Tag: Eutychius

We continue our translation of the Annals of Eutychius, melkite patriarch of Alexandria.  The text has reached the second half of the 5th century AD.  Marcian became emperor in 450 AD.  At this point Eutychius (or Sa`id ibn Bitriq as he was known) again relates material from a lost Sassanid Persian chronicle.  As before, “Rum” is the Arabic name for the Eastern Romans. 

1. In the sixth year of the reign of Marcian, king of Rum, Yazdagard, son of Bahram, king of the Persians, died.  On the death of Yazdagard, his two sons Firuz and Hurmuz contested the kingdom.  Some took the side of Firuz and others the side of Hurmuz.  After fierce fighting between the supporters of the two parties, Hurmuz was killed along with three members of his family.  Firuz, son of Yazdagard reigned over the Persians for twenty-seven years.  This was in the sixth year of the reign of Marcian, king of Rum.  King Marcian had the true faith, and he defended and promoted the faith of the Melkites.

2. King Marcian died. After him Leo the Great reigned over Rum, for sixteen years.  This happened in the second year of the reign of Firuz, son of Yazdagard, king of the Persians.  Leo was of the true faith, a Melkite.  When the inhabitants of Alexandria came to know of the death of Marcian, they rose up against Proterius, patriarch of Alexandria, and killed him in the church of Kūriyon; they brought his body on a camel to the great hippodrome that Ptolemy Lagus had built and they burned it.  Then there appeared in the sky a cloud of fire and there was thunder, lightning and violent storms for forty days.  Proterius was killed after having held the office for six years.  After him Timothy, brother of Anatolius, better known as Yānūriyūs, was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for three years.  Then a general named Balāwus came to Alexandria from Constantinople, who deposed Timothy, exiling him to a place called Marsūfin, a village on the coast of the Pontic Sea, and made another Timothy, better known as Swrs, Patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the seat for fifteen years and died.

3. In the sixteenth year of the reign of Leo the Great, Martin was made patriarch of Jerusalem.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for eight years and died.  In the tenth year of his reign Acacius was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for thirteen years and died.  In the twelfth year of his reign John was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the seat for six years and died.  In the thirteenth year of his reign Julian was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for five years and died.  In the eighth year of his reign Hilary was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the seat for six years and died.  In the sixteenth year of his reign Sīlfnūs was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the seat for fourteen years and died. This patriarch excommunicated Timothy, brother of Anatolius, Patriarch of Alexandria.

Leo the Great, King of Rum, died.  After him Leo the Less reigned over Rum, for one year only.  He was a Jacobite.  This happened in the eighteenth year of the reign of Firuz, son of Yazdağard, king of the Persians.

4. Leo the Less, king of the Rum, died.  After him his son Zeno reigned over Rum for seventeen years.  He was a Jacobite.  This was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Firūz, king of the Persians.  While the king Zeno was out strolling in a place called Surah, a man named Basiliscus, along with his son Marcus, took over the kingdom for twenty months.  The fighting between them did not stop until Zeno got the better of them, returned to Constantinople, killed Basiliscus and his son, confiscated their homes and possessions, and put to death all their supporters.  At that time there was a great earthquake in the city of Constantinople; the sun was darkened, and the stars appeared in the sky in broad daylight. Many houses collapsed and many people died because of the violence of the earthquake.  This happened in the ninth year of the reign of Zeno, king of Rum.

In the second year of his reign Timothy, patriarch of Alexandria, better known as Swrs, fled to Wadi-Habib, and Timothy, brother of Anatolius, returned from Marsūfin to the patriarchal see of Alexandria, held the office for two years and died.  After him the archdeacon Peter was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for thirty-six days and fled to Constantinople.  Then Timothy, better known as Swrs, returned from Wadi-Habib^[1], was patriarch for four years and died.

In the ninth year of the reign of Zeno, Ibn Ghustus was governor of Alexandria, on behalf of Zeno.  Then John became Patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for six months.  Then another governor came to Alexandria on behalf of Zeno, called Aughustāliyūs, together with Peter, the patriarch who had fled to Constantinople.  The general Ibn Ghustus fled before Awghustāliyus and the patriarch John fled with him also.  So the patriarch Peter, who had fled, reoccupied his own place.  He held the office for eight years and died.  In the sixteenth year of the reign of Zeno Abinās was made patriarch of Alexandria.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the seat for seven years and died.  He built many churches in Alexandria and several burial sites.

5. At that time, the great hippodrome that Ptolemy Lagus had built in Alexandria, and where the patriarch Proterius had been burned, caught fire.  In the seventh year of the reign of Zeno Militūs was made patriarch of Jerusalem.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the office for eight years and died.  In the sixteenth year of his reign Elias was made patriarch of Jerusalem.  He held the seat for twenty-four years.^[2] He built churches and erected the church of Eleona, but did not finish it so it was [later] turned over to Aylah.^[3] At that time there were in Jerusalem Anba Theodosius, the founder of the monastery of ad-Dawākis, Anba Chariton, founder of the monastery of the Old Laura and Anba Saba, founder of the New Laura.

6. In the sixth year of the reign of Zeno Iwfūtiyūs was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for five years and died.  In the eleventh year of his reign^[4] Iwfathimiyūs was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for ten years and died.  In the first year of the reign of Zeno Peter, nicknamed the Fuller, was made patriarch of Antioch.  He was a Jacobite.  He held the seat for six years and was removed.^[5]  He was excommunicated and removed by Bāsīlīqūs, patriarch of Rome.  Once removed, Stephen was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for only one year and died.  After him another Stephen was made patriarch of Antioch. He held the office for six months and died. After him Qalidiyūn was made patriarch of Antioch. He was a Nestorian.  He held the office for four years and died.  Then Peter the Fuller returned to occupy the Patriarchal See of Antioch.  He held the office for eight years and died.^[6].  After him Palladius was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for ten years and died.  This happened in the eleventh year of the reign of Zeno, king of Rum.  In the thirteenth year of his reign Filnīqūs was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for eight years and died.

1. ^[1]Note by B. Pirone in the body of the text: ‘In another text it says “Dayr Habib”, which is undoubtedly more accurate’.↩
2. ^[2]Pirone: ‘in another text it says “for fourteen years”‘.↩
3. ^[3]Aqaba, location of a see in Byzantine times.↩
4. ^[4]Pirone: ‘In another text he says “in the twenty-first year of his reign”‘.↩
5. ^[5]Pirone: ‘in another text it says “for two years”‘.↩
6. ^[6]Pirone: ‘In another text he says, “for three years”‘↩

7. Theodosius the Less, king of Rum, died and after him Marian reigned over Rum, for six years.  This happened in the fourteenth year of the reign of Yazdagard, son of Bahram, king of the Persians.  When Marcian became king, the bishops of each country came to him, wished him a prosperous reign and spoke of the injustice that Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, had done at the second council held in Ephesus, the excommunication that had launched against the patriarchs who had died from the abuse they suffered because of him, of his adherence to the doctrine of the wicked Eutyches, his statement made of this, how he had introduced corruption into religion and the creed and how the doctrine of Eutyches had gained the upper hand among the people.  King Marcian ordered [his scribes] to write to Leo, patriarch of Rome, to Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch and to Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who were noted by him along with their metropolitans and bishops.  He ordered [them] also to write to the bishops of the land of Rum, to gather in the city of Chalcedon to consider and examine the doctrine of Eutyches, what Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, had done, in adhering to the doctrine of Eutyches and excommunicating the patriarchs who were dead, and to define the Creed in light of what had been laid down by the three holy councils. Six hundred bishops gathered in the city of Chalcedon. Anatolius, patriarch of Constantinople, Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the meeting.  Leo, patriarch of Rome, wrote a letter to the king Marcian in which he set forth the true faith, that is the creed of the Melkites, and sent it to him by means of a priest chosen from among his disciples, named Boniface.  King Marcian sent the letter with the priest Boniface to the city of Chalcedon, to the bishops gathered there, and the priest Boniface was counted with the six hundred and thirty.  There were at the council the disciples of St Euthymius, i.e. Stephen, bishop of Barabiyā, and John, Bishop of the Barbarians.

Having gathered, they examined the falsity of the doctrine of Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and took note of his adherence to the doctrine of Eutyches.  Dioscorus was then excommunicated, and Eutyches was excommunicated, and they confirmed that Jesus Christ our Lord, is man and God, sharing in the same substance as the Father in his divinity and of the same substance with our humanity, with two natures, perfect in his divinity and perfect in his humanity, one Christ.  Also they confirmed what the three hundred and eighteen bishops who had gathered in the city of Nicaea had already said, and embraced their doctrine, that is to say that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, light from light, true God from true God.  They excommunicated Arius and confirmed what the second council of the hundred and fifty bishops who had gathered in Constantinople against Macedonius had said, saying that the Holy Spirit is God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, one nature, three persons and three substances, and they excommunicated Macedonius.  They confirmed what the Third Council of Two hundred bishops who had gathered in the city of Ephesus for the first time against Nestorius had defined, saying that the Virgin Mary gave birth to God, i.e. our Lord Jesus Christ, who is of the same divine nature as the Father and of the same human nature as men, and testified that Christ is two natures, one person and one substance.  So they excommunicated Nestorius, and they excommunicated Dioscorus and anyone who professed his doctrine and deposed them. They excommunicated the second council which was held at Ephesus.  At this council the archdeacon of Alexandria, named Prūtāwus, was present, and they made him patriarch in place of the wicked and excommunicated Dioscorus.  From the third Council of Ephesus of two hundred bishops, who gathered at Ephesus for the first time and who had excommunicated Nestorius, to this Fourth Council, in which there were six hundred and thirty bishops who excommunicated Dioscorus and Eutyches and which was held in the city of Chalcedon, there were twenty-one years.

The inhabitants of Egypt and Alexandria had embraced the doctrine of Dioscorus and Eutyches and believed that Dioscorus had been excommunicated unfairly.  But through fear of king Marcian they did not dare to openly profess their doctrine.  As for Dioscorus, after being dismissed he went to Palestine and Jerusalem, and he corrupted the faith of those who were in Palestine and Jerusalem to the point that he professed his doctrine and there appointed his own bishops.  When Eudoxia, wife of King Theodosius, heard talk of the doctrine of Dioscorus, she embraced it and sent him many gifts.  At Jerusalem St Euthymius battled, and defended the doctrine of the Melkites.  So St Euthymius sent a message to Eudoxia: “Do not embrace the doctrine of Dioscorus because he has been deposed and excommunicated, he and all those who hold this doctrine. Return then, to the truth into which you were at first.” Eudoxia welcomed the words of St Euthymius, abandoned the doctrine of Dioscorus, returned to the truth and sent him many gifts.  Eudoxia then had many churches and monasteries built in Jerusalem.

8. In the third year of the reign of Marcian Anastasius was made patriarch of Jerusalem.  He was a Jacobite. He held the office for nineteen years and died.  In the [same] year Basil was made patriarch of Antioch. He held the office for two years and died.  In the fifth year of his reign Martyrius was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for eight years and died.  In the sixth year of his reign Gennadius was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for ten years and died. At the time of King Marcian lived Simeon the recluse, called Stylites. He was the first monk to live in a sawma’a, [32] in the rural district of Antioch, on the mountain known as “al-Gabal al-mu’gib” [= Mount Admirable].  At that time St. Theodosius, the founder of the monastery of ad-Dawākis, left his country and went to Simeon the recluse at Antioch. He stayed for a few days with him, then he went to Jerusalem and embraced the monastic life.

32.  A term indicating a column with a habitation on the top.

5. This was the second council which was held in the city of Ephesus.  Presiding at this council were Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, Domnus, Patriarch of Antioch, Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem and the legates of Leo, patriarch of Rome.  They examined the case of Eutyches along with that of Eusebius, bishop of Dorilea, and Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople.  Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, confirmed the doctrine of Eutyches and excommunicated Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Eusebius, bishop of Dorilea.  But Domnus, Patriarch of Antioch, Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Modestus, bishop of Ancyra, and Asa, Bishop of Edessa, along with many other bishops and the legates of Leo, patriarch of Rome, disapproved of the behavior of Dioscorus and rejected his doctrine as absurd. Dioscorus then excommunicated them and wrote to Leo, patriarch of Rome, and to all the priests, imposing excommunication and interdiction from the celebration of the Eucharist, if they refused to embrace the doctrine of Eutyches.  Convinced of this doctrine, Dioscorus left the city of Ephesus.  This happened in the fortieth year of the reign of Theodosius the Less.  The true faith was thus corrupted and the doctrine of Eutyches became the creed and [official] doctrine, especially in Egypt and Alexandria.  Even King Theodosius embraced the doctrine of Eutyches.

6. In the fortieth year of his reign, Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had excommunicated Dioscorus, died.  After him Athanasius was made patriarch of Constantinople. He held the office for nine years and died.  In his fourth year in office there was the fourth council, in the city of Chalcedon.  In the forty-first year of the reign of Theodosius Domnus, Patriarch of Antioch, who had excommunicated Dioscorus, died.  After him Maximus was made patriarch of Antioch. He held the office for four years and died.  In his third year in office there was the fourth council, in the city of Chalcedon. King Theodosius had a wife named Eudoxia.  The king was given an apple out of season and the king gave the apple to his wife Eudoxia.  One day when he was at the house of one of his nobles, he found the apple that had given to his wife.  The king reluctantly endured it, he was sad, and he thought that his wife Eudoxia was the mistress of the patrician.  So he exiled her to Jerusalem.

3. Bahram Gur reigned over the Persians, after his father Yazdagard, son of Bahram, for eighteen years.  This happened in the thirtieth year of the reign of Theodosius the Less, king of the Rum.  In the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Theodosius, king of Rum, Sixtus was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for eight years and died. In the thirty-fifth year of his reign Leo was made patriarch of Rome.  He held the office for twenty-one years and died.  In his ninth year of office there was the fourth council, in the city of Chalcedon.  In the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Theodosius Domnus was made patriarch of Antioch.  He held the office for twenty-one years and died.  In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Flavian was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for two years and died.  In the one [same] year the Jacobite Dioscorus was made Patriarch of Alexandria.  He held the office for six years, was excommunicated and banished.

4. There was in Constantinople a monastic physicians named Eutyches, who was saying that the body of Christ is different from our [bodies] in terms of its nature, and that Christ had two natures before the incarnation and after the incarnation one nature.  This is the doctrine of the Jacobites.  This monk Eutyches was the first to formulate such a doctrine.  Having heard of this, Eusebius, Bishop of Dorilea, went to him, argued with him, set forth his arguments and refuted the doctrine.  Then Eusebius went to Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, spoke of Eutyches, the falsity of his doctrine and of how he had sowed confusion in the doctrine of the population of Constantinople.  Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, sent for Eutyches, telling him to come to him, and he called a council in Constantinople (17) in which he disputed with him.  Eutyches said: “If we were to say that Christ has two natures, we would be supporting what Nestorius says.  We say instead that Christ has only one nature and one person, because he is the result of two natures that existed [as such] before the union.  But when he took a body, he has ceased the duality and became one nature and one person.”  Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, answered him, saying: “If, as you argue, the Christ had only one nature, then the nature existing from eternity was made again, and that the nature that always was would be the nature that was not.  But if it were possible that the nature that has always been is [also] made again, then he who is standing is also sitting, heat is cold, light is dark, and so we might say of other nonsense that can not coexist in a one part.”  He [= Eutyches] however, refused to withdraw from his doctrine and Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated him, but did not remove him from Constantinople, because he was a physician and people needed him.  King Theodosius heard the doctrine.  Eutyches spoke in his defense before the king Theodosius, saying that Flavian had unfairly excommunicated him, and he asked the king to write to all the patriarchs, [ordering them] to get together and to review his case.  The king then wrote to Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, Domnus, Patriarch of Antioch, to Leo, patriarch of Rome and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to present themselves together with their bishops in order to examine the case of Eutyches.  They gathered together in the city of Ephesus.

Let’s do a little more of the Annals of Eutychius.  The author returns to his now-lost Sassanid chronicle, which clearly contained fanciful material as well as much history.  Here is the first two chapters.

    *    *    *    *

1. Let us return now to our purpose and to the place in history where we were.  As for Yazdagard, son of Bahram, called “the Sinner”, king of the Persians, he was a brutal man, rough and of perverse conduct. [The Persians] regretted making him their king, but nevertheless they were unhappy at the idea of killing him, because they did not want to accept that their kingship could degenerate so in their king.  It was therefore said that they saw a horse go forward and stop at the door [of the palace] of the king.  The people came around, admiring the beauty of its figure and the perfection of its features, and they informed the king. He came out, admired it and felt great joy.  He ordered them to saddle it, because he wanted to ride it, then he approached it, stroked its head and took it by the forelock and mane.  Then he tried to stroke its back, but when he was behind [the horse], it kicked him, striking him in the liver and killed him.  Then the horse, as if satisfied with what it had done, began to run and no one could catch it.  Then the people exclaimed: “God did this for us, moved with compassion toward us.”

2. The reign of Yazdagard “the Sinner” lasted twenty years, five months and eighteen days. When Yazdagard died, the leaders of Persia came together and said: “We do not intend to elect as our king any of his family that would treat us the same way.”  Yazdagard had a son named Bahram, whom they did not permit to attend at any of their actions.  He then said to some of them: “Do not elect anyone as your king unless he has these seven qualities: that he is better than all of you for: [his] skill in governing, in considering things, for the truth of what he says, for [his] strong courage, for [his] eloquence, for [his] clemency in ‘administration and for [his] knowledge of the treachery that an enemy may attempt”.  They answered: “And where would we ever find such a man?” He said to them: “Promise me, on your honour, that if I show you, you will make him your king.”  They promised him, and having full security in their sincerity he told them:  ”I am the man.” And so it was that they elected him their king.  Bahram, son of Yazdağard, called Bahram Gur (1), reigned over the Persians for eighteen years and eleven months (2).  This was in the twelfth year of the reign of Theodosius the Lesser, king of the Rum.

He reigned over the Persians, treating them well, and they loved him.  Later, however, he preferred to abandon himself with young and entertaining company, to the point that the people began to disapprove, and neighboring kings thought they might take possession of his territory.  In fact, he was attacked by Khagan the Great (3), king of the Turks, at the head of twenty-five myriads of soldiers.  Each king of the Turks was called Khagan.  He marched until he was encamped at as-Sa`id.  Then Bahram was told: “O king, we must tell you to put aside your pleasures.  Come, take care of yourself and the people, look after business, defend and throw off fear”.  Heedless of their words, Bahram left the country and went to the regions of Adharbayğān and Armenia, to live life as a hermit at the local fire temple.  But the people had no doubt that he had behaved in this way just to escape.  Then they met in council and said: “We can not do anything against Khagan.  Let us pay a personal tax as a ransom for our people and our land.”  But Marsi (4), brother of Bahram, and the judge Azadnār (5) said: “We are not willing to participate in this matter.”  At the news of the submission of the population of Persis, Khagan abandoned his military preparations and put down his arms.  Then there went to Bahram a man who told him the news, how the Khagan believed everything peaceful and that he was safe from any surprise.  Bahram then marched against him and surprised him in the night, killed Khagan with his own hands and then exterminated the men who had fled.  Bahram then returned safe and sound, and he took the family of Khagan, his soldiers and their wives, who had been taken prisoner, and put them at the disposal of the population.  When the news spread in the territory of the Turks of what had happened to Khagan, they fled to their more remote lands.  Bahram I commended the governor of Khurasan and his brother Marsi (6) and retired to Adharbaygān.  He stopped nowhere, nor did he enter into any dwelling except as a hermit and offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God.  When he came to the fire temple of Adharbayğān, he dismounted and walked on foot, until he entered, thus showing the deep respect he had for that place and to thank God.  He then gave orders to hang on the door of the temple the pearls, rubies and precious stones from the sword of Khaqan, a set of pearls.  He then went into Iraq, where he remained for a few days.  Then he marched towards [the country] of Rum with the intention to invade.

When Theodosius, king of Rum, heard the news, he sent a man named Istrātiyūs to see in what state was the kingdom of Bahram.  He returned to the king, and he told him that it was poorly defended.  King Theodosius then thought to raise his hands against Bahram, and he made the necessary preparations and went out against him at the head of his soldiers.  The battle between the two was hard-fought, and many fell on both sides, and both fled.  King Theodosius returned to Constantinople, while Bahram, in disguise, walked and entered the territory of India.

He stayed there for some time without anyone knowing who he was, and they respected him for his strength, for his courage, for his skill in killing wild animals and for his boldness in dealing with them.  One day he learned that there was an elephant in their land that had attacked and killed many people.  He asked them to lead him to it, but they said to him; “You are a foreigner and it is not right to expose you to danger.”  Learning this from the king [of the Indians], he took with him a man to lead him to the neighborhood where was the elephant.  As soon as he saw it, Bahram threw a spear that lodged between the eyes of the elephant, then hit it with a dart and then another, until he killed it.  He cut off its head and brought it to the king.  The king felt great admiration and asked him who he was.  “I”, replied Bahram, “am a Persian nobleman.  But I fell from grace in the eyes of my king, and I have fled away from him, coming here to you, attracted by the fame of your power and your mercy.”  The king had an enemy who had previously spared his life  Then he threatened him and sent to him to demand tribute.  The king was deeply distressed.  But Bahram encouraged him and said: “Do not worry any more, because I will prevent him from hurting you.”  Bahram rode with the king and his army to fight against the enemy.  Then Bahram said to the generals of India: “Look at their backs, and do what I do.”  Bahram then attacked them, dispersed their troops, began to strike men from the shoulder to the back, splitting them in two with a single blow; cutting off the elephant’s trunk with one blow and bringing it down, he unseated the rider, knocking him to the ground and killing him, he took two men by the head, gripping one with his right hand and the other with the left and striking them against each other he bashed out their brains.  Bahram’s men gave themselves to attacking and killing and they carried off great booty.  Then the king and Bahram returned.  The king gave to Bahram his daughter and gave him a gift of Danil (7), Makran (8) and the surrounding areas of Sind.  Bahram asked him to put it in writing and seal it as a guarantee. The king did so.  Bahram then returned to his own kingdom and imposed tribute on those territories that had been given to him, causing their riches to flow into Persia.  Some Persian [authors] have passed down that Bahram Gur was under the tutelage of an-Nu’man b. al-Mundhir the Lakhmid (9), king of the Arabs of the desert, and when Bahram had news of the death of his father Yazdagard, he marched with the Arabs who had followed him up to camp in as-Sawad (10), where he remained to dispute the realm with the noble Persians until they recognized his right and elected him king.

It’s been a while since I translated any of the Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (= Sa`id Ibn Bitrik).  But I rather fancy doing some this evening.

I should add that I am working, not from the Arabic, but from the difficult-to-obtain Italian translation of Bartolomeo Pirone, and using Google Translate to do a lot of the hard work!  This is a bit rubbish in a way; but it is worthwhile because nobody ever looks at Eutychius, nobody has access to Pirone, and even an English translation of this kind should prompt interest in this neglected text.

Unfortunately this chapter of the Annals is not historical, but theological.  I am not qualified to translate this, as I don’t understand it.  So I have translated just the opening portion and the last few sentences.

When we last looked, Nestorius had just been condemned by the council of Ephesus in 433 AD.  Note that the text has clearly been edited by someone later than Eutychius, as it quotes him.

1.  Exiled, Nestorius fled to Egypt and he settled in the upper part of the country in a place called Ikhmīm, where he remained for seven years.  Then he died, and he was buried in a village called Saqlān, where there occurred, especially in the place where he was buried, a heat wave so intense that no one could walk and travel in the area.  The teaching of Nestorius was later forgotten, but it was revived long afterwards by Barsawmā, Metropolitan of Nisibis, at the time of Justinian, the king of Rum, and Qabād, son of Firuz, king of the Persians, and spread in the East, and especially among the inhabitants of Persia.  It was for this reason that the Nestorians became numerous in the East, in Iraq, in Mosul, al-Furat and Mesopotamia.  They were called Nestorians after Nestorius.  After Nestorius, Maximus was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for three years and died.  Even before he was buried, Proclus was made patriarch of Constantinople.  Proclus prayed over the body of Maximus and had him buried.  He held the office after him, for thirteen years and died.

2.  Sa`id Ibn Batrīq, the physician, said: “It seemed appropriate to respond to the Nestorians in this part of my book and to show the falsity and absurdity of their doctrine, because it is all a mistake, and in these days they have even misrepresented the original doctrine of Nestorius, asserting that he said that Christ is two Substances and two Persons, perfect God in his Person and in his Substance, and perfect man in his Person and in his Substance, and that Mary created the Christ in what is regarding his humanity, and not in respect of His divinity, as the Father, as they say, has begotten a God and not man, while Maria begot a man and not a God.”  He answers them: “If things are as you say, then Christ should be two Christs and two Sons, or one Christ a real God and a real Son of God, and one Christ a real man and one Son a real man.  Because it must have been necessary for Mary to have, or not to have, generated the Christ.  But if He was generated, He was generated either spiritually or bodily.  Now if He was generated regarding the body, [He] must be different from the one that generated the Father, and then you would need two Christs.  If He was generated spiritually, Christ will then be one Son, one Person and one Christ.  Proof of this is the example of an iron plate, which is put in the fire, and from which results a single sword, burning, cracking, sparkling and shining.  It cannot be said that it is the part of the iron to burn and shine, because the iron without the fire does not burn, nor is the glowing part that cuts from the fire because the fire in itself can only light up and burn.  In the light of this example it is so true what we Melkites say, namely that Christ is one Person, both perfect God and perfect man, and so is refuted the assertions of the Nestorians, that Christ is two.

3.  He also asks them: “Tell us about the humanity of He who to whom the divinity is united and who was called Christ: did he continue to be Christ from the moment in which He was conceived in the womb of Mary, his mother, until she bore him, while she nursed him, while He became a young man, was crucified and buried? Or maybe until he reached the age of thirty he was like one of us men, and only then was united to humanity and became Christ?”  If they answer that He was not Christ while he was in the womb of his mother Mary, and that Mary gave birth only to a man, who, until the age of thirty was like one of us and that only later the divinity was joined to humanity and became Christ, they prove in this the reliability of their doctrine, but accuse of falsity the gospel, Paul and all the books of the church and all that arises out of the Christian faith.  We respond that the divinity was united to humanity at conception and that He was Christ then, in birth and breast-feeding until he was crucified and killed, and we claim that the Virgin Mary gave birth to one God, one Christ and only one Person.

Hmm.  It looks as if this entire chapter of the Annals is theological rather than historical.  I haven’t much enthusiasm for controversies that I don’t understand.  Section 21 finishes with the following words:

To men of understanding and discernment, it is clear that Christ is One , in the union of a single Person to the Eternal Word, and that He has two natures:the divine, that has always been, and the human that he has created for himself; and the absurdity of what is professed by the Nestorians and Jacobites is also clear.  Were it not for the reluctance that we felt from the fact that this would have made our book too long, and run the risk of moving away from the goal that we have set ourself, I would have explained and proven more than I have done. But those who wish to learn these things in abridged form and clearly set forth, should read my book entitled “Book of the Dispute between the Heretic and the Christian.”  In this book, in fact, I have demonstrated the validity of the Christian doctrine, namely that of the Melkites, refuting the assertions of its opponents.

Pirone adds that this book referred to is probably the “Kitāb al-gadal bayna’l-mukhālif wa’n-nasrām”, attributed commonly to Eutychius and published under the title of “Kitāb al-Burhān” (The Book of Demonstration) in CSCO, vol. 209, tome 22, Louvain 1961.  Reservations about the authenticity of the work are expressed by “Breydy, op. cit., pp. 77-82 and cap. VI.”

Eutychius continues telling us about the reign of Arcadius, in the 5th century, from his perspective of 5 centuries later, followed by the story of the Nestorian dispute.

13. In the fourth year of his reign, i.e. the reign of Arcadius, king of Rum, there reigned over the Persians Yazdağard (37), son of Bahram, called “the sinner”, for twenty years.  Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, built a large church in Alexandria in the name of Arcadius, king of Rum (38).  Arcadius, king of Rum, died after reigning for thirteen years.  After him his son Theodosius, called Theodosius the Less (39), reigned over Rum for forty years.  This happened in the eleventh year of the reign of Yazdağard, son of Bahram, king of the Persians.  In the ninth year of the reign of Theodosius, Yazdağard, son of Bahram, invaded the empire and between the two there was a violent battle with many casualties on both sides, so that both withdrew.  In the thirteenth year of the reign of Theodosius Zosimus was made patriarch of Rome (40).  He held the office for only one year and died.  After him Yūnūmātiyūs was made patriarch of Rome (41).  He held the office for three years and died.  After him Celestine was made patriarch of Rome (42).  He held the office for ten years and died.

14. In his fifth year in office there was the third council, against Nestorius, in Ephesus (43).  In the first year of his reign, i.e. the reign of Theodosius the Less, Cyril of Alexandria (44) was made Patriarch.  He held the see for thirty years and died.  In his twenty-first year in office there was the third council, against Nestorius.  In the first year of the reign of Theodosius the Less Alexander was made patriarch of Antioch (45).  He held the office for four years and died.  After him Baradūtus was made patriarch of Antioch (46).  He held the office for six years and died.  After him John was made patriarch of Antioch (47).  He held the office for seventeen years died.  In his eleventh year in office there was the third council, against Nestorius.  In the seventh year of the reign of Theodosius the Less, Flavius was made patriarch of Jerusalem (48).  He held the office for thirty-eight years and died.  In his fourteenth year in office there was the third council, against Nestorius, and in his thirty-seventh year in office took place the fourth council, against Dioscorus, in the city of Chalcedon (49).

15. In the fourteenth year of the reign of Theodosius the Less, Sisinnius was made patriarch of Constantinople (50).  He held the office for three years and died.  After him Nestorius was made patriarch of Constantinople (51).  He held the office for four years and two months, and then was excommunicated and deposed.  Nestorius claimed that the Virgin Mary is not the true mother of God because this means that there would be two sons: the one, the God who is born of the Father, and the other, the man who was born of Mary.  He argued then that this man, who claimed to be the Christ, was joined with the Son in virtue of love, and he was called God and Son of God, not in the proper sense, but as a gift and associate of the two names, as well as a title of honor, like one of the prophets.  Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, came to know what Nestorius was saying, and wrote him a letter, in which he highlighted the scandal of his doctrine and the perversity of his conduct, urging him to return to the truth.  Many were the letters that he wrote, but Nestorius did not desist from his doctrine.  Then Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, wrote to John, Patriarch of Antioch, asking him to write to Nestorius, and show the monstrosity and absurdity of his doctrine, and why they were appealing to him to return to the truth.  John, Patriarch of Antioch, then wrote to Nestorius telling him that if he did not return to the truth, they would meet and they would have him excommunicated.  Many were the letters that he wrote, but Nestorius did not recede from his doctrine.  Instead he persisted in his error and his depraved belief blinded him.  Then John, Patriarch of Antioch, wrote to Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, informing him that Nestorius remained firm in his depraved belief.  Cyril wrote then to Celestine (52), patriarch of Rome, to Juvenal (53), Patriarch of Jerusalem, and to John, Patriarch of Antioch, asking them to come together in the city of Ephesus to examine the doctrine of Nestorius and to try to get him to recant.  Otherwise he would be abandoned to his fate, excommunicated and deposed.

16. Two hundred bishops gathered in the city of Ephesus (54).  There presided at that council Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, Celestine, patriarch of Rome and Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem.  John had promised them that he would be present, but since he was late in coming, Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, did not wait further.  He gathered the bishops who sent word to Nestorius, who was in Ephesus, that he should also be present.  But Nestorius refused to join them.  They sent for him three times and since he lingered, and finally decided not to show up, they examined his doctrine, and, judging it worthy of excommunication, voted him anathema and consigned him to exile.  They established thus that the Virgin is [true] Mother of God and that Christ is true God and [true] man, with two natures and one in regard to the person: quite different from love.  Nestorius was saying in fact that the unity is only a combination of the two persons and it was therefore necessary to assert that the true unity means that there can be only one person with two natures.  They had already excommunicated Nestorius when John, Patriarch of Antioch, arrived.  Seeing that they had already excommunicated Nestorius even before he was present, he was annoyed and said: “You have been unjust with him and have undeservedly excommunicated Nestorius.”  He sided then with Nestorius, gathered the bishops who were with him, and excommunicated Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria and Simon, bishop of Ephesus.  Faced with the hostile behavior of John, the companions of Cyril dissociated themselves from the others and left Ephesus.  The companions of Cyril and the Orientals formed thus two sides, and there were great struggles among them.  But King Theodosius intervened promptly and re-established peace between them.  The Orientals then drew up a paper in which they claimed that the holy virgin Mary gave birth [really] to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who is of the same nature with his Father, and of the same nature with men as to his humanity.  They also recognized the two natures, one hypostasis and one person, and excommunicated Nestorius.  They sent as bearer of the paper Paul, Metropolitan of Homs, to Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, who read and approved it, responding: “My faith is in line with that expressed by you and contained in your paper.”  In this way agreement was re-established between Cyril and the Orientals.  Some have said that when Cyril received the letter of the Orientals he did not find that it entirely conformed to the dictates of true faith in that he, personally, did not intend to assert “two natures and one hypostasis.”  But they are certainly wrong because all the writings of Cyril speak, in fact, in favor of this claim.  Cyril wrote a copy of the paper of the Orientals to Hilary, bishop of the city of Corinth, to Acacius, bishop of Malatiyah (55) and many other bishops in order to let them know that the Orientals had returned to the true faith, and that they did not at all share the doctrine of Nestorius, but that of the second council of the hundred and fifty bishops who had gathered in Constantinople to excommunicate Macedonius.  From that second council to this third council of two hundred bishops, who had gathered at Ephesus and had excommunicated Nestorius, there had passed fifty years.  This happened in the twenty-first year of the reign of Theodosius the Less, king of Rum.

Here’s the next chunk of the Annals of Eutychius, covering the period of Chrysostom.  The story of Chrysostom and his violent disagreement with Theophilus of Alexandria must always have been difficult for the Copts, who revered both. 

10. There lived in Egypt a bishop who had died leaving three children, who then all three became monks who were going to live in the monastery of Scete.  Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, took one and made him bishop of a certain city of Egypt, then appointed the other two as deacons and kept them with him as disciples.  In fact, they remained in the service of Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, but just three years afterwards, the two young men manifested a desire to return to Scete.  Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, was opposed to their request, but the two young men went away without his permission.  Then [the patriarch] forbade them to approach the Eucharist for the period of three years, and the two went to John Chrysostom asking him to write to Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, a letter requesting him to allow them to receive the Eucharist.  John Chrysostom sent them, accompanied with a letter from him, to Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, asking him to welcome them, but the patriarch was adamant.  The two then went back to John Chrysostom, and he allowed them to communicate.  Thus it was that the disagreements arose between Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and John Chrysostom.

11. At the time of Arcadius, king of Rum, there lived a very wealthy man, named Thāwkatistus.  Because of some envy, with false witnesses, he was accused before the king, saying that he had renounced the Christian faith and insulted the king.  So the king sent him into exile and confiscated his goods.  The wife [of Thāwkatistus] owned a vineyard.  Happening to pass before the vineyard, and finding it so beautiful that she wanted it, Queen Eudoxia asked: “Whose is this vineyard?”  They told her that it belonged to the wife of the man whom the king had sent into exile.  The queen then said: “I wish it were mine and I could make my walks in it!”  Some ministers told her: “It is the custom that everything belongs to a king that is under his feet.”  On hearing these words the queen took possession of the vineyard.  The woman then had recourse to John Chrysostom, and John sent word to the queen to return the vineyard to the legitimate owner.  And because the queen refused to do so, he went personally to talk to her, but the queen did not deign to make any response.  He then appealed to the fear of God and said: “Take care that there doesn’t happen to you what happened to Yezabel, wife of Akhāb, king of Israel.”  The queen did not agree and ordered John to be driven from the building.  John went away saddened and gave orders to his deacons to close the door on the queen if she presented herself to enter the church.  They did as ordered and the queen retired in anger.

12. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, was in Constantinople, to attend to some of his business with the King.  The queen summoned him and said to him: “John has turned against the truth and has meddled in affairs that do not concern him, and set himself as my accuser.  How can I remove him from the office he is occupying?”  “If things are as you say,” replied Epiphanius, “I will urge him to repent. If he repents, then it will be better for him, otherwise I will destroy him”. But the queen insisted: “If he is not destroyed, then I will open the temples of the idols and I’ll make people worship them.”  Then the queen commissioned some bishops and deacons to go to the king to testify before him against John, telling him that he was a transgressor of the law and that the population would not support him and hated him.  And since those bishops envied John, because of his great learning, they lent themselves to the queen’s game, and did just as she had taught them to do.  The king Arcadius then ordered that John be removed from office.  Then John Chrysostom wrote to Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, saying: “You, Epiphanius, you have helped to send me into exile and you have supported the conspiracy against me, saying things about me unbecoming to the position you occupy.  But know that you will not reach your city before you die.” Epiphanius answered him saying: “O John, I said only good things of you, and I have made every effort just to defend you, and with all diligence I tried to avert your doom, but all was in vain.  He who is present sees what the absent does not see.  But as you accuse me of things that I do not know and I did not say, know that you will not reach the place to which you have been exiled before you die.”  Epiphanius then set off for Cyprus, and he died on the ship when there was just half a day to go before arrival.  John Chrysostom, in his turn, died before reaching the place to which he had been confined.  At Constantinople there was then a terrible earthquake, violent thunder and lightning, lightning and rain.  The king said: “All this is because we have banished John Chrysostom”.  Therefore he gave orders to bring back the body to Constantinople and to bury it.  This was in the sixth year of the reign of Arcadius.  John was called Chrysostom, or “golden mouth”, because a woman who was mourning the dead exclaimed in the lamentations: “O John, O golden mouth”.  So he was called “golden mouth”.  After him another John was made patriarch of Constantinople (30).  He held the office for two years and died.  After him Eusebius was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for a year and died.  After him Iğnādiyūs was made patriarch of Constantinople.  He held the office for three years and died.  After him Atticus was made patriarch of Constantinople (31).  He held the seat for fifteen years and died.  This was in the twelfth year of the reign of Arcadius.  In the eighth year of his reign Anastasius was made patriarch of Rome (32).  He held the office for three years and died.  In the eleventh year of his reign Abrakītiyus was made patriarch of Rome (33).  He held the office for fifteen years and died.  In the eighth year of his reign Prailius was made patriarch of Jerusalem (34).  He held the office for twelve years and died.  In the fifth year of his reign Paulinus was made patriarch of Antioch (35).  He held the office for four years and died.  In the ninth year of his reign Aghrū was made patriarch of Antioch (36).  He held the see for five years and died.

Let’s carry on reading the “Annals” of Eutychius of Alexandria.  The translation that I am making from Italian is very rough, no doubt: but since nobody capable of doing so has ever made a translation of this work into English, it does at least give us some idea of what the work contains.

8. In the eighth year of the reign of Theodosius the Great, the young men who had fled away from the king Decius by hiding in the cave, in the city of Ephesus, reappeared (13).  In fact the shepherds, as time passed, had ended up removing, one after another, the bricks with which the entrance of the cave had been blocked, so much as to leave an opening like a door.  The youths believed that they had slept for only one night and said to their companion who was to buy them food: “Go, buy us something to eat and try to learn something of the king Decius”.  When he was at the entrance of the cave and saw that the building that had been there was demolished, he almost could not believe his eyes, but kept walking until he came to the gate of the city of Ephesus on top of which he saw erected a large cross, and, doubting himself, he said: “I am just dreaming”, and began to rub his eyes and look to the right and left to find something known to him, but he saw nothing and was disconcerted.  Then he said to himself: “Maybe I’ve gone the wrong way, or maybe this is not the city of Ephesus.”  He went into the city, took a dirham he had with him and handed it to the baker to get bread.  Seeing the man, so strangely dressed, panicked and terrified, with a coin on which was engraved the image of King Decius, the baker was confused and thought that he was dealing with someone who had found a (buried) treasure.  So he said: “Where did you get this money?”  But the young man did not answer.  The baker then called other people, who came forward and spoke with him, but he did not give any response.  Then they took him to the patrician, the governor of the city, named Antipater.  The patrician questioned him but the young man did not answer.  He threatened him, but he still did not open his mouth.  Then there went to him Mark, the bishop of the city, who spoke to him, but he did not answer.  Then he tried to frighten him by saying: “Talk to us, and tell us where you got this money, otherwise we will kill you.”  But the young man continued to stay silent for fear of the king Decius, because he thought that he was still alive.  Then they tortured him, and, forced by the great pain, he said to them: “Where is the king Decius?” They answered: “The king Decius is long dead! Many other kings reigned after him and the official religion is now Christianity and our king is Theodosius the Great.”  Having been thus reassured, the young man told them what had happened.  Those that were with him went to the cave, they saw his companions and found the copper box with inside it the lead sheet on which Thaddeus, patrician of the king Decius, had written their story and their misadventures with the king Decius.  Great was their wonder and they wrote to King Theodosius, informing him of the matter.  The king immediately set out, arrived in the city of Ephesus, saw them and talked with them.  But three days later, returning to the cave, he found them dead.  He then decided to leave them where they were and to give them burial in that cave, and he constructed a church in their name, and they began to celebrate a festival in their honour, every year, on the same day.  King Theodosius then returned to Constantinople.

From the time the youths had fled away from the king Decius into the cave and had slept, until the time when they were dead and reappeared, as we read in the history of their martyrdom, there had passed three hundred and seventy-two years.  In the thirteenth year of the reign of Theodosius the Great Sirnīqun was made patriarch of Rome (14).  He held the office for twelve years and died.  In the seventeenth year of his reign died Niqtāriyūs (15), the patriarch of Constantinople, after having held the office for sixteen years.  After him John Chrysostom was made patriarch of Constantinople (16).  He held the office for five years and six months, was sent into exile and died there.  In the sixth year of his reign Flavian was made patriarch of Antioch (17).  He held the office for six years and died.  In the twelfth year of his reign Porphyry was made patriarch of Antioch (18).  He held the office for ten years and died.  In the eighth year of his reign John was made patriarch of Jerusalem (19).  He held the office for sixteen years and died.  At the time of King Theodosius lived Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus.  King Theodosius had built the church of Gethsemane in Jerusalem in which was the tomb of Martmaryam (20).  It was destroyed afterwards by the Persians, when they invaded Jerusalem, along with the other churches in the city, and still lies in ruins today.

9. In the tenth year of the reign of King Theodosius died Sabur, king of the Persians, son of Sabur.  After him reigned Bahram (21), son of Sabur, king of the Persians, for eleven years.  The reign of Theodosius was a reign of tranquility and peace.  On the death of King Theodosius reigned his sons Arcadius and Honorius.  Arcadius (22) reigned over Rum in Constantinople for thirteen years, and his brother Honorius (23) over the city of Rome for eleven years.  This was in the seventh year of the reign of Bahram, son of Sabur, king of the Persians.  The king Arcadio sent for his preceptor Arsenius to kill him, because of his smoldering resentment against him.  But Arsenius heard of it and fled to Alexandria, embracing the monastic life in the monastery which is located in Wadi Habib, near Tarnūt, named al-Asqīt (24).  When later Arcadius had a son that he named Theodosius, he asked after his tutor Arsenius because he was concerned with the education of his son, and he was told that he had become a monk in the monastery of Scete.  The king then sent for him and assured him that he would never and in no way make an attempt on his life.  But Arsenius refused.  He was indeed so sweet and good to the messenger that the latter left him in peace and departed.  Fearing, however, that the king might try to take by force, Arsenius went to Upper Egypt and found a home on Mount al-Buqattam (25), at a village called Tura (26).  He stayed there for three years and he died.  Then the king Arcadius sent another messenger with the task of taking Arsenius by force, but when he came to the monastery of Scetis he was told that Arsenius was already dead on Mount al-Buqattam (27) The messenger returned from king and told him what he had heard.  The king then sent for a monk named Tarāsiyūs, and giving him a large sum of money said: “Go and build at the tomb of Arsenius a monastery that bears his name.”  Tarāsiyūs went to Egypt and erected over the grave of Arsenio a monastery on Mount al-Buqattam (28), which is still called “Dayr al-Qusayr” (29).