον εἰ πρὸ τούτου ὀρθόδοξος ἐγνωρίζετο. Ἐν οἷς καὶ πολλοὶ τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ βαθμοῦ ἡττηθέντες, καὶ παρὰ συνείδησιν ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς θρόνοις ἐπέῤῥιψαν· ὁ δὲ ἀγνοῶν (οὐ γὰρ ἦν Πέτρος) ἐκ τοῦ στόματος τῶν προσερχομένων ἔκρινε, καὶ τὸ τάλαντον κατ᾽ ἐνώπιον Θεοῦ ἐπίστευεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων κατορθωμάτων τε ἀνάπλεος ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ ἔμελλε παρὰ τοῦ φθόνου δέξασθαι βέλος; ἀλλὰ Δαυΐδ μὲν καὶ Πέτρος οἱ μαρτυρούμενοι, ἀκίσι βάλλονται τοῦ βασκάνου, εἰ καὶ ὅμως ἀνίστανται καὶ νικῶσι τὴν πλήξαντα. Μεθόδιος δὲ ἀπείραστος παντί, τὴν εὔκλειαν ἀπηνέγκατο; ἢ δέχεται μὲν, οὐ πλήττεται δὲ; τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν, καὶ πλήττει καὶ καταβάλλει τὴν τρώσαντα.

[16] Σκοπεῖτε ὅθεν τὸ πονηρὸν καὶ ἀέριον τοῦ ἐχθροῦ διελύθη βέλος· τοῖς δεξιοῖς ὅπλοις ὁ σοφιστὴς ἐχρήσατο πανουργίαν· τῷ μὲν Πατριάρχῃ πεῖραν οὐ καθήκοντος ζήλου τὰς χειροτονίας ποιεῖν ὑποβάλλων, σκοπῷ δῆθεν, τοῦ ἀφανίσαι τὴν αἵρεσιν· τισὶ δὲ τῶν Ἐπισκόπων καὶ Ἡγουμένων, ἔξω τοῦ καθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ μέτρου φέρεσθαί τε καὶ πυρπολεῖσθαι τῷ ζήλῳ, μὴ καθήκειν τὸ λέγειν ἀνεξετάστως ποιεῖν τὰς χειροτονίας, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπὶ τοῖς θριαμβεύσασι τὰ οἰκεῖα δι᾽ ἐξαγγέλσεως πάθη. Αὕτη στάσεως καὶ διχονοίας τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πρόφασις γίνεται. Ἡττηθεὶς γὰρ ὁ φιλοπόλεμος δαίμων

τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς, τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἠρέθισεν… Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς θορυβείσθω, ὁρῶν Παῦλον Χριστοῦ πυρπολούμενον, καὶ Πέτρον ἐλέγχοντα, Βαρνάβαν τε διασχιζόμενον Παύλου, δι᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ᾧ τὸ ἅγιον συνέζευξεν Πνεῦμα· ἑκάτερα γὰρ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἐπρέσβευεν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ἑαυτὸν συνίστη, ὃ δὴ κἀνταῦθα συμβέβηκεν· Ὑπερνικᾷ μέντοιγε ἡ τοῦ Πατριάρχου βουλὴ καὶ κρίσις τῆς ἀξίας τοῦτο ἐπιτρεπούσης, ἄλλως τε τῆς βασιλικῆς χειρὸς συνεπιτρεπούσης τὴν κρίσιν, καὶ καθαιροῦνται καὶ ἀφανίζονται οἱ ἐπίσκοποι καὶ ἡγούμενοι καὶ τὸ σχίσμα μεῖζον.

[17] Τί οὖν ὁ τοὺς μεγάλους τε πόνους καὶ καμάτους τοῦ μεγάλου ἀναγράπτους ἔχων Θεὸς, συντριβὴν προσιέμενος τῆς καρδίας ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἄλλην πρᾶξιν ἢ θεωρίαν; Νόσον ἐπαφίεισι τῷ Ἱεράρχῃ, ὕδερον αὐτὴν οἱ ἰατροὶ ὀνομάζουσιν· ἔδει γὰρ τὸν πολυδάμαντα καὶ ταύτην ὑποστῆναι τὴν βάσανον, ἵνα διὰ πάντων στεφανηφόρος ἀναφανῇ. Ὀξὺς δὲ ὢν καὶ ἀγχινούστατος ὁ σοφὸς, ἐπέγνω τὸ αἴτιον τῆς παιδείας, ὅτι τε τὰ τοῦ ζήλου ὑπερήλατο μέτρα, καὶ ἀποτομίᾳ κατὰ τῶν ὑποχειρίων ἐχρήσατο. Συντριβεὶς οὖν τὴν καρδίαν ἐν πνεύματι ταπεινώσεως, καὶ τῷ καρδιογνώστῃ ἐξομολογησάμενος Θεῷ, ἀφίεισι μὲν τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπτωκόσι τὰς ὀφειλάς, ἀφίεισί γ᾽ οὖν ὅμως ὁρισμένας ἐπιτιμίας τισὶν, τῆς εἰς τὴν θείαν ἀρχιερωσύνην χάριν περιφρονήσεώς τε καὶ αὐθαδείας, ὥσπερ τινὶ χαλινῷ τοὺς θερμοτέρους ἐπιστομίζων, καὶ οὕτω λοιπὸν τὸν τῆς οἰήσεως, καὶ θρασύτητος δαίμονα, ὅς τε τοῖς πλουτοῦσι τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπιφύεται, διὰ ταπεινοφροσύνης τέ καὶ πρᾳότητος καταγωνισάμενος προστίθησι τοῖς λοιποῖς αὐτοῦ κατορθώμασι, καὶ τὸ κατὰ τῶν ὀλεθρίων τούτων παθῶν νικητήριον. Κἀντεῦθεν λοιπὸν πρὸς τὴν μακαρίαν καὶ ἀείμονον καὶ ἄμεινον λῆξιν μεταχωρεῖ, μετὰ Μαρτύρων ὁ Χριστοῦ Μάρτυρ, σὺν Πατριάρχαις ὁ Πατριάρχης, μετὰ δικαίων καὶ ἀσκητῶν ὁ περὶ πάντα τέλειος καταλεγόμενος, τέλος, τῷ προσώπῳ Χριστοῦ ὀπτανόμενος, ὑπὲρ οὗ μυρίους καὶ μεγάλους ὑπήνεγκε πόνους, ἀπολαύων τῆς αὐτοῦ ὡραιότητος καὶ γλυκύτητος ἀντὶ τῆς πικρᾶς καὶ ἀλγεινῆς τῶν βασάνων πείρας. Ἀλλ᾽, ὦ ἅρμα θεῖον, τὸν Θεόν ἡνιοχοῦντά σε φέρον, δι᾽ οὗ αἱ φάλαγγες τῆς μισοχρίστου αἱρέσεως ἐτροπώθησαν! Ὦ στόμα, τὸ τὰ θεῖα σαλπίσαν, ὑψηλότερον τῶν τοῦ Ναυῆ σαλπίγγων, δι᾽ οὗ τὸ ἱερόσυλον τῶν χριστομάχων ὀχύρωμα κατεβλήθη, καὶ ἡ πατρῷα ὀρθοδοξία, ὡς ἄλλη τις γῆ ἐπαγγελίας, παντὶ κατακληροδοτήθη τῷ νέῳ τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ὦ τῆς τοῦ Δαυὶδ ἀριστείας καὶ ζηλωτὰ καὶ διάδοχε· ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος λίθῳ τὸν Γολιάθ ἔβαλεν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως πρόβολον δοκῆσαι τὴν τοῦ λόγου σάρκωσιν δυσφημοῦντα τῷ ἀκρογωνιαίῳ λίθῳ, ἤτοι Χριστοῦ ἀληθεῖ σώματι καταβέβληκας· Ὦ τοῦ Μωϋσέως καὶ ζήλου καὶ δημαγωγίας μιμητὰ καὶ κληρονόμε! ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὡς ἐκεῖνος πρὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπιδέδειξαι, ἐπισκεπτόμενος τὸν κακούμενον καὶ στένοντα ὀρθόδοξον λαὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ὅλης Ἐκκλησίας προέμενον, φυγὼν μὲν κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸ πρότερον, ὑποστρέψας δὲ ὁμοίως ὅμως χρησμῷ καὶ τῆς θείας ποιμνιαρχίας ἠξιωμένος. Ὦ τῆς Ἠλιοῦ ἱερωτέραν θυσίαν προσαγαγὼν Θεῷ, καὶ οὐ διακοσίους καὶ τετρακοσίους ὡς αὐτὸς ἀνελὼν ἱερεῖς αἰσχύνης, ἀλλὰ δισμυρίους καὶ περαιτέρω τῆς ὄντως αἰσχύνης ἀξίους ἱερεῖς κωλύσας τε καὶ καθείρξας δυσσεβῶν ἱερᾶσθαι, ἐπαισχυνομένους ὁμολογεῖν τὴν ἀψευδῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου σάρκωσιν, δι᾽ ἧς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος ἀνακεκαίνισται, εὐκαίρως τὸ τῆς σοφῆς παροιμίας ἔπος εἰπεῖν, Θυσίαι ἀσεβῶν βδέλυγμα Κυρίῳ, καὶ γὰρ παρανόμως προσφέρουσιν αὐτάς. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ παράνομοι οἱ τοιοῦτοι, ἐψευσμένου σώματος ἀντίτυπον σῶμα, ψευδῶς εἰς θυσίαν παραλαμβάνοντες. Ὦ τῆς Πέτρου θήκης θεραπευτὰ, καὶ τοῦ ἐκεῖθεν ἁγιασμοῦ τῆς ἁγνείας θησαυροφύλαξ! Ὦ Παῦλον μᾶλλον ἀναπνέων ἢ τὸν ἀέρα! Ὦ πάσης θείας καὶ προφητικῆς γραφῆς γλῶσσα! Ὦ εὐαγγελικῆς σαφηνείας καὶ χάριτος βίβλος, Γρηγορίου καὶ Βασιλείου καὶ τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς θεολόγων συνθεολόγε καὶ σύσκηνε! Ὦ ἀκτημοσύνης δυσπορίστου κτήσεως κτῆτορ, τοσαύτης γὰρ καὶ ἡλίκης περιουσίας καὶ ἐξουσίας κατάρξας, γυμνὸς πάσης ὑλικῆς κτίσεως τὸν βίον διῆλθες, μὴ ἔχων ποῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑποσκηνὴν προσπαθείας τὴν κεφαλὴν κλῖναι· ὁ πένησι συμπενόμενος, καὶ ξένοις συγξενιτεύων, τῷ μέν τῇ τῶν χρειῶν μεταδόσει, τῷ δὲ τῇ ἀπροσπαθείᾳ.

[19] Ὦ Πατριάρχας, Ὁμολογητὰς ὀρθοδόξους, καὶ ζῶντας καὶ μεταστάντας καὶ θηκόντας τιμήσας ὡς πατέρας, ὅθεν εὖ σοι γεγένηται! Ὦ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ἔργου καὶ λόγου ταμιεῖον ἢ καταγώγιον! Πρόστηθι καὶ νῦν συνήθως τῆς ποίμνης σου· ῥῆξον ἱκετηρίους φωνὰς πρὸς Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῶν, ἐπισχεῖν τῶν βαρβάρων ἐθνῶν τὰς ἐφόδους, ἀπαλλάξαι τῶν λυμαινομένων θηρῶν τὴν αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐξελεῖν τὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ σκάνδαλα, εὐνομίαν τε καὶ εὐετηρίαν τῷ Χριστωνύμῳ λαῷ δωρήσασθαι, τοῖς Βασιλεῦσι βραβεῦσαι τὰ νικητήρια, τὸ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας καλὸν συντηρεῖσθαι ἀλώβητον, ἀκύμονα ζωὴν πᾶσι τοῖς πιστοῖς δωρήσασθαι, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις πάντας ψυχικῆς σωτηρίας καταξιῶσαι, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ, τῷ μονογενῇ υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Θεῷ, μεθ᾽ οὗ τῷ ἀνάρχῳ Πατρὶ, σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ζωοποιῷ Πνεύματι δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ εὐχαριστία, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[10] While the holy man was engaged in these things, the Lord brought death upon the Emperor, Theophilus having died, and the orthodox faith beginning to be taken up again, which also crept upon his heresy: for as soon as he had departed this life, the heresy too died together with him. Since indeed, when his son Michael, together with a his mother, had taken up the Empire, the orthodox Church of Christ is restored to liberty; and the lying security of the heresy, as a thing that had been sown and propagated by human power, was refuted; and those who wished either to speak or to hear about it were hindered. But when b John—given to incantations and hydromancy, and a champion of the said heresy—had been cast down, according to the prescription of the Canons, together with all his Clergy, and John the Pseudo-Patriarch having been expelled. from the throne of Constantinople, which he had seized by evil arts; and another worthy of that height was sought, adorned with action and meditation, and exercised in the experience of divine and human things, mighty in word and deed, as the divine Scripture relates; and many and great men were proposed, Methodius is appointed Patriarch; Methodius alone is preferred to all and chosen, laden with the prizes of contests undergone, who surpassed all the rest both in exercise, and in knowledge of the scriptures, and in the delivery of oration, and in endurance of contests, and in moderation of mind, and in most gracious conversation.

[11] unfed, he writes out 7 Psalters during Lent; But since mention has been made of his exercise and dexterity, content with the narration of one deed, we shall leave to you the judgment concerning the rest of that man. The wise Methodius used to write out seven whole Psalters, one in each week of Lent, abstaining from food and drink; for he did not even taste water (except on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day). And this, to extricate myself in a word, was the Just one's exercise; this, among many other things, was the Athlete's martyrdom; these were the first seats of his supreme Prelacy.

[12] But the exhortation or sermon which he himself delivered at that time to the whole people of the Church, standing on the steps, was—to express it in brief—of this kind: We, o fathers and brethren, both I myself and all you, ought to give public thanks to Christ God, the giver of good things, he exhorts his people to give thanks, that He has now at last bestowed liberty upon us, who for nearly thirty years were oppressed by the most savage yoke of heresy: for He has now also done a mighty deed with His arm, and cast down the mighty from their seats, and exalted the humble; just as He Himself said to His holy disciples and friends: You shall have tribulation in this world; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. You all suppose that I share with you a common joy, nor do you altogether stray from the truth; for how should I not myself exult with joy, and rejoices publicly beholding the darkness driven away, and the light of Christ shining everywhere? John 16:33 Yet to my joy a certain sorrow is mingled, not on account of the good things already mentioned (for it is the mark of envy to be tormented at good things), but because you have set me under the cares of the Prelacy, which, by how much it is more exalted and glorious, by so much is more laborious and more exposed to envy. But I do not count my soul more precious than myself, although he himself was wasted with grief at the burden: only that I may rightly handle the Gospel doctrine. For truly the virtue and mother of virtues is right faith in God, as it seems to great Paul, when he says: It is impossible without faith to please God. Heb. 11:6

[13] It is necessary therefore that we, who have preserved the faith unblemished, he forgives his enemies although we have endured many punishments and afflictions from the wretched servants of heresy, be mindful of the Lord's voice: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they have done. Indeed, if any of you, the more ardent, wish to render anything to them, then obeying me, you will pluck out the heresy clinging to their souls, which roused them to arms against you. This is the most powerful victory against enemies: to extirpate the cause that defiles them, and to lead them, through its contrary, into their own right mind. For him who has suffered something in body to avenge himself by returning evils in body, and he asks that injuries be suppressed in silence: is proper to swine and like beasts devoid of reason. Let us not give liberty as an occasion to the flesh, made fat and enlarged like that ancient Israel, lately freed from the works of clay and brick; but let what cannot be expressed in words without disgrace be wrapped in silence. Nay rather, let us change the seasons of relaxation into a time of thanksgiving and placability, mindful of past vexation. For you know that no long time is needed to lose even life itself, much less all the things that flow about us; but the contraries of these, though they often require much time and labor, are not easily acquired. You yourselves, who yesterday were preparing for violence against yourselves rather than against us, do not grieve that you are prevented from exercising tyranny; but rejoice that you have made an end of sin, and of the worst sin of all. For what sin is more atrocious than to insult divine things, and to punish the pious? Did you see the great benefit of the Deity? Did you see the counsel of the most wise providence? Behold, with one plaster He healed both the persecutors and the fugitives; freeing these indeed from bodily, those from spiritual harms.

[14] Equally therefore, both those who have always cherished piety, and those who at one time embraced impiety, ought to render thanks to God; only do not stop your ears like the asp, trying to avoid the doctrines of the right faith, he inculcates the sincere faith. as if they were incantations; but vomit out of your souls the venom of the Manichaeans, and so with pure minds believe that the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father; that you too may be partakers along with those who heard; Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed, that a spirit

has not flesh and bones, as you see me to have. With these things, and many more of like argument delivered in his sermon, the great High-Priest of God Methodius dismissed the assembly: but let us narrate the things that followed.

[15] The care therefore of the Church and of the world having been entrusted to his faith, Hence, having undertaken to restore what had collapsed he at once raises up the sacred institution and the laws that had fallen into ruin. He was a father of orphans, a protector of widows, and to those who had suffered injury a most ready help. But before all things he gave no sleep to his eyes, nor rest to his temples, until he should drive out heresy from the whole flock like a plague, and instill the sound and orthodox faith into the souls of all. Wherefore he held frequent ordinations, desiring to set the Bishoprics in order. And his zeal so drew him to this, that he even gave thanks to one coming for ordination, provided it were known that he had been orthodox from of old. Many indeed were among such men who, captivated by the splendor of so great a rank, even against conscience thrust themselves into the Thrones; but since he did not know this (for he was not Peter), he passed judgment from the mouth of those presenting themselves, he receives into orders whomever he can, and entrusted to them the Lord's talent. Heaped with so many and so great deeds and excellently accomplished matters, was he not to be assailed by the dart of envy? Surely David and Peter, as Scripture relates concerning them, were struck by the darts of the malignant one, though afterward, raised up, they bore away the victory over the persecutor; but did Methodius, remaining wholly unassailed on every side, attain glory? Or was he tempted indeed, but not shaken? Or shaken, but not laid low? On the contrary: he both struck and laid low the one who wounded him.

[16] Mark, I pray, from where the adversary hurled his crooked and airy dart: the crafty one used arms entirely fitting for his mischief; suggesting to the Patriarch indeed to perform ordinations with immoderate zeal, under the pretext of utterly abolishing the heresy; but inflaming some of the Bishops and Abbots, beyond the measure of their own rank, to say that ordinations ought not to be made without any examination, and especially concerning those who had published their own faults by a public confession d. And this was the occasion of tumult and dissension in the Church of Christ: whence new sedition from those zealous out of season for when the war-loving demon had been overcome in the heretics, he stirred up the orthodox against one another e… But let no one be terrified, seeing Paul, kindled with the fire of Christ, even rebuke Peter, and Barnabas separated from Paul on account of the very thing for which the Holy Spirit had joined them. For on both sides the things of Christ were put forward, but neither party was establishing itself: the chastisement of these men is the more kindled: which here too came to pass. Yet the counsel and judgment of the Patriarch becomes far superior, since dignity indulged it, and the Royal Majesty and power likewise acceded to that counsel; and those Bishops and Abbots were deposed; and a greater schism was made.

[17] What further did God, who held recorded the great labors and toils of that Great one, and to whom the contrition of his heart was more pleasing than any other action or meditation? He inflicts a disease upon the Bishop, among which dropsy comes upon him: which the physicians call dropsy (water under the skin): for it was fitting that he who had endured many hardships in body and soul should bear this torment too, that through all things he might be made known as victor and crowned athlete. When therefore the wise man prevailed by the keenness of his intellect, he recognized the cause of the chastisement, whereby he became more humble and gentle, namely that he had exceeded the measures of zeal, and had shown himself severe and vehement against his subjects. Compunct therefore in heart, in a spirit of humility, and having confessed the whole matter to God the knower of hearts, he forgave the debts to those who had offended against him, and relaxes the penalties; to some, however, who seemed to have acted too insolently against the supreme Priesthood, he prescribed certain ones, while with a kind of bridle he wished to restrain the mouths of the more ardent. he passes to the Heavenly ones. Thus through humility and gentleness vanquishing the demon of vain self-esteem and presumption, which is born in men preeminent in virtue and abounding in it, he added to his other deeds the victory over these destructive passions. Hence at length he made his passage to the blessed, eternal, and better seats, a Martyr of Christ among Martyrs, a Patriarch among Patriarchs, enrolled among the Just and Ascetics, perfect in all things; and, to finish, placed before the sight of Christ, for whom he had endured infinite and huge labors, a partaker of His beauty and sweetness, in exchange for the bitter and painful experience of his torments.

[18] But, O divine chariot, bearing God as your charioteer, through whom the phalanxes of the raging heresy were put to flight! O mouth, which sounded forth divine things like a trumpet, He is compared to Joshua, more resonant than the trumpets of Joshua son of Nun; through which the sacrilegious stronghold of the enemies of Christ was scattered, and the ancestral and right faith, like a new land of promise, was distributed by lot to the whole Israel of God! O both emulator and successor of the valor of David! to David, For as he struck Goliath with a stone, so too you have laid low the champion of heresy, who diffamed the incarnation of the Word, with the cornerstone, that is, with the true body of Christ. O imitator and heir of the zeal and governance of Moses! to Moses, For did not you yourself, like him, before you undertook government, fulfill the things that belong to government; visiting the afflicted and groaning people of God, and laying down your soul for the whole Church; first indeed, like him, put to flight, afterward returned, and like him by a divine oracle adorned with the leadership of the Lord's flock? O you who offered to God a sacrifice more sacred than that of Elijah; and did not, to Elijah, like him, slay two hundred or four hundred priests of confusion, but hindered twenty thousand and more priests f truly worthy of confusion, and prevented them from impiously performing sacred rites—men ashamed to profess the true humanity of the divine Word, by which the human race was renewed; aptly recalling that saying of the wise proverb: The sacrifices of the impious are an abomination to the Lord; since indeed they offer them wickedly, inasmuch as they take a figurative body of a falsified body falsely g into sacrifice. O cultivator of the sepulcher of St. Peter, to Peter and Paul, and treasurer of the sanctity and of the chastity flowing thence! O you who breathe Paul more than the very air! O tongue of all divine and prophetic Scripture! O book of Gospel interpretation and grace, fellow-Theologian and tent-mate with Gregory, Basil, and the rest of the Theologians after them! O possessor of poverty, a possession not so easily obtained; for although flourishing with such and so great wealth and power, to Gregory and Basil, you passed your life stripped of every material possession, having nowhere to lay your head under the shade of affection: who together with the needy were yourself in need and a pilgrim, both by the communication of necessary things, and by the liberty of a mind nowhere fixed.

[19] O you who honored as parents the Patriarchs, the Orthodox Confessors, both the living and the dead, and those now consumed, whence good things came to you! O storehouse or lodging of every upright work and speech, take care now too, as is your wont, for your flock; pour out suppliant voices to Christ our God, that He may restrain the assaults of the barbarian nations, render His Church immune from most pernicious wars, root out the scandals of the wicked demon, bestow rest and abundance upon the Christian people, he is invoked by the writer. minister victory to the Emperors, preserve the dignity of the orthodox faith unharmed, grant a tranquil life to all the faithful, and before all these make all worthy of eternal salvation, in Christ Himself the only-begotten Son of God and God, with whom to the Father without beginning, and to the most holy and life-giving Spirit, be glory, honor, and thanksgiving, now and always, and unto the everlasting ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS BY D. P.

SELECTIONS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Methodius the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople (St.)

BY G. H. AS AUTHOR.

CHAPTER I.

Chastity, Hardships in the cave. Deeds in the court of Theophilus. Calumnies repelled.

[1] On behalf of St. Nicephorus the Patriarch he comes to Rome: That the most holy Patriarch Methodius, a Sicilian by nation, and born and brought up at Syracuse, and instructed in various sciences and most pious morals; and that afterward he led the monastic life at Constantinople, is established from the Acts already given. We gather also that he was reckoned there among the chief men, from the Compendium of histories of George Cedrenus, in which on page 538 (for we use the Louvre edition) it is said that, on account of the crimes charged against Nicephorus the most holy Patriarch, he was sent to Rome to the Pope. St. Nicephorus had been ordained Patriarch on Easter Sunday in the year 806: but until the year 811 he was prevented by the Emperor Nicephorus from sending Synodal letters to Rome, which, after the said Emperor died, he did in the first year of Michael his successor. Whether St. Methodius then carried the said Synodal letters to Pope Leo III; or whether afterward, when the heresy of the Iconoclasts was increasing under Leo the Armenian, he was sent by the Patriarch Nicephorus, is not indicated in the Acts; and it is only said that he betook himself to Rome from the heresy. Leo the Armenian assumed the Empire in the year 813, by whom, in the following year, St. Nicephorus the Patriarch was deported into exile.

[2] Now what then happened to St. Methodius at Rome, Cedrenus goes on to relate thus: where he is freed from the temptations of the flesh by the aid of St. Peter: namely that he was vexed by an evil spirit, eager for the flesh, titillating him day and night without intermission, and exciting the appetite of venery: and so, burning with that desire, and all but yielding to it, he resolved to give himself over to Peter the Prince of the Apostles; and contended with him by many prayers, that he would free him from that lust: that this one stood by him at night, and touching his private parts with his right hand, burned them; and at the same time said, that there was nothing for which he should henceforth fear from that concupiscence of pleasure. These things Cedrenus relates: which are not touched upon in the Acts.

[3] The virtue and doctrine of the Saint shone forth at Rome. And as he had St. Peter as Patron of his chastity, so he was so pleasing to St. Paschal the Pope, that Pope's successor,

that he sent him to Michael the Stammerer in the year 821, and entrusted to him Tomes treating of the faith, to be given to the Emperor. St. Methodius offered them to him, the intrepid champion of the faith; but as a gracious stipend due to himself, he is said in the Acts to have received seven hundred blows, and to have been shut up in a prison-sepulcher: and afterward, under Theophilus, having returned to Constantinople who succeeded Michael his son about the year 829, he again received six hundred blows for the same cause, and was shut up in prison. But the things which in the Acts are attributed to the father, are ascribed by others to the son, and are thus narrated by Constantine Manasses in his Chronicle Compendium: The Emperor Theophilus shut up that most excellent man Methodius, banished to a certain island, in the cave of a corpse, as it were a pearl in a shell, a rose among thorns. Moreover he joined to him two robbers, one of whom having died, and now decaying by a certain natural necessity, the most enduring athlete bore that foul stench and pestilent air with the most even mind, he is shut up in a cave with 2 robbers: which not even adamant could have withstood. The other of the robbers, granted liberty, was unwilling to go out, but remaining within that gloomy cave, and becoming an emulator of the divine manner of living, scattered the rays of the religious life like the sun. These things Manasses, to which Zonaras has similar ones, in the words which we gave on the 6th of February, in the Life of St. Theodora the Empress, wife of Theophilus; §. VI.

[4] Now we proceed with Manasses, and first we report the mutual rescript of Saints Theophanes and Theodore the brothers (concerning whom we shall have to treat on the 27th of December) and of St. Methodius. While, he says, Methodius was still detained in this prison, he receives verses from Saints Theophanes and Theodore. those men, skilled in divine things, whom we said had been disfigured with marks on the face, being compelled by force to change their abode only, having found a certain fisherman, wrote to the just man very brief letters in iambic verse; which, judging that they ought to be saved from destruction, I wished to subjoin in this place:

Τῷ ζῶντι νεκρῷ, καὶ νεκρῷ ζωηφόρῳ, Ναίοντι τὴν γῆν, καὶ πατοῦντι τὸν πόλον, Γραπτοὶ γράφουσι δέσμιοι τῷ δεσμίῳ.

To the living one who is slain, and the life-bearing dead, dwelling on the earth, and likewise treading the pole (heaven), the bound ones, and inscribed with marks, write to the bound one.

To whom he, answering, wrote back in these words:

Τοὺς ταῖς βίβλοισι οὐρανῶν κλησιγράφους, Καὶ πρὸς μέτωπα σωφρόνως ἐστιγμένους, Προσεῖπεν ὁ ζώταφος ὡς συνδεσμίους. for whom he sends back others.

The living-buried one salutes, as fellow-prisoners, those written down in turn in the heavenly books, and stamped not without praise with marks upon their foreheads.

These golden verses of eloquent men truly distill a certain divine juice of nectar. Things similar to Manasses, Michael Glycas too wrote in the same 12th century, and, with the phrasing somewhat changed, John Zonaras.

[5] But concerning Methodius' liberation from exile, the same Manasses adds this. For the rest, the illustrious boxer Methodius, summoned by Theophilus into the court, when he had borne himself patiently in that grim prison, had lost his teeth, had his jaws bruised, and tortured by every kind of torment by impious men through the utmost inhumanity, was no otherwise than as smiths beat an iron anvil with hammers; at last he came forth from there, like the rising of the daily sun; God willing, as it is fitting to believe—He who perceives the depths, and sits upon the Cherubim and Seraphim—to place this distinguished man, like a fortified city, on a lofty mountain; lest so great virtue, like a lamp under a bushel, hidden in a grim and gloomy cave, should lie concealed. For it happened that the Emperor Theophilus, always occupied in reading books, from which he fashioned for himself little troughs of knowledge, just as the busy bee from the flowers of the meadows, fell upon certain things like riddles and labyrinths, so that none could rightly, as it were, husk these hard things and illuminate the obscure ones, even though there were six hundred men with him famous for the renown of their learning. When therefore this matter befell the Emperor most troublesomely, and vexed his mind; a certain one of the Nobles and Chamberlains, approaching, extols Methodius, having pointed out his gifts—the magnitude of his learning, the ready abundance of his knowledge, and one touching the very heaven with the summit of his abounding prudence and wisdom; for the solving of certain doubts for him, whether moved by God to do this; or nourishing a hidden love toward a man heavenly in mind, and full of the divine power. The Emperor, hearing these things, recalls and invites to himself Methodius, brought out of the cave, like a pearl from a shell, a star from a cloud, a man shining with most brilliant rays, and dispelling the darkness and gloom of ignorance. And when he had perceived a taste of Methodius' tongue, he assigns a dwelling in the palace to the illustrious man; and placing him, as a thing of great price, and a splendid gem, he is ordered to remain in the Palace glowing red, bright, among innumerable and inaccessible treasures, and frequently sitting beside that gold-flowing Nile, he drew abundantly from its most sweet waters. These things Manasses, which Glycas narrates more briefly.

[6] Cedrenus adds that he was also brought out by Theophilus to a military expedition; he is led also to war, Having recalled St. Methodius from exile, he says, and joined him to himself, he moves against the Saracens. He was accustomed to do this in wars, whether that he might use his wisdom in explaining many obscure and intricate matters; or guarding against this, lest in his absence he should stir up some rebellion, on account of the removal of the sacred images. For the chief citizens, and those pious toward God, held Methodius in great honor: and so to leave him behind seemed not advisable for the Emperor.

[7] under Michael and Theodora These things there. When Theophilus had died about the year 842, his son Michael reigned together with St. Theodora his mother. Then John the Pseudo-Patriarch and his associates, cast down from their rule, says Cedrenus, did not refrain from still plotting something against the sacred images, and from contriving snares for the pious. In this way too they tried to circumvent the most upright Methodius by calumny, and to bring grief upon the worshipers of the true religion. The matter was carried out thus. They suborn a certain woman (she was the mother of Metrophanes, who afterward was made Bishop of Smyrna), corrupted by much gold and promises, who should say to the Guardians of the Augusta and the Emperor that she had been violated by Methodius. At once therefore a terrible judgment: a Council of civil and consecrated men is convened: the pious are present, full of sorrow and grief: the impious are not absent, hoping that no small disgrace would be procured for the assembly of the pious from that action. accused of fornication by calumny, The calumniators come forth puffed up in spirit, because they trusted that they had proofs of that crime at hand, the little woman being brought into the midst, who by arrangement would narrate the matter to the Judges. The Judges therefore, and especially Manuel (Guardian and Governor of the Emperor Michael), sit with sad countenance, he proves himself incapable of it, taking it ill that by the fault of one man the assembly of the pious should come into danger of mockery. Methodius, perceiving all this, that he might abolish both the hope of the impious and the grief of the pious, and not be to the Church a stone of offense; revering the multitude not at all, a man most worthy of all reverence and honor, in the sight of all bared his private parts: which everyone saw to have withered by a certain disease, and to have been deprived of all natural power. This deed filled the calumniators and those who rejoice at evils with shame, but the pious with joy: who, surrounding Methodius with immense joy, saluted and embraced him, nor had they any way of satisfying their delight…

[8] The Emperor Michael, judging this fraud intolerable, determined to put the little woman to the question, that he might understand what had been the manner of weaving the deceit. At once therefore a sword is drawn, rods glowing with fire are brought, and the executioners stand ready: by which that unhappy woman, terrified, openly confesses the truth of the matter; how the snares had been laid, and how she had been corrupted and deceived by gold and promises; who were the authors of the fiction; finally she relates the whole tale; and adds that gold would be found at her house in a little bag in a certain chest full of grain: and a certain one of the attendants being sent there, immediately brought the gold, and he exempts the authors of the calumny from punishment, and the whole matter was uncovered. The calumniators would therefore have paid worthy penalties for their crime, had not Methodius, such was his patience, asked this one act of vengeance: that yearly, in the solemn assembly of the orthodox, it might be permitted to him to go from the most holy temple of the Mother of God at Blachernae to the temple of holy Sophia with torches burning before, and to proclaim into their ears the detestation of it: which was done throughout their whole life.

CHAPTER II.

The scars preserved in the Patriarchate. The feast of Orthodoxy ordained. The bodies of Saints Theodore the Studite and Nicephorus the Patriarch translated. Constitutions issued. Some Lives of Saints and Homilies written.

[9] The things set forth in the preceding Chapter from Cedrenus, although they were done after Methodius had already been ordained Patriarch in place of the deposed John, Ordained Patriarch, he preserves the marks of his torture, I have nevertheless preferred to put before his ordination, so that the things which he did in that supreme rank might be gathered more orderly into this second Chapter. Before therefore those things are read in Cedrenus, there occurs in the same author how St. Theodora the Empress introduced, in place of the cast-down Jannes (so was the impious one called by the pious), the holy and divine Methodius, who still bore in his flesh the marks of his confession and of the torture endured for it: all the pious—Priests, Laymen, and Monks, and those too who exercised themselves in the mountains—approving his designation with the utmost joy; and coming in throngs into the City, and with one voice condemning the heresy of the Iconoclasts with an eternal anathema. This illustrious deed the renowned Theodora and her son performed at the beginning of their reign, says Cedrenus. St. Methodius therefore was appointed Patriarch in the year 842. But what marks of his confession St. Methodius bore on his body, Glycas explains in these words: Because his cheeks, on account of his defense of the sacred images, had been injured and dislocated by being crushed by Theophilus, namely his cheeks bound up, who after the seventh Synod was renewing the overthrow of the images; he found it necessary to bind them with a certain thin linen band. Whence, in my opinion at least, the custom grew up, lasting even today, that the Pontiffs have linen bands tied on the front part.

[10] At that time there flourished at Constantinople illustrious Abbots and Monks of the monastery of the Studites, of the order of the Acoemetae, very many of whom, on account of the veneration of the sacred images, were sent into exile, and either holily ended their life there, like St. Theodore; or returned thence, like Saints Nicolaus and Naucratius, concerning whom on the 4th of February in the Life of St. Nicolaus by a contemporary author; there in chapter VII these things are read, number 36: When moreover Theophilus had now died, and the heresy too together with him in one tomb had been deservedly and wretchedly circumscribed; and his Christ-loving wife Theodora, with her son Michael, quite young, had taken up the citadel of the Roman Empire; and the great Methodius held the helm of the Church as Pontiff; with the divinely-inspired Fathers coming together into one, the celebration of Orthodoxy had its beginning, when the world's bounds now had calm, and the Confessors of Christ, like certain stars, adorned more brightly the whole firmament of the Church. Then plainly also our common Father and servant of Christ Naucratius, he sets St. Naucratius over the monastery of Studium. returning from exile, came to Byzantium; and for the merit of his contests, received with much honor by the Empress and the Patriarch himself, the illustrious man, at the request of the holy brotherhood of the Brethren, then gathered into one, undertook the prefecture in the most venerable monastery of Studium

which the great Theodore, nourishing and increasing it with many recent labors, had advanced to the number of a thousand: and again that sheepfold of Christ was vigorous with new strength, like a kind of Paradise, presenting many roses of virtues and the fragrance of the spirit to those wishing to behold it. We treated of St. Naucratius on the 8th of June: of St. Theodore we shall have to treat on the 12th of November.

[11] But what is intimated above as having been decreed by the divinely-inspired Fathers coming together into one, is best explained in the Oration of Theophanes the Priest and Provost, on the exile of St. Nicephorus the Patriarch and the Translation of his Relics, illustrated by us on the 13th of March, where is described the solicitude of St. Theodora the Empress, gathering an Ecclesiastical assembly for the sake of concord and sincerity of faith; by which, when Jannes the Iconoclast had been deposed from the Patriarchal See, Methodius, a man much approved both in life and doctrine, who for truth and religion had endured very many contests and a long exile, and had thence returned long tortured with blows and prison, he confirms the Council of Nicaea with all those constituted in dignity approving, was chosen to hold the sacred See of the Queen of Cities. Then the holy ecumenical second Council, divinely instructed at Nicaea—which was celebrated by the zeal of the Empress Irene (who has her true name from peace itself) and of Tarasius the greatest and most blessed Patriarch—deservedly obtained firm authority and strength; when all approved the things that had been decreed in it by God's inspiration. Then all the Churches everywhere received their own ornament, and were illuminated by the splendor of the venerable images: and those who wickedly persecuted them being cast out, Priests and leaders, zealous for right doctrine, were appointed over them. In the Life of Tarasius, and he institutes the feast of Orthodoxy: illustrated on the 25th of February, the said Council is treated more fully, and the memory of St. Irene the Empress is recalled on the 13th of August: but the heresy of the Iconoclasts, which, arisen under Leo the Isaurian, had been revived under Leo the Armenian, after one hundred and twenty years was at last plainly dissipated, and the feast of Orthodoxy was instituted, by which the restoration of the sacred images is celebrated yearly on the first Sunday of Lent, a procession being led with torches burning before from the Church of the Mother of God at Blachernae to the most august temple of holy Sophia.

[12] About that time of the restored religion, as is read in the cited Life of St. Nicolaus the Studite, number 37, there occurred also the illustrious and joy-filled Translation of the Confessor and our holy Father Theodore, from the island Princes' (Prince) to this our monastery, [he takes care to have the body of St. Theodore the Studite brought back to Constantinople] the most pious Augusta and the great Pontiff Methodius, before mentioned, providing for it, and the whole assembly of the Church concurring: and he was gloriously laid to rest on the 26th of January, beside his renowned and divinely-inspired uncle Plato, and the Saint was buried together with his brother and Bishop Joseph, on the right toward the Eastern part of the holy Forerunner: to whose honor, namely, the said monastery of Studium was founded. Now that Joseph was Bishop of Thessalonica, and is honored by the Greeks on the 14th and 15th of July.

[13] But with much greater care of St. Methodius, there was made in the year 846 the Translation of St. Nicephorus the Patriarch, described by the above-cited Theophanes the Priest in these words: Four years afterward the most holy Methodius, impelled plainly by the divine Spirit, opportunely and wisely admonished the divine Empress Theodora, that it was not consonant with the dignity of the Empire and the Republic, that the venerable Nicephorus, illustrious among the Patriarchs, who for the defense of the glorious and sincere faith had been driven from his See, [and he persuades that the same be done for the body of St. Nicephorus the Patriarch;] and had died in a very long exile, should be neglected: but that it should be cared for with all zeal, that his divine body be carried back into the city. Otherwise, he says, we shall not escape the vice of an ungrateful mind, if even after death we leave him in exile, as though justly condemned; especially since we are not ignorant that those who were of the race of Joseph counted it among their blessings, to carry the bones of their father, after nearly forty years, from Egypt into the land of Canaan. Since this is so, shall we, who are the sons of piety, suffer ourselves to be deprived any longer of the presence of that Father, by whom we were nourished with divine teachings? This royal city—the most excellent of all the cities the sun beholds—longs for the holy relics of its sacred Leader and Pastor, that it may piously preserve and honor them. Let his most loving Church enjoy again the presence of its Spouse: and the body of the dead, with the zealous Empress of the Pastor consenting, let it embrace—the one whom living it was despoiled of by the most unjust hand of the Emperor. Do you see how this people, who through you rest securely in the true religion, with incredible zeal even after his death long to hear his voice in the spirit? But if it shall behold only his tabernacle brought back to it, it will think it has received that very man breathing, and will lay it up and keep it as some most precious treasure. To these prayers and exhortations the renowned Empress assented most quickly and most willingly: It is evident, she said, that this will be to the honor both of me and of my children among all posterity.

[14] Then the sacred Bishop of the city, with the Priests and Monks and all the people, to which, going with the Clergy and people, approaches the temple of St. Theodore: in which the grace-filled Relics lay; and embracing them with veneration and tears, he thus addressed the Saint as if living: O most blessed man, who wast afflicted with the same labors and hardships as St. John Chrysostom, just as thou didst excel in the same zeal for religion and freedom of speech; and who likewise both deprived of thy See, and punished with exile, and during the span of thirty-three years passed, both living and dead, in banishment; now restore thyself to us thy most loving ones, and departing hence return to thine own, that the people most devoted to thee may now receive thee with joy, as it once received that man. The Emperor, estranged from God, opposed thee living, and inconsiderately drove thee from the Church; but he paid worthy penalties for his fury, and by a pitiable end was deprived at once of Empire and life, and bore the due rewards of his audacity. Today the Emperors, dearest to God for the piety of their morals, restore thee dead to the Church; which, made sons through the Gospel, they establish with me, having neither spot nor wrinkle, such as thou didst leave it adorned and confirmed by thy institutions. Look and see thy sons gathered, who have come from near, while the rest from afar await thy return to them; whom thou, like orphans, do not leave grieving at thy absence. Let thy city have, in place of a most precious gift, thy most blessed tabernacle, by which, adorned more than by the amplitude of the Empire, it may glory and rejoice.

[15] These things the most holy Patriarch Methodius, supplicating with a tearful voice, performing the nocturnal singing of Psalms and the mystic Sacrifice with the faithful people, he elevates it, and placed in a chest, uncovered the illustrious body from the tomb, which throughout the span of nineteen years had remained wholly entire and pure; and composed by him in a chest, and lifted up by the hands of the Priests, with lights and frequent singing of Psalms, it was brought into a ship prepared for this. But when it had crossed the strait, and approached the shore of the City, by the care of God the young Emperor Michael, and men preeminent in the most ample dignities, both patricians and the rest of the citizens, joyful and holding torches in their hands, came forth to meet it: and that precious chest, with faith and veneration, bearing it on their shoulders, they carried all the way to the great church; from which, despoiled of the Pontifical dignity, he had been cast out.

[16] Thence again, using by turns the assiduous singing of festal Psalms day and night, and bearing it with every kind of lights through the midst of the city, they placed it in the temple of the holy Apostles. So great, moreover, was the multitude of the concurring people, of men and women and of all ages, he conveys it into the temple of the Apostles. that it could not be numbered. For they were pressed in the crossroads and porticoes; and everywhere they made a way out for themselves by force; so that, although many celebrations have occurred at various times on account of the Emperors and Priests, none nevertheless can be compared with this. Some too on the way, vexed by unclean spirits, while they were pressed by others, uttered pitiable and cursing voices; of whose number certain ones were cured by him. The onset of the people therefore being scarcely avoided, the holy body of the eminent Patriarch was composed in the most celebrated temple of the Apostles, the sacred Mysteries having been performed to God, in a sepulcher recently constructed, by the hands of Methodius himself, on the 3rd of the Ides of March, on which day indeed he had also been cast into exile, so that both things might be memorable.

[17] a new dissension having been stirred up among the Catholics, Among the other athletes of the same time was St. Joannicius the Abbot in Bithynia, whose illustrious acts and contests Sabas and Peter the Monks described, which we have in Greek, each very long, acquired at Rome and Paris, and to be elucidated on the 4th of November. We likewise have others, attributed to Metaphrastes, which, rendered into Latin by Gentian Hervet, Lipomanus published in volume 5, and Surius on the said 4th of November, whence from number 51 it pleases to excerpt the following: Theophilus departs from this life. But Michael and Theodora take up the Empire. And Methodius, a man truly sacrosanct and a man of God, is placed in the sacred seats. But (to say it once) when all things had been brought over by him to the orthodox faith, and every wave was lulled, and the tempest calmed, and matters quiet; a certain other sedition is stirred up by the pious, and the affairs of the Church were again divided, and reduced into two opinions. For some indeed wished to retain in the ministry those the Saint, sick at heart who had received the dignity of the Priesthood from the Iconoclasts, inasmuch as this did no harm to piety: but others thought it altogether impious, and least pleasing to God and not to be admitted, to deliver holy things into profane hands. He bore it ill, who truly lived to God, Methodius, and was vexed and torn in heart; for he thought that great Paul was resounding in his ears, speaking almost these things: Would that I were anathema from Christ for my brethren according to the flesh, if only you would stand with us, and in common glorify the Trinity. Rom. 9 And he indeed was thus disposed: he is refreshed by St. Joannicius: but the friend of God, Joannicius, falling upon matters so disturbed … was refreshing the now-failing mind of the Archbishop Methodius … And he wrote to Methodius, that he should rather have around the divine Sacrifice those whom he knew to agree with him in the doctrine of Orthodoxy … When these letters had come, the divine Methodius committed to memory the things that had been written. These things there; and very many heretics are said by St. Joannicius to have been converted; then in number 57 these things are had concerning St. Methodius.

[18] In the fifth year of the Empire of Michael, while Methodius was ruling the Church, when he had foreknown that the death of the great Joannicius to the Lord was approaching; he came to him, and asked from him his last prayers. he understands that his own death is at hand: But that man, esteeming it greatly to be visited by Methodius, after he had also prolonged with him for a long time

chosen flock the things that pertained to piety, saying that

they should remain immovably in the orthodox faith, and should not

be overthrown by the profane voices of the heretics,

and should preserve concord among themselves, and should not stir up blasphemy

and a slanderous tongue against the

Pontiff; he added that Methodius would not live for very long

after his own departure. In which

matter he was not mistaken; for on the third day after he had said

these things, Joannicius indeed migrates in spirit to

the things he loved, led forth by a choir of Angels.

… But Methodius, who shone most brightly among the Patriarchs,

he too, in the eighth month after his

departure, departed from this life on the fourteenth of June.

[19] Baronius, in the year 842, num. 20, says: He therefore, who,

after so many shipwrecks of the Church of Constantinople,

took up the steering of it—wrested from the hands of the heretics—to be governed, he issues regulations concerning the lapsed

the Patriarch Methodius;

also labored to recall the lapsed to the Church.

But since these were found to be of various ages and of different

conditions, lest Ecclesiastical discipline should become cheapened,

he wished all those same persons to be subjected in different ways

to Ecclesiastical censure. That Constitution, together with various

prayers and rites, is extant, published in Greek and Latin

by Ludovicus Goar in the Euchologion, or Ritual of the Greeks,

page 676 and the ten following, under this title:

Of Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople, concerning those who

denied, according to their different persons and ages,

and return to the orthodox and true faith.

Some part of this is also extant in Theodorus Balsamon,

and from him in Baronius, at the place cited above.

[20] We have published, on the fifth day of February, the Oration of

that same S. Methodius on S. Agatha, distinguished by us into five

chapters: he wrote the Acts of S. Agatha, we have also published, on the

XII of March, a twofold Life of S. Theophanes, Hegumen

and Confessor, the former by the author S. Theodore

the Studite or another contemporary Monk; the other by an author, as

it seems, Metaphrastes: who, in num. 11, excuses himself, because

he has omitted to write the struggles and miracles of the wife of S. Theophanes,

now clothed as a Nun, on the ground that

is known to have been made known by the most holy Patriarch

Methodius, in that writing, likewise concerning S. Theophanes, and his wife which he composed about her and her blessed

life. This writing it has not until now been permitted to see. There is also extant, among the works

attributed to S. Dionysius the Areopagite, in Petrus Lanselius

and Balthasar Corderius, his Martyrdom,

by the author Methodius, and of S. Dionysius the Areopagite or (as others say) Metrodorus. That

work Anastasius the Librarian ascribes to S. Methodius the Patriarch,

in his letter to Charles the Bald; and Flodoardus,

in book 3 of the History of Rheims, chap. 18; where, reviewing

the writings of Bishop Hincmar, he adds: Concerning the passion

of S. Dionysius, dictated in Greek by Methodius of Constantinople,

and written in Latin by Anastasius of the Roman See. But these things will be examined on the IX day of October.

Finally Jacobus Gretserus, in the second tome

On the Cross, among the Homilies on the holy Cross, published a certain one

of Methodius the Bishop, to those who say: What

profit was it to us that the Son of God was crucified on earth, and made

man? and why did He endure to suffer in the figure of the Cross, and

not some other punishment? and what is the usefulness of the Cross?

Likewise another of the same Methodius, to those who

are ashamed of the Cross of Christ. Homilies on the Cross There is also extant, in the cited

Balsamon, a Canon on separations, or excommunications,

and indeed monastic ones, as it seems

may be gathered from the title. Nor do we doubt that various of his monuments

still lie hidden in various libraries: some

have even appeared under the name of S. Methodius, Bishop and

Martyr in Lycia, of the 3rd century, which in truth belong to this Constantinopolitan

one; and above all that which, on the 2nd of February,

I cited from Combefisius, on Simeon and Anna; and which

Casimirus Oudini, in his Supplement to the Ecclesiastical

writers, rightly assigns to that elder one.