Tag: Eutychius

Here is some more of the Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (= Sa`id ibn Bitriq), translated by me from the hard-to-find Italian translation of Bartolomeo Pirone.  We’re at the end of the 4th century AD, the reign of Theodosius the Great.

6. But let’s return to what we were saying about Theodosius and Theophilus.  Theophilus, the friend of Theodosius, stood for a year at the door [of the palace of the king] without being able to see him.  In fact, every day he went to the door [of the palace] of the king to ask the porters to deliver a written letter to the king, but they had always refused him, rejecting it.  After a year, while King Theodosius was busy praying, that he heard a voice say: “O Theodosius, have you forgotten your friend and companion Theophilus?” Theodosius said: “My Lord, who are you?”  He replied: “I am the man who was with you in the desert.  And as I made you become king, I will make Theophilus become Patriarch.”  Theodosius sent at once to call Theophilus, who came before him, and greeted him.  King Theodosius said: “Believe me, my friend, I had completely forgotten about you and never has the memory of you touched my mind; but yesterday, while I was praying, the man I had seen in the dream called me and made me remember you.” Theophilus answered, “I saw yesterday in a dream a man who told me: “As I made Theodosius become king, so I will make you become patriarch.”  While they were talking thus, in came the chamberlain and said to the king: “The inhabitants of Alexandria have sent their men to tell you that the patriarch Timothy has died and they are looking for a man to make [their] patriarch.”  The king appointed Theophilus Patriarch instantly (10) and sent him to Alexandria.  He held the seat for twenty-eight years and died.  As soon as he arrived in Alexandria, Theophilus tore down the idols that were in the city.  There was, in Alexandria, a large marble slab on which were written three Theta’s and all around them was written: “He who can interpret the meaning of these three Thetas will come into possession of what they conceal.”  Theophilus said: “I will interpret it myself.  The first theta means theos, or God.  The second theta is for the king Theodosius while the third theta is for the Patriarch Theophilus”(11).  He then removed the marble slab and under it there was a lot of money.  He wrote to the king Theodosius making him aware and King Theodosius replied: “Build churches with the money.”  The Patriarch Theophilus did then build a large church in the name of King Theodosius and adorned it all with gold.  He built other churches in Alexandria, including the Church of Martmaryam [i.e., Santa Maria] and the church of Mar Yuhanna [i.e., Saint John].

7. The King Theodosius had two children.  He called the greater Arcadius and the lesser Honorius, and he took great care to find them a tutor.  He sent to ask those of Rome to find him a wise man who could educate his children.  They chose a philosopher named Arsenius (12), and sent him and he became tutor to the children of the king.  One day the king surprised Arsenius in the act of teaching the children while standing, while the children were sitting.  Then he chided him, saying: “Why are you acting in this way?” Arsenius said: “It is so that I can educate your children, O king.”  But the king ordered him to sit and the children to stand in front of him.  Learning what they needed, Arsenius beat Arcadius so violently that he left a mark on the skin, and for this reason Arcadius harbored great resentment against him.  But Arsenius beat him simply so that when he became king after his father, he would remember the pain of the beating when he happened to flog some of his subjects.

We continue the Annals of Eutychius, and deal with the Council of Constantinople and some anti-Manichaean material.  It is important to recall that Eutychius is a Melkite, and Patriarch of Alexandria.

1. Theodosius, called Theodosius the Great (1), reigned over Rum for seventeen years.  This happened in the fortieth year of the reign of Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians.  The ministers and generals presented themselves before the king Theodosius and said: “The doctrine of the population has become corrupt and infested with the doctrine of Arius and Macedonius.  Take to heart the matter and take it upon yourself to defend the Christian faith and to present it in all clarity.  Write therefore to all the patriarchs and bishops telling them to come together, to examine the issue and to set forth with clear wording the true Christian faith.”  King Theodosius then wrote to Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, to Milātiyūs (2), Patriarch of Antioch, to Damasus, patriarch of Rome and Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, ordering them to go with their bishops to Constantinople in order to discuss the Christian faith and present it in clear terms to the people.  The patriarchs went to Constantinople, together with their bishops, except for Damasus, patriarch of Rome.  In fact, although he did not go there personally, he wrote to Theodosius a letter in which he explained and expounded in clear terms the true faith.  At Constantinople there gathered in council a hundred and fifty bishops.  The presidents were Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch and Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem.  King Theodosius gave them the letter of Damasus, patriarch of Rome, in which the latter had set out and explained in clear terms the true faith.  They read it, expounded the doctrine of the faith and confirmed that it had been expounded.

Then they went on to examine the doctrine of Macedonius who said: “The Holy Spirit is not God, but [was] created and made.”  Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, said: “When we speak of the Holy Spirit, we intend to speak of God’s Spirit.  The Spirit of God is nothing more than his life.  So if we were to say that the Holy Spirit is created, we would say that the Spirit of God was created.  And if we say that the Spirit of God is created, that would be to say that his life is created.  And if we say that his life is created, we would be affirming that He is not living [by his own power].  And if we say that he is not living [by his own power] we would be committing an impiety against him.  For those who deny God are worthy of excommunication.” They were therefore unanimous in excommunicating Macedonius, and excommunicated him along with his followers and the patriarchs who had followed after him and had not followed [true] doctrine.  They also excommunicated Sabellius, bishop of Lūbiya (3), and his followers.  He actually said that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are a single person.  They excommunicated also Apollinaris and his followers because they claimed that the body of Christ, our Lord, was devoid of intellect.  They established thus that the Holy Spirit is the creator, uncreated, true God, of one substance with the Father and the Son, one substance and one nature, adding to the Symbol of faith drawn up by the three hundred and eighteen bishops who had gathered at Nicaea, the words: “And in the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,” where the three hundred and eighteen had said, in the creed they composed, only “and in the Holy Spirit”.  They also established that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three persons, three substances and three properties, Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, one essence in three persons, one God, one substance and one nature.  They also confirmed that the body of Christ, our Lord, possessed an intellectual and rational soul.  Then they made patriarch of Constantinople, from the guards of the king, a man named Fiqtūriyūs (4).  They defined the primacy of the Patriarch of Rome, placing in second place the patriarch of Constantinople, the patriarch of Alexandria in the third and in fourth the Patriarch of Antioch.  They elevated to the rank of patriarch, the bishop of Jerusalem, which had been until then only a bishop — Jerusalem had never had a patriarch before then —, and placed him in fifth place.

Then each returned to his own see.

2. From the first council of three hundred and eighteen bishops who had gathered in the city of Nicaea, to this council of the hundred and fifty bishops who had gathered in Constantinople excommunicating Macedonius and his sect, there had passed fifty years.  Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, allowed the patriarchs, bishops and monks to eat meat on the feasts of the Lord because of the Manichaean so-called as-Siddīqūn (5) in order to know which of the patriarchs and bishops were Manicheans.  He intended, in fact, by making them eat flesh to making vain their religion and to abolish it.  This is because Manichaeans are not allowed to slaughter animals and eat them, nor themselves to eat meat from animals in any way.  Most of the metropolitans of Egypt and their bishops were Manichaeans.  Now the Orthodox patriarchs, with their bishops and monks, ate meat at the feasts of the Lord.  The Manichaean metropolitans, however, and their bishops and monks did not eat meat and replaced it with fish, placing it instead of meat, fish being [also] an animal.  This custom was observed at the time of the heretical and impious Mani.  On the death of Mani and his followers, the Orthodox patriarchs, with their bishops and monks, returned to their ancient custom and abstained from meat on the feasts of the Lord.

3.  Sa`id ibn Batrīq, the doctor said: “Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, allowed the eating of meat on the feasts of the Lord in view of the fact that the Manichaeans such as-Siddīqūn used to eat fish instead of meat.  When he speaks of “eating meat” he refers to a slaughtered animal, and a fish is not considered a  slaughtered animal.  And in fact another sect of Manicheans, called the as-Sammākūn, (6) ate fish because it cannot be considered a slaughtered animal, while abstaining from eating meat from a slaughtered animal.  And yet they were in error even the Manichaeans called as-Siddīqūn, who had replaced meat with fish, because Christ, our Lord, ate meat, and it is therefore the duty of all who profess the Christian religion in imitation of Christ, our Lord, to eat meat at least one day a year, to remove from their hearts any kind of scruple and confirm, before all, their contempt for this wicked sect of Manicheans.  In Acts it is written that Peter was in the city of Jaffa in the house of a tanner named Simon.  Peter was on the housetop to pray at about six in the morning.  There fell on him a deep sleep and fell asleep, and he saw the heavens opened to him, and there came down from the sky a sheet, touching the ground, in which there were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, and flying birds of the sky.  And he heard a voice say: “O Peter, get up, kill and eat.”  But Peter said: “No, Lord, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”  The voice told him for the second time:  “What God has made clean do you not treat as unclean.” And the voice repeated it to him for the third time. Then the sheet rose up to heaven” (7).  These words of Peter support this, he being one of the leaders of the Apostles and a founder of our religion, as well as one from whom you have to take and accept, what Christ our Lord, has done in eating the meat of slaughtered animals and in making all animals lawful.  So it is necessary to be wary of those who abstain from eating meat and act differently from how Christ, our Lord, and Peter, the head of the Apostles, behaved.  Therefore, anyone who refuses to eat meat from slaughtered animals is for us a transgressor of the Christian law and is to be counted among the followers of the doctrine of Mani, with the exception of the patriarchs, bishops and monks, for they do not refrain from the use of meat as prohibited but only for abstinence and to honor God.”

4. “The people of Rum also began not to wash themselves with water because most of them were Manichaeans.  The Manicheans, in fact, do not believe that it is good to wash with water.  Having therefore for a long time continued to maintain their custom, they continue to this day to refrain from washing with water.  Some have said that they stopped washing with water simply because of the intense cold that there is in their country and because the water was too cold, especially in winter, and that they could not bathe in cold nor could touch it as it was so cold” (8).

5. “The Manichaeans are, as we have said, of two species: the Sammākūn and the Siddīqūn.  The Sammākūn fast on certain days of each month, while the Siddīqūn fast for life, eating only what the land produces.  Having embraced the Christian faith, the Siddīqūn, fearing to be recognized and killed if they abstained from eating fish, also began to fast, and actually fasted on the Orthodox feasts of Christmas, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, abstaining, in those days of fasting, from eating the flesh of fish.  They adopted a similar behavior only so as to pass in fasting the day of the year and in these fasts did not refrain from eating fish only so that they were not discovered.  Over time the Nestorians, Jacobites and Maronites adopted this custom, who made it a norm.  Later also some Greek Melkites, especially those living in the territories subjected to Islam, adopted a similar habit, starting also to abstain from eating fish on the aforementioned days of fasting, although this was not included in their traditions nor in their precepts, since the Greek Melkites abstain from eating fish only on the two days reported, namely Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and on the eve of Christmas and the eve of Baptism, days when they abstain from eating fish as they revere these in the same way as the great fast.  The Greek Melkites, then, who prefer to fast for Christmas, [for the feast of the Madonna] and for the feast of the Apostles, fast in these three days by eating the flesh of fish, abstaining only on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Similarly, if someone wishes to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, they can fast until the ninth hour without eating fish.  And yet this is not obligatory and no one is obliged to fast and abstain from these fasts to make use of the meat of fish, except for Wednesdays and Fridays, as we said at the first, for the great fast and for two vigils of Christmas and Epiphany.  Some Greek Melkites also refrain from eating fish on the fast of the feast of Our Lady, following their custom in this the holy Typicon of St. Saba (9), nor is there, in this abstinence, any shadow of sin.  Only those who say otherwise sin, thus contravening the law and acting contrary to the divine precept.”

This part of the Annals continues the history of the 4th century, interleaving material from the Greek chronographic tradition with a lost Sassanid Persian chronicle known to the author in Arabic translation.  Unfortunately the chapter ends with a curious oriental folk tale.  One wonders what Theodosius the Great would have thought of it!

1. Sabur lived for seventy-two years in all, and died. After him there reigned over the Persians Azdashīr, son of Sabur (1), for four years and died.  This was in the first year of the reign of King Constantine, son of Constantine, King of Rūm.  After him there reigned over the Persians, for five years and four months, his brother Sabur, son of Sabur (2).  This happened in the fifth year of the reign of Constantine, the son of Constantine, King of Rūm.  In the fifth year of his reign there rebelled against his brother Constans, in Rome, a general named Maghnitiyūs (3) who killed him.  When Constantine, son of Constantine, learned that his brother had been killed, he sent a large army,  killed Magnentius, together with all those who had supported him in conspiring against his brother, and appointed as his representative in Rome a man who reigned in his name.  In the seventh year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Marcus (4).  He held the office for two years and died.  In the ninth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Būliyūs (5).  He held the seat for fifteen years and died.  In the twenty-fourth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Līnāriyūs (6).  He held the office for six years and died.  In the twentieth year of his reign there was made bishop of Jerusalem Cyril (7).  He held the office for five years and fled.

2. At that time the followers of Arius and all those who professed the doctrine went to King Constantine;  after having presented their religion in a good light and expounded their doctrine in enticing colours they said: “The three hundred and eighteen bishops, who gathered at Nicaea, made a mistake and have turned away from the truth by claiming that the Son is consubstantial with the Father.  Please, order that such a thing is no longer upheld because it is an obvious mistake.”  The king agreed to their request.

3. At that time there appeared on the site of Cranion, i.e. on Golgotha, at noon, a cross of light which rose from earth to heaven, until it reached the top of the Tūr-Zaytā: (8) for the intensity of its glow even dimmed the sunlight.  All the inhabitants of Jerusalem, large and small, were spectators of this.  Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, also witnessed the phenomenon and hastened to inform the king, writing to him a letter in which he said: “In the days of your father, O blessed king, the cross of Christ, our Lord, appeared, made of stars, at noon, in the sky.  And in your days, O blessed king, there has appeared at noon, on the site of Cranion, a cross of light so intense that it exceeds that of the sun” (9).  In the same letter among other things he urged him not to welcome the doctrine of Arius and his supporters, or of his followers, because they were far from the truth and wicked, and had already been excommunicated by three hundred and eighteen bishops together with all those who professed the doctrine.  The king received willingly the letter of Cyril and rejoiced at what he had written, and turned back to the truth and decided not to accept the doctrine of Arius.

4. At that time, the doctrine of Arius had almost taken over Constantinople, Antioch, Babil, and Alexandria: the followers of the religion of Arius and the supporters of his doctrine were called Arians, from the name of Arius.  In the second year of the reign of Constantine, the son of Constantine, Cyprian was made patriarch of Antioch (10).  He was an Arian. He held the office for two years and died.  In the fourth year of his reign Blāsiyūs was made patriarch of Antioch (11).  He held the office for four years and died.  He was an Arian.  In the eighth year of his reign Ustātiyūs was made patriarch of Antioch (12).  He held the office for five years and died.  He was an Arian.  In the thirteenth year of his reign Lāwn was made patriarch of Antioch (13).  He was also an Arian.  He held the office for nine years and died.  The king then sent for Eudoxius (14), bishop of the city of Girmāna (15), and made him patriarch of Antioch.  He was a Manichaean.  He held the See of Antioch for two years.  Then the king sent him to Constantinople, where he remained for ten years and died as patriarch (16).  In the twenty-second year of his reign Athanāsiyūs was made patriarch of Antioch (17).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the first year of his reign, the king deposed Paul, the patriarch of Constantinople and made Eusebius patriarch of Constantinople, in his place (18).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for three years and died.  At his death the king reinstated in his own see the patriarch Paul, whom he had deposed.  He held the office for three years and died (19).

5. In the tenth year of his reign Macedonius was made patriarch of Constantinople (20).  He asserted that the Holy Spirit is a created being.  He held the office for ten years and died.  In his twenty-first year of his reign, the king called to Constantinople Eudoxius, Patriarch of Antioch, and appointed him patriarch of that city (21).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for ten years and died.  Of the population of Egypt and Alexandria, most were Arians and Manichaean.  They occupied the churches of Egypt and Alexandria and took possession of them.  Then they made a raid against Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, with the intention of killing him, but he managed to escape and hide.  Up to that time he had been Patriarch for ten years.  Gregory was then made Patriarch of Alexandria (22).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for twelve years and died.  At his death Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, reoccupied his own place.  He held the office for three years.  In that time there came from Constantinople to Alexandria a general named Sawīriyānūs that, being an Arian, confined Patriarch Athanasius in a place called Tībāriyādah and appointed Khurayğ  as patriarch of Alexandria (23).  He was an Arian.  He held the seat for six years.  The general Sūriyānūs then left Alexandria bound for Constantinople.  When he left Alexandria, the Melkites of the city revolted against the patriarch Gurayh and killed him and then burned his body.  Patriarch Athanasius again reoccupied his see.  At that time there was a terrible tsunami and many places and many churches of Alexandria were submerged.

6. The King Constantine, son of Constantine, died after a reign of twenty-four years.  After him reigned over Rum Julian, the apostate King (24).  This happened in the twenty-first year of the reign of Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians.  This king Julian was a renegade from the Christian religion, who wanted to return people to the worship of idols and killed a large number of martyrs.  In the first year of his reign the Arians who were in Jerusalem rose against Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, with the intent to kill him.  [Cyril] fled and Heraclius was elected bishop of Jerusalem (25).  He was an Arian.  He held the office for three years and died.  In the second year of his reign Milītiyānūs was made patriarch of Antioch (26).  He was an orthodox (27).  He held the seat for twenty-five years.  In his twenty-first year in office there was the second council in Constantinople (28).

At the time of this king there lived at Alexandria the patriarch Athanasius, at Constantinople the Manichaean patriarch Eudoxius, and at Rome the patriarch Līnāriyūs (29).

At the time of this king lived the blessed Basil, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a territory subject to the jurisdiction of Rum, and Gregory, bishop of Nazianzus.  The inhabitants of the city of Nazianzus were all Sabeans.  Gregory, bishop of Nazianzus, composed the sermon on the birth of Christ, our Lord, which begins: “Christ is born, glorify [him]; Christ [is] from heaven: welcome Christ on earth: glorify [him]”(30), and while he was reading to them, they mocked him and started laughing.  On the feast of the Baptism, Gregory wrote another sermon in which reviewed the religion of the Sabeans and illuminated its errors.  This was the sermon that begins with the following words: “And again, my Jesus, and still a mystery” (31).  At the time of Julian the Apostate there lived Anba Antonius, who was the first monk to live in the desert of Egypt, where he founded the monasteries and gathered monks there.  Anba Hilarion lived in Syria (32), who was the first monk to live in the desert of Jordan where he collected the monks and founded the monasteries and many other places.

Learning that Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians, was preparing to invade his territories, Julian the Apostate made the necessary preparations and went out against him.  Meanwhile he had spread his cult and his wicked religion everywhere, carryinbg out his perverse intention and proposal to return people to the worship of idols.  But Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians, defeated him and killed him in battle, making great slaughter of his men.

7. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, has handed down to us that, one day while he was sitting in his room in front of a painting depicting the martyr Mercurius, he realized, suddenly, that the image of the martyr was missing from canvas.  He was very surprised.  After just one hour the image of the martyr had reappeared on the canvas but now, on the tip of the spear in his hand, was something like blood.  The wonder of Bishop Basil at the sight of this increased, and he remained deep in thought, until the news came that the King Julian the Apostate had been killed in the war in that hour.  Basil then understood that the martyr Mercurius had killed him, that Julian had been put to death on account of the animosity he felt toward Christians, and because of his firm resolution to restore everywhere the worship of idols (33).

8. After Julian the Apostate had been killed, there reigned over Rum, for one year only, Jovian (34).  This happened in the twenty-first year of the reign of Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians.  The king Jovian was of excellent faith and a staunch defender of the religion of the Christians.  A rebel rose up against him a rebel, and Jovian made war on him, but died on the way at a place called Daris (35).

After him there reigned for twelve years over Rum Valentinian (36). This happened in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians. In the third year of his reign Damasus was made patriarch of Rome (37). He held the seat for twenty-eight years and died.

9. In his seventeenth year in office there was the second council at Constantinople.  In the fourth year of the reign of Valentinian Demophilus was made patriarch of Constantinople (38).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for eleven years and died.  In the first year of his reign Irnis was made bishop of Jerusalem (39).  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for five years and died.  In the seventh year of his reign Hilarius was made bishop of Jerusalem (40).  He was an Arian.  He held the office for four years and died.  On his death there returned to his own see Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, who had fled because of the Arians.  He held the seat for sixteen years and died.  The entire period for which Cyril was bishop was thirty-three years.

10. In his twenty-seventh year in office there was the second council at Constantinople.  The population of Alexandria rebelled again against the patriarch Athanasius and decided to kill him.  But [Athanasius] fled and hid.  They therefore made Lucius Patriarch of Alexandria (41).  He was an Arian.  Five months later there gathered, along with a large group of Melkite Christians, a good number of bishops who excommunicated the patriarch Lucius and deposed him. The patriarch Athanasius returned to his own see and remained there until his death.  He was patriarch was for forty six years.

11. In the eighth year of the reign of Valentinian Peter was made Patriarch of Alexandria (42).  But the followers of Arius rose up against him, with the intention of killing him, and he fled away from them.  Lucius was then recalled, who had been deposed, and he held the office for three years.  But since the Melkites rose up against him with intent to kill him, he fled away from them.  The patriarch Peter then returned to his place. He held the office for six years and died.  In the Maghrib a rebel rose up against Valentinian. Valentinian went out against him at the head of a huge force but was killed in the war (43).

12. After him his brother Valens (44) reigned over Rum for three years.  This was in the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Sabur, son of Sabur, king of the Persians.

At the time of Valens, king of Rum, there lived in Alexandria, a man named Theodore who disputed and fought in defense of the doctrine of the Melkites, refuting the assertions of the Aryans.  The followers of the excommunicate Arius took him, tied his hands and tied him to the feet of a horse that they drove off at full speed in the direction of the desert.  He thus had all his limbs dislocated and died a martyr for the faith.  In the second year of the reign of Valens, king of Rum, Timothy was made patriarch of Alexandria (45), Peter’s brother, former patriarch of Alexandria before him.  He held the seat for seven years and died.

In his sixth year in office there was the second council in Constantinople.  The patriarch Timothy had built many churches in Alexandria and numerous tombs, and converted many people from Arianism to the Melkite religion.  In the third year of the reign of Valens, king of Rum, Evagrius was made patriarch of Constantinople (46), of the Melkite religion.  He held the seat for two years and was removed.  The king Valens sent for Gregory, bishop of Nazianzus, and ordered him to take care of the see of Constantinople.  Gregory administered it for four years and died.

At the time of Valens, king of Rum, St Euthymius was born (47).  In the West there rose up against Valens a rebel and Valens came out against him with his forces.  After many days of fighting, in a place called Tarāqā, Valente, king of Rum, was defeated and fled to a village in the province of Adrianople where they set fire to him and to the village (48).

13. After him reigned over Rum his son Valentinian (49) together with Gratian (50) for three years.  The king Gratian died a few days after the king Valentinian.  Then arose within Rum much contention about to whom to entrust the kingdom.  Some said: “One of the sons of the great king Valentinian should reign over us”. Others said: “Only a man who shares our faith should reign over us, to fight for the Christian faith.”  The opinions of many Christians and their doctrines were varied, but the doctrine of the Arians and followers of Macedonius won out.  They remained prey to confusion for six months without being able to give themselves a king, nor was there, then, a patriarch in Constantinople, because after the death of Gregory (51), bishop of Nazianzus, who had held the seat of Constantinople, another patriarch had not yet been made.  Then the ministers and generals went to one of the bishops of Constantinople, named Cyrus, excellent man, and full of virtue, and said:  “We will rely on you because you can judge what is best for us in such a predicament.  Choose from your full and unconditional initiative a man of your own faith and make him our king, because, if we continue to be without a king, the Persians or others could invade our country and subjugate us, because of our many doctrines and bitter disputes, and destroy us”.  The bishop replied, “If I choose for you a man, and I make him your king, this will leave some happy and others not, and thus there may be more fighting between you and more dead.  I can only give you some advice, that if you follow it will be more useful both to me and to you.”  They said to him: “What?” And the bishop replied: “Send around the city of Constantinople an crier and tell people to gather, at sunset, in the church where we will pray all night. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Mass and ask our God and our Lord Jesus Christ to choose for us a king. Whom He will choose, we will welcome him as our king.”  They welcomed his advice.

14. There lived in Constantinople two men, poor and of low condition, bound together by friendship.  One was called Theodosius, and was bald and thirty years old, and the other Theophilus, who was a sage and a philosopher and was twenty-five.  Both, every day, went out early from Constantinople in search of wood, which they carried on their heads and then sold, giving half of the proceeds in alms to the poor.  With what was left they bought something to eat and whatever they needed.  Only night separated them, when each went to his home and returned to their accustomed place.  That day Theophilus went early in the morning to Theodosius to wake him and go out in search of firewood.  When he called, Theodosius came out and said: “My brother, I was having a strange dream when you called me and woke me up in the throes of my turmoil.  If I can find someone who will give me an interpretation, I will give all him earn throughout the week, allowing that I am poor and have no other source of income except what I procure by selling the wood.”  Theophilus said:  “I know how to interpret dreams.  Tell me what you have dreamed of, and also, Christ, our Lord, willing, I’ll give an explanation, without you having to give anything to the person who would explain it.”

Theodosius said: “While I was sleeping, I heard a great voice and I awoke in the grip of turmoil.  Then I said to myself:  “The soldiers of the Persians have come to Constantinople” and I rushed into the street, but I did not see anyone and I did not hear any voices.  So I went back to bed and I fell asleep and I dreamed that I was in a vast desert full of big rams, sheep, cows and beasts, lions and birds and animals of every race and species, of leafy trees and large and most numerous heaps of grain, and I said: “I wish I could have a bit of that grain I, who are so poor!”  And as I looked at the animals, the trees and the vast harvest of wheat, behold I saw a tall man fifty cubits high, whose body shone like pure gold in his right hand and wore a double-edged sword, on which were engraved four seals that shone like gold, and in his left hand he had a golden shield.  When I saw him come near me, I was afraid and fell face down. But he took me by the hand, raised me up and told me: “Fear not. Would you like to have all that is in this wilderness?” I replied: “My Lord, I just want a bit of wheat.” And he answered me: “Everything you see in this wilderness will be yours from now on, and under your power.” Then he told me: “Follow me,” and I followed, as I walked here and I saw the rams, sheep, cows, the beasts and the birds and the trees fall down before me and reverence me.  The lions, however, greeted me with roars and I had great fear. But he told me then: “Fear not, take this sword and shield and keep them tight in your hand.”  The sword was double-edged and there were four seals on it.  I took them from him, therefore, the sword and the shield, and I kept them tight in hand.  When the lions saw the sword and shield in my hands, they bent their legs to the ground and prostrated themselves before me.  Then he took me to the sea and I saw come out of it a column of light.  The man stretched out his hand, took the column and it covered me, and in doing so the column was divided into three stars.  The first star was similar to the earth, and he wrapped me up in this light around the chest; the second was like beryl and he wrapped this light around my thighs, and the third was similar to ruby ​​and he wrapped this around my foot.  Then I was taken by the hand and taken back in that great wilderness and he told me: “Lift up your eyes to the sky.”  I looked up, and I saw a big star like lightning which is divided into two parts falling on my head.  Then he led me to a corner of the wilderness, and I saw thick briars and brambles sprouting in the middle of fruitless trees.  Then I was led into a wide and beautiful tent.  I looked into the tent, and there I saw in the centre a lamb, and a spring of water, as white as milk.  Then that lamb became like the flame of a fire, and ascended to heaven together with the water.  I came out of the tent, and I saw the man holding a long key which was a cubit wide, which he gave me and I said to him: “My Lord, how can I hold the shield, the sword and this key?”  He replied: “This is what you are commanded to do.”  I am left to speculate on whom to entrust the key.  And I saw you, standing to my right, wrapped in a white pallium and beautiful, and with a tiara on your head.  I handed the key to you, and then I saw only the man.  Then we headed home, but along the way we came across a wall that blocked the road, two hundred cubits long.  And I said: “How will we overcome this wall?” And as we were halted, I saw a light descending from heaven like lightning. The wall collapsed and we passed through. Then I woke up to the sound of your shout.”

Theophilus said: “If you have described your dream accurately, know that it will be you that is chosen as king. There, now I’ll explain.  The great wilderness is the world.  The sheep and the sheep are men, both the good and the bad, living in the world.  The beasts are the Greeks and the birds represent every town and village.  The trees are the ministers and generals.  These all shall bow down before you in your kingdom.  The lions are the enemies of the king.  The double-edged sword is the Torah and the books of the Old and New Testaments.  The four seals of the sword are the four evangelists and the piles of grain represent the enormous wealth of your kingdom.  The column of light with which you have been covered is the mercy of God that has fallen upon you, and that your days will abound.  The three stars that have fallen on you represent the baptism that you received in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The star then that fell from heaven alighting on your head is the crown of your kingdom.  And as you saw it split in two, you will have two children in your kingdom.  The brambles and fruitless trees represent the people who do not believe in Christ, our Lord.  The tent is the church and the lamb you saw in the middle of the tent is the Eucharist.  And the water was like milk is Baptism.  And as you saw the lamb like the flame of a fire with water ascend to heaven, so the Eucharist will rise to heaven.  The key, then, is the authority that was assigned to you, to give the church a leader who will govern according to your mandate.  You gave me the key, and that means that I will be made patriarch.  The wall, finally, is the peace and tranquility that there will be in your kingdom. And this is the interpretation of your dream.”

Theodosius said: “That’s very nice, my brother, your interpretation of my dream! But that I become king, and that you will become patriarch, this will never be possible!  Come on, get up, let’s go to work.”  As they were going out, they saw people heading to church and asked: “What day is this?” “We go to church,” they answered, “to see who God will choose as our king.” Theophilus said to Theodosius: “Let’s do the same ourselves and go to church. It could also be that your dream will come true.”  They entered the church and having prayed, Theodosius said Theophilus: “Our clothes are shabby and worn.  Let’s get behind everyone and let ‘s see what happens.”  The mass ended, and people were about to leave, when suddenly a large bird appeared, carrying in its beak a crown of light.

The people watched it for a couple of hours and began to shout: “O Lord, have mercy on us!”  The bird then moved toward Theodosius and dropped on his head a crown of light.  He was immediately brought to the altar, where the bishop took away the worn and shabby clothes, covered him with the royal robes and put on his head the crown of the kingdom, calling on him the blessing of God.  Then he was made to mount on one of the king’s horses – Theodosius still did not believe his eyes seeing himself surrounded by ministers and generals – and introduced him to the court, that the king’s palace, going then each their own way.

The story of the 4th century, as seen by a Christian Arabic writer of the 10th century, continues.  Thankfully we are now past the stuff about the finding of the True Cross.

15. In the twenty-first year of the reign of Constantine Athanasius was made patriarch of Alexandria (40). He was a Kātib.  He held the office for forty-six years. In the twenty-third year of his reign Ulāriyūs was made patriarch of Antioch (41).  He held the office for eleven years and died. He was an Arian.  In the twenty-ninth year of his reign Maqsimiyānūs was made bishop of Jerusalem (42).  He was a gentle man and had lost his right eye at the time of the sedition.  He held the office for twenty-three years and died.  In the twenty-second year of his reign died Metrophanes, patriarch of Constantinople, after having held the office for three years (43). After him Alexander was made patriarch of Constantinople (44).  He held the office for eight years and died.  To King Constantine went Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, and his companion whom the three hundred and eighteen had excommunicated along with Arius, and appealing to the king, they asked him to receive them [into the church] and remove the excommunication, saying that they themselves excommunicated Arius and supporters of his doctrine and professed the same belief of the three hundred and eighteen.  The king received them and removed their excommunication.  Then Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, was taken and made patriarch of Constantinople (45).  Helena, meanwhile, chose one of the generals and sent him to ar-Ruha to build the church.  After the building was complete, and in the meantime the churches of Jerusalem had been built, the king wanted them to be consecrated.  He sent therefore to say to Eusebius, Patriarch of Constantinople, to go to Jerusalem and there to convene a group of bishops to proceed to the consecration of the places.  King Constantine wrote to Athanasius (46), patriarch of Alexandria, to be also present at the consecration, ordering him to willingly accept his order and not to disobey him (47).  The king sent word to his sister’s son, named Dalmatinus, to attend the session and to be in the city of Tyre (48).  Once agreed on the conduct of the consecration, he traveled to Jerusalem and arrived in the city of Tyre.  There were present Maximus the one-eyed, bishop of Jerusalem, Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, Ulāriyūs (49), Patriarch of Antioch, a multitude of bishops and many other people.  Among the defendants there was a man named Eumenius with a group of people who supported the doctrine of Arius.  Eusebius, patriarch of Constantinople, suggested to Eumenius that the latter put questions to Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria.  Eusebius, in fact, although he had represented himself to the king as being opposed to Arius, shared however the views of that man, and followed his doctrine.

The next chunk of the 10th century Arabic Christian Annals of Sa`id ibn Bitriq / Eutychius begins with words that indicate that the text as we have it has been re-edited at a later time.  We’re still wading through dull twaddle about the Council of Nicaea.

12. Sa`id Ibn Batriq, the doctor, said: “I wanted to know on what day of the week Our Lord Jesus Christ was born, on what day was crucified, and in which months of the year these days took place (35). After careful research and having compared the years, I discovered that he was born on the twelfth of the solar cycle, in [9] of the number of the lunar cycle. The epact of the sun was one, and that of the moon [28]. Now December 1 was a Saturday, and the first of Kīhak was a Tuesday.  Thus our Lord Jesus Christ was born on December twenty-fifth, that is the twenty-ninth of Kīhak and the day of the glorious birth of Christ our Lord was a Tuesday.  The day he was baptized is then found in fourteen of the number of the cycle of the sun and in nineteen of the number of the cycle of the moon.  And the epact of the sun was three and a half and a quarter, while that of the moon was [11]. The first of January was then a Thursday, and the first of the month of Tūbah was a Saturday.  His glorious baptism took place on Tuesday, January 6th, therefore, i.e. on the eleventh of Tūbah.  The day of his saving crucifixion fell on nineteen of the number of the cycle of the sun and in fourteen of the number of the cycle of the moon. The epact of the sun was seven and a half, as the moon was [14]. The first of March was then a Thursday and the first of the month of Baramhāt a Sunday. The Passover of the Jews then happened on Thursday March 22nd, i.e. twenty-sixth of Baramhāt. This means that our Lord Jesus Christ ate the Passover with his disciples on Thursday, was crucified on Friday March 23rd, i.e. 27 Baramhāt, and rose again on Sunday March 25, i.e. the twenty-ninth of Baramhāt (36).  The Christians, however, as we have said, celebrated the feast of the Baptism, and began to fast from the end [of that feast-day] for the forty-day period after which they broke their fast, and celebrated their Passover when the Jews did, the day on which they stopped fasting.  After the three hundred and eighteen Fathers forbade them to do this, and arranged that Easter for Christians should be celebrated on the Sunday following that of the Jews, thus forbidding them to celebrate it together with them or before them, and taking care to celebrate it always after the Passover of the Jews.

They forbade bishops to have a wife. This is because from the time of the apostles to the council of three hundred and eighteen of them, they had wives, and if anyone of them was made bishop and was married, the wife was left with him and was not sent away, except for the patriarchs: as, in fact, those without a wife never elected as patriarch one that was married.”

13. As for Alexander, he deprived of the patriarchal dignity Ashīllā his companion, who had been patriarch of Alexandria before him, for he welcomed Arius and contravened what his master, the martyr Peter, patriarch of Alexandria, had told him to do.

As for the three hundred and eighteen, they each returned to their homes with great honour. King Constantine issued three edicts (37): in the first he required the tearing down of idols and putting to death all those who worshiped them; in the second he provided that rhetoric was limited to children of Christians and that only they might be designated as prefects and generals, and he ordered that the third Friday in Easter and after people should refrain from work and war. King Constantine commissioned Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, to search for the site of the tomb and the Cross and to build churches there (38).

14. Helena, mother of Constantine, said: “I made a vow to go to Jerusalem, to find the holy places and rebuild them”.  Constantine then gave her a lot of money and Helena, together with Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, went to Jerusalem with the intent to seek the Cross.  Finding the place, Helena collected a hundred men from among the Jews who lived in Jerusalem and Galilee, and she selected ten.  Of these she chose three, one of whom was called Judas. She asked them to indicate the [holy] places but they refused saying: “We do not know anything of this place.”  [Helena] had them thrown in a dry water well and left them there for seven days, without food or water.  The one of them who was called Judas told his companions that his father had shown him one day the places that the woman wanted to know from them, and which his father had learned from his grandfather. Then the two cried out from the well, were pulled out and told Helena that Judas had told them. Helena gave orders to whip him until he decided to confess his knowledge of the places.  They went out together and he led them to the place where they found the Sepulchre and the Cranion, now reduced to a great garbage dump. Then [Judas] prayed saying: “Lord God, if this is the place where is located the Sepulchre and the ground shakes violently, and fire comes out because of this, I shall believe.”  The ground shuddered, there came out a fragrant smoke and the man believed.  Helena then ordered area of earth that covered it to be removed, and there came to light the Sepulchre and Cranion and three crosses were found.  Helena said: “How will we know which of these three crosses was that of Christ the Lord?” There was, near there, a man suffering from a serious illness, of which he despaired that he could be healed. On him were laid the first and second crosses, but he was not cured and only when the third cross was laid on did the patient get up, completely healed (39). Helena realized then that this was the cross of Christ, our Lord, to be exposed to the veneration [of the faithful].  She enclosed it in a case of gold, and took it with her, along with everything that had been buried, and that had belonged to Christ our Lord, to bring everything to Constantine, her son.  She had built the Church of the Resurrection, built Golgotha, and the church of Constantine, and leaving, ordered Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, to build other churches. This happened in the twenty-second year of the reign of Constantine. From the birth of Christ, our Lord, to the finding of the Cross had passed three hundred years.

Let’s continue reading this.  I’m taking the Italian translation by Pirone – itself a near-impossible item to obtain -, running it through Google Translate and cleaning up the output.  I know that “no true scholar” would do this; but since I see evidence that people simply don’t know what may be found in Eutychius, it seems worth doing.

9. Constantine was baptized in a town called Nicomedia, in the twelfth year of his reign.  He gave orders to build churches in each country and to take from the Crown Treasury the money with which to make enough vessels for the churches.  In the first year of his reign Eusebius was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for six years and died.  In the seventh year of his reign Miltiades was made patriarch of Rome (22).  He held the office for four years and died.  In the eleventh year of his reign Sylvester was made patriarch of Rome (23).  He held the office for twenty-eight years old and died.  In his ninth year in office the council was held in the city of Nicaea (24).  In the third year of the reign of Constantine Filūniqūs [= Philogonus] was also made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for five years and died.  In the ninth year of his reign Paulinus was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for five years and died. In the fifteenth year of his reign Istāt [=Eustathius] was made patriarch of Antioch. He held the office for eight years and died.  In his fifth year in office there was the council in the city of Nicaea.  In the first year of the reign of Constantine Asun was made bishop of Jerusalem (25). He held the seat for nine years and died.  In the tenth year of his reign Macarius was made bishop of Jerusalem.  He held the seat for nineteen years and died.  In his tenth year in office there was the council in the city of Nicaea.  In the fifth year of the reign of Constantine there was also made patriarch of Alexandria Alexander, a disciple of Peter Martyr, the patriarch of Alexandria who had been killed, a companion of Ashillā, patriarch of Alexandria.  He held the seat for sixteen years and died.  In his fifteenth year in office there was the Council of Nicaea in the city because Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, had forbidden Arius to enter the church, and excommunicated him saying: “Arius is accursed because the patriarch Peter, before his martyrdom, told us: “God has cursed Arius: do  not receive him and not let him go in with you into the church.”  At the head of the city of Asyut (26), in the province of Egypt, there was a bishop named Meletius who shared the doctrine of Arius.  The patriarch Alexander excommunicated him.  There was at Alexandria a great temple that Queen Cleopatra had built in honor of Saturn, inside which was kept a large bronze idol which was called Mika’il.  The inhabitants of Alexandria and Egypt were accustomed, every twelve month of Hathor, i.e. Tishrin ath-Thani (27), to celebrate, in honor of this idol, a great festival during which they offered many sacrifices.  When he became Patriarch of Alexandria and having everywhere publicly professed the Christian religion, Alexander decided to destroy the idol and to put an end to the sacrifices. But since the people of Alexandria objected, he tricked them by saying: “From this idol can be expected neither utility nor profit. I would suggest, therefore, that you celebrate this feast in honor of the angel Michael and offer him these sacrifices that you may intercede for you before God, and so benefit you better than this idol.”  Having them willingly accepted his words, [the patriarch] demolished the idol and put up a cross, and he called the temple “the church of [St] Michael” which is the church now called ”al-Qaysariyyah”, which was burned and destroyed at the time of entry into Alexandria of Magharibah. The festival and sacrifices were thus dedicated to the archangel Michael.  Even today the Copts of Alexandria and Egypt are accustomed to celebrate on this day the archangel Michael, cutting the throat of many animals in his honour.

10. When Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, interdicted Arius from entering the church and excommunicated him, the latter appealed to King Constantine, asking him to help him against the patriarch of Alexandria.  With Arius joined two bishops, one of whom was called Eumenius, bishop of the city of Nicomedia (28), and the other Eusebius, bishop of the city of Phila (29). They appealed to King Constantine, and Arius said: “Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, has acted unfairly against me and wrongly expelled me from the church.”  And so saying, he asked him to convene the church in order to discuss the matter openly in the presence of the king.  Constantine then sent his messenger to Alexandria and summoned the Patriarch in order to arrange a meeting between him and Arius and so to adjudicate the affair. King Constantine said to Arius: “Expound your doctrine.” Arius said: “I assert that the Father has always been, before the Son was. Then it is fact that the Son is the Word but he is created and made. Then the Father gave the Son, who is named Word, the power to be creator of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, as he himself said in his holy Gospel in the passage where he says: ‘I have been given all authority on heaven and on earth.’ He was not, therefore, creator by his own power but by that which had been conferred on him.  I assert that this Word then took on a body over time, in the womb of the Virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit so as to become one Christ.  Christ, therefore, is the result of putting together the Word and the flesh, both, however, created”.

11. To this Alexander replied, saying: “Tell us, what do you think is more important for us: to worship the one who created us, or to worship one who did not create us?” And Arius said: “Worshipping the one who created us.” Alexander replied: “If the Son created us, as you assert, and the Son is [in his turn] created, it follows that to worship the Son who created us is more proper than to worship the Father, who is uncreated; indeed, to worship the Father creator would be an impiety and to worship the created Son an act of the pure faith.  But that would be the most absurd of things.”  The king found the argument [of Alexander] was right, along with the others who were present with him, and found that the doctrine of Arius was instead absurd.  There were many other questions and answers between the two, but in the end the king Constantine authorized Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, to excommunicate Arius and anyone who upheld his doctrine. Alexander then said to the king Constantine: “No, it is for the king himself to convene the patriarchs and bishops, so that there is a council at which to deliver a judgment, to excommunicate Arius and set forth the true faith, in order to present it with clear wording to all nations.” Constantine then sent his messengers into all countries and gathered the patriarchs and bishops.  Within a year and two months there gathered at Nicaea two thousand and forty-eight bishops of differing opinions and religions.  For there were those who claimed that Christ and his mother are two other gods, and these were the Barbarāniyyah, also called Maryamiyyūn;(30) there were those who claimed that the Son comes from the Father like the flame of a fire fed by the same fire, and that the former is not subject to reduction by the fact that he depends on the second, and this was the doctrine of Sabellius and his followers; there were those who claimed that Mary had by no means kept Christ in her womb for nine months, but that he passed through her belly like water goes into the gutter (31), since the Word came in by her ear and immediately went out to where the baby comes out, and this was the doctrine of Ebanus and his followers; there were those who said that Christ is a man and was created by the Deity like each of us as to the substance, which is the principle of the Son of Mary, and that, having been chosen to be the saviour of the human substance by virtue of divine grace that came down and dwelt in him through love and will, for this reason he was called the Son of God. And there were those who said that God is one substance and one person, and that he was called by three names but they did not believe either in Word or in the Holy Spirit, and it was this, the doctrine of Paul of Samosata, Patriarch of Antioch, and its followers, that the Paulicians held.  There were those who argued that there are three gods, one good, one bad and a third one sharing in both, and this was the doctrine of the excommunicated Marcion and his followers, who claimed that Marcion was the leader of the Apostles, denying that role to the Apostle Peter.  And there, finally, those who supported the divinity of Christ, and this was the doctrine of the apostle Paul and the three hundred and eighteen bishops (32).

When King Constantine heard their doctrines, he was very surprised at many of their differences and put at their disposal a building where he gave them space, ordering them to talk to each other in order to determine on which side was the true religion to follow.  Of these, the Three hundred and Eighteen found themselves unanimous on one doctrine and one religion, after discussing with each other and with the other bishops.  They refuted the arguments of the others, and proclaimed the true faith, while the other bishops even among themselves held to conflicting doctrines and religions.  The king then for the three hundred and eighteen bishops had a large room set aside, sat among them, and took his ring, his sword and his scepter and handed them to them, saying: “Today I have given you authority over my kingdom, to do what seems appropriate to you to do for the definition of right religion and for the good of the faithful.”  They blessed the king, girded on his sword and said: “Profess publicly the Christian religion and be its defender.”  Then they wrote for him forty books containing the constitutions and laws, some of which related to what the king should know and do, and other related to the responsibility of making the bishops.  The leader and president of the council was Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, along with Eustathius, Patriarch of Antioch, and Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem.  Silvester, patriarch of Rome, had sent as his representatives two priests, one of whom was called Vitus and the other Vincentius (33).  [The Three hundred and eighteen] unanimously sanctioned the expulsion of Arius and his followers, excommunicated him and all those who supported his doctrine, and formulated the profession of faith by establishing that the Son was born of the Father before all ages, and that the Son is of the substance of the Father, uncreated.  They appointed then Metrophanes as patriarch of Constantinople.  They were also unanimous in stating that the Christian Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday after the Passover of the Jews, and that the Passover of the latter should not to be celebrated in place of the day of Easter for Christians.  Also they confirmed what had been said on the Calculation of the days of fasting and Easter by Demetrius, patriarch of Alexandria, Ghayānūs (34), Bishop of Jerusalem, Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch and Victor, Patriarch of Rome, and that is that the fasting of Christians must end on Easter day, or on the Sunday after the Passover of the Jews.