Roger Pearse

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”‘.↩