CHAPTER XVI

DISPUTE BETWEEN THE EMPRESS AND JOHN. ARRIVAL OF THEOPHILUS FROM EGYPT. CYRINUS, BISHOP OF CHALCEDONIA

AFTER the departure of Epiphanius, John, when preaching in the church as usual, chanced to inveigh against the vices to which females are more peculiarly prone. The people imagined that his strictures were expressly directed against the wife of the emperor. The enemies of the bishop did not fail to report his discourse in this sense to the empress; and she, conceiving herself to have been insulted, complained to the emperor, and urged the necessity for the presence of Theophilus, and the immediate convocation of a council. Severian, bishop of Gabales, who still entertained great resentment against John, strenuously supported these measures. I am not in possession of sufficient data to determine whether there was any truth in the current report that John delivered the discourse above mentioned with express allusion to the empress, because he suspected her of having excited Epiphanius against him. Theophilus arrived soon after at Chalcedonia in Bithynia, and was followed thither by many bishops. Some of the bishops joined him in compliance with his own invitation, and others, in obedience to the commands of the emperor. The bishops whom John had deposed in Asia, repaired to Chalcedonia with the utmost alacrity, as likewise all those who cherished any feeling of hostility against him. On the arrival of the ships which Theophilus expected from Egypt, the enemies of John met to deliberate on the means of carrying on their designs against him; and at this assembly Cyrinus, bishop of Chalcedonia, who was an Egyptian and a relative of Theophilus, and who had besides some private motives of resentment against John, burst forth into bitter invectives against him. His injustice, however, was speedily followed by judgment, for Maruthas, a native of Mesopotamia who had accompanied the bishops, happened to tread on his foot, and Cyrinus suffered so severely from this accident, that he was unable to repair with the other bishops to Constantinople, although his aid was necessary to the execution of the designs that had been formed against John. The wound assumed so alarming an appearance, that the surgeons were obliged to perform several operations on the leg; and at length mortification took place, and spread over the whole body, and even extended to the other foot. He expired soon afterwards in great agony.