Tag: Eutychius

The reign of Justinian continues, and after him Justin II.  We have two extracts from the lost Sassanid Persian chronicle that Eutychius has in Arabic translation.  The Persian chronicler was plainly very well-disposed towards the next Sassanid Persian king, Anūshirwān.

13. Qabād died.The years when Qabād reigned, together with the years in which Rāmāsf reigned, were around forty.  After him reigned his son Kisra, son of Qabād, called Anūshirwān.  He reigned for forty-seven years and six months.  This happened in the fourth year of the reign of Justinian, king of Rum.  Kisra ordered that the leaders of the Mazdeans should be expelled from his realm.  He confiscated the goods, which they had illegally seized, and returned them to their owners, preserving for himself the goods of those who had no heirs, and repaired what they had damaged and rebuilt what had been destroyed.  He interested himself in those whose houses and farms had beene extorted from them, and gave them back their own.  To those who had taken a woman by force he ordered them give her twice her dowry, unless, being fully satisfied, he took her as his wife.  And if she had a husband, he was to give him the equivalent of the dowry that the woman had at the time of the wedding.  If necessary he made him marry the woman.  What prompted him to set aside the punishment for those who had been guilty of crimes was the fact that he had at heart the good of the people and he did not like to treat anyone in a way that rendered them hostile.  He ordered a census of the families of nobles and aristocrats who, having lost those who supported them, had fallen into poverty; gave to their orphans and their widows what they needed,   to teach their children the arts for which they were fit and to give their daughters in marriage to rich people equal to them.  Also he showed interest in houses and land whose owners were no longer able to maintain them, for lack of means, and dug irrigation canals and waterways, so as to make the water flow in the rivers, and provided their owners the money needed to purchase seeds and livestock.  He went visiting the villages that had been destroyed and built formidable fortresses.  Then he chose ministers, prefects and judges and transferred them into the provinces.  He published the books of Azdashīr which contained the teachings which had inspired his own conduct, and urged the people to do the same, sending letters in this regard into all the provinces.  In the ninth year of his reign, in the twelfth year of the reign of Justinian, king of Rum, he went to Antioch at the head of his soldiers.  At Antioch he found the soldiers of Justinian, king of the Rum.  He fought against them and captured the city.  He then ordered a map of the city to be made, respecting the measure, the number of dwellings, in height and depth, of the streets and all that was there.  He sent a copy to his lieutenant of Ctesiphon, and ordered him to build him a city of the same shape and construction so that the eye would not notice any difference between it and Antioch.  The city was built, called ar-Rūmiyah, and he transfered the population of Antioch to live there.  When they arrived and passed the gate of the city, each family found a house very similar to the one left, and they all had the feeling of simply being returned to the Antioch that they had left.

14. In the thirtieth year of the reign of Justinian, king of Rum, there was made patriarch of Rome Pelagius.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the thirty-fifth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome, John.  He held the office for twelve years and died.  In the thirtieth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Antioch Anastasius the Great.  He had held the seat for six years when the inhabitants of Antioch accused him of fornication.  Anastasius fled, he took his clothes that he used to wear to celebrate mass and buried them.  In disguise he went to Jerusalem and took refuge in the Church of the Resurrection, where he had the task of lighting the candlesticks.  He remained as sacristan at the Church of the Resurrection, with the task of lighting the candlesticks, for twenty-four years, and no one ever knew that he was a patriarch.  In his place there was made Patriarch of Antioch Gregory.  He held the office for twenty-four years and died.  In the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Justinian there was made patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius II.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the thirty-third year of his reign there was made Patriarch of Jerusalem John.  He held the office for ten years and he died.  In twenty-eighth year of his reign he was told that Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, had denied the truth and had become a Jacobite.  He deposed him, and made patriarch of Constantinople, in his place, John.  He held the office for seven years and died.  After Eutychius, the patriarch of Constantinople who had been removed, the ministers and generals of the king were commissioned to plead his case to the king, and to ask him to reinstate him in his office, because what had been said about him were simply lies.  The king then reinstated him in the patriarchal office and he ruled for four years until he died.  In the thirty-ninth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Constantinople John.  He held the office for thirteen years and died.  Also Apollinaris, Patriarch of Alexandria, was patriarch for nineteen years and died.  In his thirteenth year in office he had a place on the Fifth Council.  After him there was made patriarch of Alexandria John.  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for three years and died.  In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Justinian there was made patriarch of Alexandria Peter. He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for two years and died.  King Justinian was of the Orthodox faith, loving the good, hater of the doctrine of the Jacobites and a tenacious advocate of the doctrine of the Melkites.

15. The king Justinian died after a reign of thirty-nine years.  After him reigned over Rum, for thirteen years, Justin the Younger.  This happened in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Kisra, son of Qabād, king of the Persians.  Justin the Younger was also of the Orthodox faith, a champion of good, hater of the doctrine of the Jacobites and Nestorians and lover of the doctrine of the Melkites.  In the first year of his reign there was made patriarch of Alexandria Athanasius.  He was a Manichaean.  He held the office for five years and he died.  In the sixth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Alexandria John the Just.  He held the office for eleven years and died.  In the eighth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Benedict.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the twelfth year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Pelagius.  He held the office for six years and died.

16. As for Kisra, son of Qabād, king of the Persians, called Anūshirwān, he moved with his troops against the Hayātilah to avenge his grandfather Firuz.  As he was already related by marriage to the Khaqan, Kisra, son of Qabād, wrote him a letter to inform him of his coming, and to tell him that he would march over the Hayātilah territory before he arrived.  Then he swooped down on him and the king killed him.  Balkh and the lands of Khurasan who were around it went over to Anūshirwān, who encamped his hosts in Farghānah, and married the daughter of the Great Khaqan.  In Khurasan, Sayf b. Du Yazan the Himyarite, head of the Yemeni population, presented himself to him, and asked for help against the Abyssinians.  He sent with him one of his generals at the head of an army from Deylaman, and they occupied Yemen and settled there.  Wherever he sent his troops Anushirwān obtained huge success and victories which rendered the condition of his subjects  prosperous.  Feeling the approach of death, he invested his son Hurmuz with power and died.  Anushirwān reigned forty-seven years and six months.  After him reigned his son Hurmuz, son of Anushirwān, for eleven years and six months.  This happened in the twelfth year of the reign of Justin, king of Rum.

The Origenist disputes of the time of Justinian now make an appearance in the chronicle.  But was the bishop of “Manbig” (Arabic) / Mabbug (Syriac) / Hierapolis (Greek) really named Origen?  The Persian chronicle records plots against a weak king by the Zoroastrian priests.

10. In the time of king Justinian lived Origen, Bishop of Manbiğ, who argued for the doctrine of transmigration of souls and denied the resurrection [of the body].  With him were Iniya, Bishop of ar-Ruha, Thaddeus, bishop of al-Masīsah and Theodoret, bishop of the city of Ankara.  These bishops claimed that the body of Christ, our Lord, was a “fantasiya”, that is a shadow without any reality.  On learning of their doctrine, the king sent to them to say to present themselves in Constantinople, and Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople arranged a meeting with them.  The patriarch said to them: “If the body of Christ, our Lord, was, as you assert, a”fantasiya”, then his actions were a ‘fantasiya” too, his words were a “fantasiya” as well.  The same would be true of the body, the actions or words of any [other] man.”  Addressing the Bishop of Manbiğ he said: “Christ our Lord, is truly risen from the dead and has taught us that in the same way we will be resurrected from the dead on the day of judgment.  In fact, he told us in his holy gospel that will be a time when all those lying in tombs will live when they hear the voice of the Son of God.  How then can you say that there is no resurrection?”.  Therefore he interdicted them, and excommunicated them.  The king, in turn, ordered that a council should be held against them at which they could be publicly excommunicated.  Then the king wrote to the four patriarchs summoning them to the council, i.e. to Apollinaris, Patriarch of Alexandria, Domnus, patriarch of Antioch, to Eutychius, Patriarch of Jerusalem and Vigilius, patriarch of Rome, telling them to go to Constantinople, so that they were present at the excommunication of the bishops.  They presented themselves.  At that council Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, personally took part.  The Patriarch of Jerusalem was not personally present but sent some of his legates.  So too the Patriarch of Rome was not present, who did not send any legate but who agreed with them, and accepted the judgment.  The number of bishops who gathered in the Fifth Council was one hundred and sixty.  They excommunicated the bishops and all those who professed the doctrine, i.e. Origen, Bishop of Manbiğ, Thaddeus, bishop of al-Masīsah, Iniya, Bishop of ar-Ruha and Theodoret, bishop of Ankara.  They established that the Body of our Lord was a real body and not a shadow, and that He is perfect God and perfect man, with two natures, two wills and two operations, and only one person.  They also confirmed the doctrine of the four councils that were held before them, that life on earth is transient, that without doubt there will be the resurrection and that Christ, our Lord, will come with great glory to judge the living and the dead, as already the three hundred and eighteen had said.  Then the honoured ones returned, each to his own home.

11. From the fourth council of six hundred who gathered at Chalcedon and had excommunicated the Jacobites, to this fifth council of one hundred and sixty bishops who gathered in Constantinople, there passed one hundred and three years.  This happened in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Justinian, king of Rum.

12. As for Qabād, son of Firuz, king of the Persians, he incurred the disapproval of his people and they decided to kill him, but refrained from doing so for fear of his minister Suwākhar.  So they did their best to bring Suwākhar into disgrace in the eyes of the king, in order to kill him.  After the killing, a man named Marzīq and his followers confronted him and said, “God has distributed his blessings on earth equally among men, so that no one has more than another.  But men act unjustly to each other and each one puts his own interests ahead of those of his brother.  In view of this, we will take what belongs to the rich and give it to the poor, we will remove from those who have a lot and we will return to those who have little, and those with more assets, more women, more servants and furnishings than others, we will remove them, and distribute them equally between him and the others, so that no one has more goods than another of a certain thing.”  So they began to seize the houses, women and the goods of the people and their position was strengthened.  Then they kidnapped Qabād, son of Firuz, hid him in an inaccessible place and put in place his uncle, named Mārāsf.  On seeing this Bzarmihr rose up against them with a group of Persian noblemen, killed a large number of the men of Marzīq, put Qabād, son of Firuz, back in his place, restoring the kingdom, and drove away Mārāsf.  The Mazdeans who remained started to stir up Qabād  against Bzarmihr until he was killed.  His reign was convulsed and in every part rebels rose up against him.  Seeing the state to which he was reduced Qabād repented that he had killed Sūkhar and his son.

The reign of Justinian continues: but we get the first mention of Islam. 

4. After completing this, he returned to the king.  The king said to him: “Describe how you built the Bethlehem church.”  After hearing the description, the king did not find it to his liking and was not at all satisfied.  Great was his anger against him and he said:  “You took the money and you used it for yourself, you built a small building, you made the church dark, and you have not built it as I would have liked it to be, nor have you followed my advice.”  And so saying he commanded them to lop off his head.

5. King Justinian built in Constantinople the beautiful church of St. Sophia.  Mar Saba died at the age of ninety-four.  Having been informed of the favourable attitude of the King Justinian and his predilection for building churches and monasteries, the monks of Tur Sīnā came to him and complained of the fact that the Arab Ishmaelites harassed them, ate their food, destroyed their sites, broke into their cells, grabbing everything that was there, and entered into the church during the Eucharist.  King Justinian said to them: “What do you want [me to do]?”.  They answered: “We ask you, O king, to build us a monastery in which we can feel safe.”  Before that, in fact, there was no monastery on Mount Sinai where the monks could gather, but they were just scattered here and there in the valleys around the bush from which God – Powerful is his name – spoke to Moses.  Above the bush they had a large tower, which still exists today, in which was the church of Martmaryam.  In that tower the monks were accustomed to assemble, and immediately repaired there when any threat hung over them.  The king sent with them one of his men, to whom he gave much money, and he wrote to his prefect in Egypt to give the messenger all the money he asked, to provide men and to send him food from Egypt.  The messenger ordered the building of a church near the Red Sea, the erection of the monastery of Rayah, and the building of the monastery of Mount Sinai, fortifying it so that there was none more protected and more secure, and that there was nowhere above the monastery from which harm to the monastery itself, and the monks, could come.

6. Once he reached the Red Sea, the messenger erected near the Red Sea the church of Mar Athanasius, and built the monastery of Rayah, and he continued to the Mountain of Tur Sīnā where he found the bush in a gorge between two mountains, the tower built on it, in the vicinity of the bush, as well as sources of water that flowed near the bush, and the monks scattered in the valleys.  He thought of erecting the monastery at the top of the mountain, leaving out the site of the tower and the burning bush, but discarded the idea because of the water; because there was no water in the upper part of the mountain.  So he built the monastery above the bush, on the site of the tower, so that the tower itself was inside it.  Thus the monastery found itself between two mountains in a gorge.  If someone climbed to the top of the mountain, to the north, and he threw down a stone, it would fall in the middle of the monastery and could cause damage to the monks.  And yet he built the monastery in that narrow place only because of the bush, the famous ruins and the water.  Then he built a church on top of the mountain, at the place where Moses received the Torah.  The superior of the monastery was called Dula.  When he returned to king Justinian, the messenger spoke of the churches and monasteries that he had built and described how he had built the monastery of Mount Sinai.  The king said to him: “You were wrong, and you have compromised the safety of the monks in exposing them to the mercy of their enemies.  Why did you not build the monastery on top of the mountain?”.  The messenger replied, “I built the monastery above the bush and near the water simply in consideration of the fact that if I built the monastery on top of the mountain, the monks would have remained without water, and that if the people besieged them, and prevented access to water, they would die of thirst.  And also in consideration of the fact that the bush would be away from them.”  The king said to him: “Then you should have broken down the northern slope overlooking the monastery so that the monks could suffer no damage.”  The messenger replied, “Even if we had spent the riches of the land of Rum, Egypt and Syria, we could not achieve what you ask.” The king was enraged with him and ordered them to lop off his head.

7. Then he sent another messenger together with a hundred men chosen from among the slaves of Rum, with their wives and their children, ordering him to take from Egypt another hundred men with their wives and their children, chosen from among the slaves, and to build them houses, out by Tur Sīnā, so that they could establish themselves and guard the monastery and the monks, making sure that they had the necessary means of livelihood, bringing to them and to the monastery enough food from Egypt.  When he arrived at Tur Sīnā, the messenger built, outside the monastery to the east, many homes, the walls of a fortress and settled the slaves there.  They began to protect the monastery and to defend it.  The place is called today “the monastery of the slaves.”  They increased and multiplied over time and during the caliphate of ‘Abd al-Malik b.Marwan Islam was imposed on them, so they attacked each other and fought among themselves; some of them were killed, others fled, others were converted to Islam.  Their descendants still present today in those places, are the Muslims called Banu Salih, also called Ghulmān ad-Dayr  [= servants of the monastery], from which come the Lakhmids.  Following their conversion to Islam, the monks destroyed the houses.

8. In the second year of the reign of Justinian, there was made patriarch of Rome Boniface.  He held the office for two years and died.  In the fourth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Rome, John.  He held the office for two years and died.  In the sixth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Rome Aghābiyūs.  He held the office for a year and died.  In the seventh year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Rome Bīlīnariyus.  He held the office for five years and he died.  In the thirteenth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Rome Vigilius.  He held the office for eighteen years and died.  In his fifteenth year in office there was the Fifth Council.  In the tenth year of his reign, that is, of the reign of Justinian, there was made patriarch of Constantinople Epiphanius.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for six years and died.

9. King Justinian wrote a voluminous treatise containing many rulings and laws.  In the seventeenth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Constantinople Eutychius.  He held the office for twelve years and was deposed.  In his eleventh year in office there was the Fifth Council.  In the fourteenth year of the reign of Justinian, there was made patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius.  He held the office for two years and died.  In the seventeenth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Jerusalem Eutychius.  He held the office for twelve years and died.  In his eleventh year in office there was the Fifth Council.  In the fifteenth year of his reign, there was made patriarch of Antioch Domnus.  He held the office for fourteen years and died.  In his thirteenth year in office there was the Fifth Council.  In the time of king Justinian there appeared in the sky a big star that remained there for forty days.  Then there appeared in the sky a spear of fire which remained there for several days.

A revolt of the Samaritans is put down – Mar Saba requests a reduction in the land tax from Justinian, because Palestine was ruined – Justinian orders that the church of the Nativity in Jerusalem is rebuilt.

3. From the time when Proterius, patriarch of Alexandria, was killed and burned, to the time when Apollinaris killed the Jacobites and the doctrine of the Melkites triumphed, was thirty-five years (In another text it says “eighty-five years”).  [All this happened] because the doctrine of the Jacobites had conquered in Alexandria and throughout Egypt.  The successive patriarchs in Alexandria were in fact Jacobites, and also Jacobites were the kings in the land of Rum, including Leo the less, Zeno, Anastasius and others that we spoke of earlier.  In the twenty-first year of the reign of Justinian the inhabitants of Samaria in Palestine revolted, destroyed and burned all the churches, killed many Christians subjecting them to serious afflictions and put to death the bishop of Nablus.  Hearing of this, the king Justinian sent an great army and many Samaritans were killed.  Then Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, asked the holy Mar Saba to travel to Constantinople in order to ask the king to lighten the kharāğ<ref>The kharaj or kharatch was the Islamic land-tax, here used for whatever Byzantine tax was its equivalent. kharāğ is apparently the Egyptian form of the word. – RP</ref> on the population of Palestine in view of the damage that the Samaritans had done there.  Mar Saba then went to Constantinople, and great was the joy with which the king received him.  He delivered the letter of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and was asked what he wanted.  Mar Saba said: “I ask you to lighten the kharāğ on Palestine because the Samaritans have exterminated the inhabitants, and have sown destruction.  I would also ask that the king orders the rebuilding of the churches that the Samaritans gave to the fire, that a  hospice for strangers is erected in Jerusalem, and that Eleona, the church begun by Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem is completed”.  The king granted him this and all he had asked for, he sent with him one of [his] messengers to deal with that everything was done as requested, providing a lot of money.  He then wrote to his prefect in Palestine and ordered him to hand over to the messenger the proceeds of the kharāğ of Palestine, with which to build what the king had ordered.  The king ordered the messenger to demolish the church of Bethlehem, which was small, and to rebuild it more  impressive, big and beautiful, so that there was none more beautiful in Jerusalem.  When the messenger came to Jerusalem he erected a hospice for strangers.  He completed the construction of the church of Eleona, rebuilt the churches which the Samaritans had burned, he built many monasteries, demolished the church of Bethlehem and rebuilt it, just as we see it today.

With chapter 17 of the “Annals”, we move into the last chapter of antiquity – the century from Justinian to Heraclius – before the muslim invasions swept away the ancient world altogether.  As with most chroniclers of this time, Eutychius divides his work into two halves, so this is the last chapter of the first half.  It’s a long chapter, tho.  Let’s resume the story of the Eastern Roman Empire, as seen from a distance of five centuries by a man who spoke Arabic but thought of himself as a Greek.  We begin with the ascent of Justinian to the throne.

1. Justin, king of Rum, died.  After him there reigned over Rum, for thirty-nine years, Justinian.  This was in the forty-first year of the reign of Qabād, son of Firuz, king of the Persians.  King Justinian was a relative of king Justin.  In the first year of his reign, the king Justinian sent his messenger to Alexandria and summoned to him, at Constantinople, the patriarch Theodosius, whom he enjoined to renounce the doctrine of the Jacobites and to return to the truth.  But he refused to do so, so [the king] decreed his death.  Theodora, wife of the king, interceded for him, and the king let him go.  [Theodosius] returned to Egypt, where he hid in a place called Masil or al-Lamīdas, villages in western Egypt, continuing to profess the doctrine of the Jacobites and gaining a lot of people to his cause.  Having received news of this, the king sent one of his messengers, and condemned him to exile.  At Alexandria there was made patriarch a man named Paul.  He was a Melkite.  He held the office for two years when the Jacobites rose up against him and killed him, making patriarch in his place a man named Dalmiyūs.  He was a Melkite.  He held the office for five years in between harassment and affliction from the Jacobites.  They tried to kill him, but he fled.  He remained a fugitive for five years until he died.

2. News came to king Justinian that the Jacobites had risen up in Alexandria and in Egypt, and that they were killing every patriarch who was appointed for them.  The king was enraged, he chose one of his generals, made him patriarch of Alexandria, gave him a huge army and sent him there.  Apollinaris was his name.  When he arrived in Alexandria, the general made his entrance wearing the armour of a soldier, as a sign that he entered as the representative of the king.  When he reached the church, he removed the clothes he wore, put on his patriarchal robes, stepped up to the altar and celebrated mass.  The population of Alexandria rose up against him, throwing by hand from every side stones and rocks which almost killed him.  He departed from them that day, but three days later reappeared telling them that he had received a letter from the king, and that he needed to read it to the people.  So he had rung the bells, ordering the population to gather in church on Sunday, in order to listen to the letter of the king.  As that was a Sunday, all the inhabitants of Alexandria, without exception, appeared.  The patriarch Apollinaris had agreed with his men that when a signal was given, they would strike with the sword all who were in the church.  Then he got onto the ambo, or pulpit, and said: “O people of Alexandria, if you return to the truth and abjure the doctrine of the Jacobites, it will be best for you, because I fear that otherwise the King will send against you someone who considers it lawful to pour out your blood, dishonour your women and make your children orphans.”  While he addressed these words to them, they began to stone him, so that he feared for his life.  Then he made to his men the signal agreed, and they began to strike with the sword all who were in church.  Innumerable were those who were killed, in and around the church, and the soldiers sank to their knees in the blood of the people.  A great of the population was able to escape to Wadi Habib, to the monastery of Abu Maqar.  The doctrine of the Melkites was then triumphant.  They recovered the churches that the Jacobites had taken away from them, and they seized theirs, and peace was re-established in the city.  This was in the fifteenth year of the reign of King Justinian.  Since then, the see of the Jacobites has continued to be in the monastery of Abu Maqar.

This next portion of the Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (10th c.), also known as Sa`id ibn Batriq, starts with three theological paragraphs.  Since I don’t actually understand the points at issue here, even in English, it isn’t possible for me to translate them; and I doubt many of us are interested in them.  The three paragraphs appear to be interpolated by an editor.

18. Sa`īd ibn Batriq, the doctor said: “It seemed appropriate here to refute the Jacobites and show the falsity and absurdity of their doctrine. … [Also 19 and 20].

21. But let us return to the point in the history where we stopped.  When Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, died, there was made patriarch of Antioch Paul.  He held the office for five years and died (In another text it says “for two years”).  After him there was made patriarch of Antioch Ifrūsinūs.  He held the office for five years and he died.  That was in the twentieth year of the reign of Anastasius, king of Rum.  In the twenty-third year of his reign, that is, after Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, had been deposed, the people of Palestine and Jerusalem met serious afflictions: famine, pestilence, a great epidemic, [an invasion of] many grasshoppers and death, and it did not rain for five years.  In the fifth year of the drought the shortage of water in Jerusalem was so great that the spring of Siloam dried up, and the population began to dig everywhere without finding a bit of water.  There was a terrible earthquake in Antioch, many houses collapsed and many people perished.  Five years after Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, had been exiled to the city of Aylah, the superiors of the monasteries, including Saba, went to the Patriarch Elias in the city of Aylah.  The Patriarch Elias welcomed them with great joy, and they stayed with him for seven days.  Then he said, “The king Anastasius has just now died.  I will join him in ten days, and contend with him in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Ten days after, the Patriarch Elias died, at the age of eighty-eight, after being Patriarch for twenty-four years.  It is said that St Saba kept in mind the time [specified by Elias], and then having asked about the king Anastasius, the answer was that at that moment there fell on Constantinople lightning, followed by a terrible thunder from which the King Anastasius reported a discomfort in his brain: clutching his head in his hands, crying and asking for help and running from apartment to apartment, he received God’s punishment, and it killed him.  Before dying, the king Anastasius had written a letter, [found] in his possession, to remove St. Theodosius, the founder of the monastery of ad-Dawākis, from Jerusalem.  But the king Anastasius died before sending the letter to Jerusalem.

22. After him there reigned over Rum Justin, from the province of Thrace, for nine years. This happened in the thirty-second year of the reign of Qabād, son of Firuz, king of the Persians.  King Justin was of the Orthodox faith, a believer in the truth.  He ordered restored to their own places everyone that the king Anastasio had exiled and he sent an edict to Jerusalem in which he set forth his faith.  The monks were reunited with cries of joy, and made publicly available the edict of the king, which they celebrated with a magnificent feast and they confirmed the fourth council of six hundred bishops who had gathered at Chalcedon.  In the fifth year of the reign of Justin there was made patriarch of Rome, John.  He held the office for two years and died.  In the seventh year of his reign there was made patriarch of Rome Felix.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the second year of his reign there was made patriarch of Alexandria Theodosius.  He was a Jacobite and a Katib.  He held the office for three years and was deposed.  In his place there was made patriarch of Alexandria Ghābiyūs.  He was a Manichean and archdeacon.  He held the office for two years and was deposed.  Then Theodosius was reinstated in his office.  He held the office for five years, was deposed and died.  In the first year of his reign he was told that Antimus, the patriarch of Constantinople, was a Jacobite.  He removed him and in his place he made Menna Patriarch of Constantinople. He held the office for eighteen years and died.  In the fifth year of his reign Ephrem was made patriarch of Antioch. He held the office for eighteen years and died.  John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had taken the place of the deposed Elias, held the office for seven years and he died.

In the third year of the reign of Justin, Peter, a native of Bayt Gibrīh, was made patriarch of Jerusalem.  He held the office for ten years and died (In another text it says, “for twenty years and died”).  King Justin sent an edict to all countries, providing that everyone should profess the faith promulgated by the Chalcedonian council.

In response to fan mail (!), here is some more of the Annals of the Arabic Christian writer, Sa`id ibn Batriq / Eutychius of Alexandria.  This is not a translation from the Arabic, and nobody has seen fit to make one.  So I’m turning the Italian translation of Bartolomeo Pirone (itself a very rare item, and the only translation known to me) into English.  I’m doing so with the aid of Google Translate, with a view to making the work better known.  I make no guarantees of it’s accuracy!  Academics should go direct to Pirone, or indeed to the Arabic.  With luck, someone will make a proper translation.

We continue the narrative of events in the late 5th century AD.  Remember that Eutychius is a Melkite, accepting the Council of Chalcedon – as all westerners do – and so his perspective is that of someone hostile to monophysite teachings. 

Much of this disputing was really the politics of the time in theological dress, because of the ban on politics.  After nearly 50 years of incessant ecclesiastical strife, the emperor Anastasius was sympathetic to the possibility that the decisions at Chalcedon had been a mistake.  The monophysites saw their chance.

14. There lived in Constantinople a man named Severus. He professed the doctrine of Dioscorus and Eutyches and he was saying that there is only one nature, one person and one will [in Christ].  [He] presented himself to King Anastasius and said: “The six hundred bishops, who in the past gathered in the city of Chalcedon and excommunicated Dioscorus and Eutyches, were wrong in what they did.  The sound religion is solely that affirmed by Eutyches and Dioscorus.  Don’t follow what the monks that came to you from Jerusalem said, because their doctrine is false.  Instead send letters to all the provinces, giving your instruction to excommunicate the six hundred bishops gathered in the city of Chalcedon, and ensure that people profess only one nature, one will and one person.”  King Anastasius agreed to do what he asked.

15. When Flavian, patriarch of Antioch, received the news of what the king Anastasius had set out to do, he wrote him a letter saying: “Do not act as Severus has said, because the six hundred bishops, gathered in the city of Chalcedon were in the truth, and he who is opposed to their doctrine is an excommunicate.”  King Anastasius was angry, and he sent to depose Flavian, Patriarch of Antioch, and in his place he made Severus Patriarch of Antioch.

16. When Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, learned that Flavian had been deposed and Severus had been elected in his place, he summoned the monks before the Tomb and Golgotha ​​and excommunicated the king Anastasius, the patriarch Severus and anyone who professed their doctrine.  On receiving the news of what Elijah, Patriarch of Jerusalem, had done, the king Anastasius sent to depose him and exiled him to Aylah [Aqaba].  This happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Anastasius.  He then made a man named John Patriarch of Jerusalem, because that John had assured him that he would excommunicate the six hundred bishops who had been at Chalcedon.  When [John] arrived in Jerusalem, he went to the monks at Saba and said: “I do not accept the doctrine of Severus but rather defend the council of Chalcedon and I will remain on your side.”  He assured them that he would do this, contrary to what the king had ordered him to do.  Learning of this, the king sent his general to John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to hold him to the promise made to him and to disavow the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon: and if he did not, to remove him from office.  The commander came, arrested John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and put him in prison.  The monks went to visit him in prison, and they advised him to assure the general that he would do what he had first assured the king, and then, once outside, to excommunicate all those whom the monks excommunicated.  He followed their advice.  The monks gathered – there were about ten thousand of them, and with them Theodosius, Cantonus and Saba, the founders of the monasteries – and excommunicated Dioscorus, Eutyches, Severus and Nestorius; they also excommunicated anyone else who had not accepted the doctrine of the Council of Chalcedon.  The envoy of the king was afraid of the monks.  This was the son of the uncle of the king.  Seeing himself cornered, he assured the monks that the king would abandon that doctrine and return to that he had professed and to all truth.

17. When the son of the uncle of the king arrived in Constantinople, he made the king aware of what had happened.  The king considered removing John, Patriarch of Jerusalem.  The monks and bishops gathered and wrote to the king Anastasius saying that they would never accept the doctrine of Severus, or any of the heretics, even at the cost of shedding their own blood.  They asked him also to desist from harming them.  When Symmachus, patriarch of Rome, heard what Anastasius had done, he wrote him a letter in which he reproved the action and excommunicated him.  Symmachus, patriarch of Rome, died after having held the office for fourteen years.  After him Hormisdas was made patriarch of Rome.  He excommunicated Severus, Patriarch of Antioch and all who professed the doctrine.  This happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Anastasius, king of Rūm.  Hormisdas was patriarch of Rome for seven years and died.  The excommunicate Severus was Patriarch of Antioch for six years and died.  Severus had a disciple named James, who used to wear a garment made of pieces of saddles, the kind used for the beasts of burden, which he stitched together, and he was therefore called Jacob Baradaeus.  According to the theory he supported, Christ has only one nature rather than two natures, [only] one substance rather than two substances and one will, in conformity with the doctrine of the excommunicated Severus, Dioscorus and Eutyches.  By going to Mesopotamia, to Giza, Tikrit, Harran and into Armenia, he sowed corruption in the faith of those people causing them to profess his doctrine.  Those who followed the religion of James, and professed the doctrine were called Jacobites, from the name of James.

9. Firuz died after reigning for twenty-seven years.  Then the two sons of Firuz, i.e. Qabād and Balābis, contested for the kingdom.  Balābis got the better of Qabād and drove him off, far away from him.  Qabād repaired to Khurasan to ask Khāqān, king of the Turks, to help him against his brother.

10. Balābis reigned well, and he built a city, and called it Balāsūr.  He reigned four years and died.  This happened in the tenth year of the reign of Zeno, king of the Rum.  When Qabād went to Khurasan he had with him Zarmihr, son of Sukhrān.  Together they stayed at a remarkably large house, but did not reveal who they were.  Then Qabād told Zarmihr: “Find me a woman of noble lineage.  I have a keen desire for women and I would not lie with a nobody, maybe low-class, because if she were to give birth, this would be a disgrace for us.”  The owner of the house where he was staying had a daughter still unmarried.  Zarmihr then approached the mother and spoke to her, spoke to her father and then also having presented them in good stead as he was asking, the two gave their assent.  The woman slept with Qabād and became pregnant.  When the time came to go away, [Qabād] commanded that she should be given a gift.  Her mother had asked her questions about the [financial] condition of Qabād and she had told of having seen leggings brocaded with gold.  The mother understood that he belonged to the royal house and was glad.  Qabād came to Khāqān and said: “I am the son of the king of Persia.  After the death of my father, my brother resisted me and seized the kingdom.”  [Khāqān] promised to help him to regain the kingdom.  For four years [Qabād] stayed with him, waiting for him to decide to give him the promised aid. Then [Khāqān] gave him a strong army and Qabād departed and came to Abarsahr.  [Here] he took up residence in the same house in which he had stayed and asked about the woman: She met him, holding the hand of a child of three years old.  Qabād said: “Who is this child?”  She replied: “He is your son.” Zarmihr told him that she was the daughter of the landlord.  [Qabād] was happy with this, and he took her along with the child whom he called Bābūdakht.  Arriving at Ctesiphon, Qabād found that his brother was dead and he took possession of the kingdom.

11. Qabād, son of Firuz, reigned forty-three years.  This happened in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Zeno, king of the Rum.  Qabād entrusted the administration of the kingdom to Sūkhrān and his son, Zarmihr.  He founded, between al-Ahwaz and Faris, a town called Qabād-Khurrah, namely ar-Ragan, in which he placed the deportees of Hamadan.  He founded a city on the border of the territory of al-Mahat called Harawān, and another near Azdashīr-Khurrah, called Qabād-Khurrah, and then he founded many [others], built villages, dug rivers, opened canals and built arched bridges.

12. Zeno, king of Rum, died after a reign of seventeen years.  This happened in the fifth year of the reign of Qabād, son of Firuz, king of the Persians.  After him Anastasius reigned over Rum for twenty-seven years.  He was a Jacobite, an opponent of the doctrine of the Melkites.  He was from the city of Hamah.  He ordered the [re]building of the city of Hamah and furnished it with walls.  The construction of the walls took two years.  He had reigned for ten years when the people of the East were affected by a severe drought and an invasion of locusts.  Qabād, king of the Persians, invaded Amida and destroyed it, and he sent a large army against Alexandria, and the surroundings of Alexandria were set on fire.  Between the men of Qabād, king of the Persians, and the men of Anastasius, king of Rum, there were fierce wars and many deaths.  Alexandria was ruled, in the name of King Anastasius, by a governor named Istat.  As a consequence of all this, there fell upon Alexandria and Egypt a severe famine, to the point that people were dying of hunger, and Alexandria and Egypt were reduced to ruins by the pestilence, and the plague mowed down the population.

13. There lived in Alexandria, a wealthy Jew named Urib, who had become a Christian.  He buried the abandoned corpses, and on Easter Sunday lavished abundant alms in the church of Arqādah.  Three hundred men died in the rush and the crowds.

In the sixth year of the reign of Anastasius, king of Rum, John the monk was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for nine years and died.  In the fifteenth year of his reign another John was made patriarch of Alexandria. He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for eleven years and died.  In the twenty-sixth year of his reign Dioscorus was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for only one year and died.  In the twenty-seventh year of his reign Timothy was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for two years and was deposed.  In the fourth year of his reign Timothy was made patriarch of Constantinople.^[1] He held the office for four years and died.  In the ninth year of his reign Timothy was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for six years and died.  In the fifteenth year of his reign John of Cappadocia was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for nine years and died.  In the twenty-fourth year of his reign Anthimus was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for five years and was deposed.  In the fourth year of his reign Pelagius was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for four years and died.  In the eighth year of his reign Anastasius was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for a year and died.  In the ninth year of his reign Symmachus was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for fourteen years and died.  In the fourth year of his reign Flavian was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the seat for fourteen years and was deposed.

King Anastasius had abjured the doctrine of the Melkites and had become a Jacobite.  Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, then wrote a letter to him on the validity of the doctrine of the Melkites and to tell him that anyone contradicting them was to be considered excommunicated.  He sent it to the superiors of the monasteries, including Theodosius, the founder of the monastery of ad-Dawākis, Chariton, founder of the Old Laura, Saba, founder of the New Laura, which excelled over all the Lauras, the superior of the Old Laura, i.e. of the Laura of Chariton, and a group of superiors of monks and of priests, along with a letter in which he said: “I have sent you a group of the servants of God, and of the superiors of the monks of our desert including the distinguished Saba.  He has transformed the desert into cities filling them with people and is the star of Palestine.”  When the monks came to Constantinople, they asked to be received by King Anastasius.  The king gave them a hearing and they went into to him.  Saba was wearing a worn robe, and after a delay the chamberlains would not let him in.  After reading the letter from Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, the king Anastasius told the monks: “Which of you is Saba, who gets so much praise in the letter?”  They looked at each other and they knew that he was not among them.  They sent to look for him, and he came in to the king, who told him to approach and made him sit next to him, asking him news about Jerusalem and its inhabitants.  Saba replied that both the city as its inhabitants fared well.  Then he expounded the doctrine of the Melkites, showed him the merits and asserted that he had considered excommunicated anyone who objected.  Finally he said: “We ask you not to disturb the church, because as long as the church will have peace, there will be peace among ourselves.  Not pander therefore to the doctrine of heretics.”  The king gave him willingly what he asked, gave gifts to the monks and ordered them to return to Jerusalem.  He wrote to Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in response to his letter, and ordered Saba to remain with him.  So the monks returned to Jerusalem, while Saba was retained [with the king].  The following year, Saba asked the king whether he could leave.  He granted this and handed him two thousand dinars, saying: “Use this money to build monasteries.” Saba then went to Jerusalem.

1. ^[1]Pirone: ‘In another text it says “Macedonius”‘.↩

Eutychius (=Sa`id ibn Bitriq) is still writing the history of the 5th century AD, mainly from Greek/Byzantine chroniclers.  But he also has access to an Arabic translation of a lost Persian chronicle of the Sassanid kings, and material from this is inserted at intervals.  We now return to the Sassanid history.  

The major threat to the Sassanid realm during the 5th century was not the Romans, but rather the Ephthalites, or White Huns, here called the Hayātilah. These were a nomadic East Iranian nation (or so their names suggest) based in the area of modern Afghanistan.  Eutychius, writing five centuries later, describes the two campaigns of King Peroz I (=Firuz) against them, which ended in his complete defeat and death in 483 AD at the battle of Herat.  This left Persia tributary to the White Huns for a generation. 

The common cultural links between the adversaries are apparent in the shared values on each side. 

7. As for Firuz, son of Yazdağard, king of the Persians, he built two cities near Kashkar, namely Duris-Firuz and Rām-Firuz.  Then he went with the army towards Khurasan in order to occupy the territory of Khshunwār.  When Akhshunwār, king of the Hayātilah, in Balkh, heard this, he was afraid, and he called his experts and asked their advice about what to do.  One of them spoke thus: “If you promise me with my peace and quiet that you will give me what will sustain my family and my descendants and that you will ensure them these necessaries, I will show you a way in which God will grant you victory over Firuz”.  Having received a full guarantee from the king, he said: “Tie up my hands and feet”,^[1] then abandon me on the road that Firuz will take, and I will save you from his hands.”  The king ordered that it should be done as requested, and they took him and threw him where he had told them, and they left. Curious about him, Firuz asked him the reason for his state, and [the man] replied: “I was one of the magnates of Hayātilah.  As soon as news came that you were marching against us, Khshunwār consulted, among others, myself also, and I told him openly that he could do nothing against Firuz because of the great power of this man, and that it would be better for him if he sent word to be ready to pay tribute and the ransom. Great was his anger against me, and he ordered them to reduce me to the state in which you see me, saying: ‘Let it be with him as with so many.’  He gave instructions to some of his soldiers, telling them: ‘Go and carry him to Firuz’.  O please, I beg you, have mercy and compassion on me, take me with you, so that I do not fall prey to the wild beasts in this deserted land.  I will show you the shortest way, and how to defeat Akhshunwār without suffering damage, and I have my revenge on him through God.  The road I will show you is only two days’ journey, but in the end you will get what you seek.”

On hearing this, the ministers of Firuz smelled the trap that Akhshunwār intended for them, and they said to Firuz: “This man has been asked for advice and he has certainly given according to his vast knowledge and intelligence.  All this dramatic stuff is a trap, pure and simple.  If fact Akhshunwār had reduced him to such, driven by anger, he would not bother to let us meet him in this deserted land.  Put no faith in what he says.  Perhaps Akhshunwār and his men have already visited the place that this man has shown us, and have deployed plenty of soldiers there.”

But Firuz was not of the same opinion, and he continued to walk in the company of this man for the two days but without arriving at the place indicated.  Firuz asked him for an explanation, and [the man] replied: “I calculated the path wrongly, but today will end it.”  When they had also walked all that day, asking all the time how much further they had to go, the man kept saying they were going to get there, and that he was not misleading them.  When they realized that they were out of all the food and water they had, and that they were in a place where they could not go back, he told them the truth.  Then the advisers of Firuz said: “We told the truth, O king, but you would not accept our advice.  Now we must just continue, in the hope of finding water.”  So they carried on, dividing themselves to right and left, in search of water.  Most of them died of thirst.

Firuz and a small number of brave warriors survived, who went with him until they reached their enemies, who met them that night, in the condition that they were in, and parlayed.  Then Firuz asked Akhshunwār to grant him and the men that were left to return to their countries, and to enter into a covenant with him, in which they promised not to make war again for the rest of his life, establishing between him and his kingdom a border that neither would ever pass.  Akhshunwār agreed.  Firuz placed this in writing, making himself guarantor, and swore that it never would be broken, and returned to his own kingdom.

Time passed.  Then Firuz remembered what had passed between him and Akhshunwār, and he felt annoyed and was afraid that there might be less loyalty [towards himself].  This motivated him to attack him again.  But his servants said to him: “You have entered into a covenant with him and we are afraid of the consequences of  the betrayal and injustice that you mean to perpetrate.”  But Firuz said to them: “I simply agreed with him that I would not pass the [border] stone. Well, I will take this stone with me on the cart in front of me, and never go beyond it.”  But they answered: “The deal is not based on your interpretation, but on what was clearly understood.”  Firuz paid no attention to their words and left to invade [the territory] of Akhshunwār.  Hearing of this, Akhshunwār was extremely surprised, and had no doubt about the treachery.  So he wrote to Firuz, reminding him what was assumed under the agreement entered into by him, and asking him to leave him alone.  But Firuz ignored his words and continued on his way, until he came near to the territory of the Hayātilah.  Akhshunwār had dug a ditch between his country and that of Firuz.  Firuz ordered bridges to be built, so he could pass over, and flags to be hoisted on them that serve as signals in case of retreat.  When the soldiers were deployed for combat, Akhshunwār sent word to Firuz to go outside with him, in the middle of the two sides, because he wanted to talk to him.  Akhshunwār met him and told him: ‘For my part, I believe that nothing has pushed to the point where you are but shame at your defeat.  But, on my life, if you had been cheated as you think, we would certainly have demanded more than that.  Yet the violation of the pact should be more shameful for you than that.  Think of this, and distinguish between these two things, pondering which one is good for you because of shame: to say “He ordered them to achieve something but it was not realized and his enemy had the better of him and those who were with him, but he was generous with them and sent them away free, on conditions”, or that they say “He broke the pact and the agreement, returned a favor with an insult”? Your men will know that you have involved them in a unjust business, even although you’re not sure to win, and are trying to do something which others may do to you.  If you win, you will not have a good reputation, nor will what is done will be worthy of praise.  And if you lose, you will cover yourself and your soldiers with infamy. Be careful, then! I warned you!  Telling you the words that you hear is not because of some weakness or fear for myself or my soldiers, but I want to say all these words to persuade, and not to save myself in some way.”

8. Firuz replied: “I am not one of those who, intimidated by menaces, allow themselves to be diverted from exactly the business that the intimidation is intended to counteract.  If I had thought that I was intending to do something as a piece of disloyalty on my part, no one else would feel more shame than me.  But I only signed the pact with you because of what I concealed within me.  Do not be deceived by the inferiority and weakness in which we met the first time. Know that I will not leave you alone until I have got back what you got from me.”

Akhshunwār replied: “Don’t bother with the error with which you try to deceive yourself, carrying the boundary-stone in front of you.  The terms and clauses of an agreement are according to words openly spoken, and not according to what they may be made to mean.  And the worst condition is the violation of the terms and provisions of an agreement.”

But Firuz ignored his words and so passed that day. Firuz said to his men: “Akhshunwār gave proof of a brilliant conversation, and I have never seen a mount like the horse he rode.  In fact, it never moved its feet, nor raised its hooves from their position, or done anything to speak of for the entire time we faced each other.”

And Akhshunwār told his men: “Finding myself at the front, I saw, and you’ve seen too, a Firuz all covered with arms.  He never moved on his horse, never removed his foot from the stirrup, nor did he ever bend, or turn right or left, as I often supported myself on the one or the other hip, I bent over my horse, I have looked back and forward with my eyes, as he stood erect and motionless. “

Both Firuz and Akhshunwār resorted to these descriptions because they spread their words among the soldiers, and thus diverted them from inquiring about what they discussed.

When they awoke, Akhshunwār pulled out the sheet on which Firuz had put [the agreement] in writing, and had it raised on a spear, so that the soldiers could see it.  Akhshunwār proclaimed victory over Firuz.

Firuz was defeated, and while fleeing started down a different path from the one with banners on the bridges to show him the way back; he took refuge in the ditch, in to which his men fell one after another.  Akhshunwār took everything that was with Firuz and his sons, and distributed the property among his soldiers. Then Akhshunwār said the advisors of Firuz: “Why didn’t you advise him and avoid this?”  They answered, “We did, but he would not listen.”

In Sigistān a member of the family of Azdashīr called Sūkhrān was in command. He was a Persian nobleman and had with him a number of generals as his subordinates.  When he heard the news of what had happened to Firuz, he moved at once with his men to the territory of the Hayātilah, where he soon gathered up the soldiers of Firuz. His power became great and strong.  When he was in sight of the army of Akhshunwār, he sent him a message:  “I did not come to fight you, but only so that you can return the property of Firuz, which you have, and release the prisoners that you have with you.  Let this be the basis for peace among ourselves and for our part we will abstain from any belligerent actions towards you.  If you agree, we will do the same, and we will withdraw; if you refuse then I fear that you will regret it.” Akhshunwār agreed to what Sūkhrān asked, freed their captives, returned their possessions, and departed, so that all ended with his and their satisfaction.  Then Sūkhrān retired to Ctesiphon.  The people of Persia remembered what he had done for them and they were grateful.

1. ^[1]Pirone: ‘In another text he says, “Amputate my [hands and feet]”, which is undoubtedly more accurate.↩