All the Slavs of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius – Book II

I. Of the Building of Ships by the Drugoviti, Sagudati, Velegeziti and Others

And so this happened, as they say, during the bishopric of John, may he rest in peace. The nation of the Sklavenes gathered in a large multitude comprised of the peoples of the Drugoviti [Δρο[υ]γο[υ]βῖται/Δραγοβῖται], Sagudati [Σαγουδάται], Velegeziti [Βελεγεζίται], Vaiuniti [Βαϊουνίται], Verziti [Βερζηται] and others. They were the first to discover a way to build a boat hollowed out of a single trunk. Having so prepared themselves to sail on the seas, they plundered all of Thessally, and the Greek islands of the Cyclades, the entire Achaja and the mainland, a large portion of Illyricum and part of Asia. Most of the towns and provinces they made uninhabited  and they desired to attack the by us afore-mentioned city, beloved of Christ and to plunder it much as they [plundered] the others. On this matter they were of a single mind and having constructed a great number of boats made of a single trunk, they set up camp near the sea; the rest of the swarm besieged the city guarded by God from all sides: the East, the North and the West. They had with them their families as well as their belongings for they planned to settle in the city after its taking…

Hagios Demetrios in the city of Thessaloniki saw Suav action

…The entire nation of the Sklavenes arrayed themselves for battle so as to make a surprise assault on the walls in unison. Those who stayed by the boats planed to cover the same with bars and hides so as to protect their rowers against stones tossed from the city walls or the blows of the javelin throwers. It is said that the first became leery/afraid by reason of the martyr [that is Saint Demetrius] who did not permit them to come close to the city but instead caused them to have to anchor themselves in that bay which from the ancient times has been called Kellarion and it was there that they pondered how best to effect their goals…

Three days passed in this manner and the Sklavene boats sailed at a distance of two miles from the walls and each day assiduously looked for east to take places with the aim of plundering those. On the fourth day, with a great roar, the entire nation attacked the city from all sides: some threw stones using engines they had prepared, others had guided siege towers right up to the walls trying to take and plunder them, others set fires before the gates, yet others hurled projectiles onto the walls like hail. One could then see this strange and wondrous host of weaponry for as a storm cloud cloaks sundays so was did they thicken the air with their arrows and stone missiles.  In this great assault the barbarians, ready to sail and prepared to [finally] attack closed in in their boats on places scouted out earlier: some approached the tower on the western part of the church steps where a small wicket exists, others to the places where no wall stood but rather a palisade defended access as well as a construct built out of hidden beams that were commonly called [tulons?]. These latter attacks believed that they will be able to get into the city that way for they were ignorant of these types of defenses and the former thought that they will be able to break through the wicket gate and through that entrance make it into the city.

Meanwhile, again by reason of the martyr’s intercession, a great disarray arose among the afore-mentioned boats and so it happened that they started running into each other and some even keeled over hurling their occupants into the water.  And so it happened that the one who was submerged would try to save himself by grabbing onto another boat and in doing so would cause those in it to themselves fall into the sea. Finally, the rowers from the remaining boats would use their swords to cut of the hands of those who came close and they would smite each other on the head with swords and wound each other with their javelins and each, occupied in an attempt to rescue his own life, became the enemy of his companion. And those who managed to reach the camouflaged wooden defense contraption fell there into snares and their boats, moving in a great momentum, halted near the shore and it was impossible for them   to yank them free from there. Then the brave citizens of the city headed down while others reinforced the wicket gate through which the enemies intended to enter the city. And so the work of the fighting and Victorious [martyr] was complete.

It was then possible to behold a sea stained red with the barbarian blood of and to hearken back to the drowning of the Egyptians [in the Red Sea]. And presently was the mercy of the Lord revealed. At two in the morning though at first all was still, there suddenly came a calm wind which scattered those barbarians’ boats that were unable to withdraw, some eastwards while others to the West. The sea surrendered many barbarian corpses tossing them onto the shore and underneath the walls. And finally, the guards of the coast issued onto the walls and showed  the barbarians remaining on land the cut off heads of their compatriots. Those boatmen who survived told tales of the great ruin inflicted upon them through the agency of the Victorious [Demetrius] by God. Having achieved nothing, they left in great distress and shame, leaving behind them numerous constructs and much booty…

And the most wondrous and worthy of remembrance of all was that Chatzon, the leader of the Sklavenes, in accordance with his custom asked an oracle whether he would enter our city guarded by God. And he was given an answer in the affirmative but it was not revealed to him how he would make his entrance. Yet by reason of the answer delivered to him he believed that the augury was favorable, he boldly proceeded on with his plan. But He who turns the seasons and foils enemy arrows delivered him as a prisoner to the citizens of the city through the above mentioned gate.  Some of those who were people of rank and dignity in the city hid him in a house for profits and for unworthy reasons. But even in this case, Holy Providence of the Victorious martyr did not tarry. He kindled courage in some women who then brought him out from the house where he had remained hidden. Dragged through the city he was stoned to death. And thus he found a death commensurate with his evil plans.

II. Of the War Against the Khagan

After the already mentioned large-scale assault by the Sklavenes, that is by Chatzon and the just and easily achieved ruin that befell them through the intercession of the Victorious, war against us brought them humiliation. They also suffered a significant loss when prisoners taken by them fled to our city, protected by God, and were freed thanks to their guide and redeemer and our protector, Demetrius.  They had reasons to be troubled not just because they lost their captives but also because the latter fled having taken with them a part of the plunder taken by them [the Suavs] during their pillaging. In their great distress they decided, having collected many gifts, to send them via their messengers to the khan of the Avars with the enticement of a promise of great sums of money that they and already looted and those yet to be captured in our city in our city – as they assured him – should he lend them his help. They said that it will be easy for them to take this city, that was as if already meant by fate for him, unable to defend itself as it sat alone among the cities and provinces which had already been made desolate by them. For it is said that it lies in the middle of all this devastation and accepts all those fleeing from the Danube, from Pannonia, Dacia and Dardania, and all the other cities and provinces, and they all gather to it.

The aforesaid khagan of the Avars eagerly trying to fulfill their wish, gathered at his side all the barbarian tribes controlled by him, together with all the Sklavenes, Bulgars and other peoples all in an innumerable multitude and after the passage of two years he readied an army to battle our city protected by the martyr. He ordered to arm elite riders and to send them with great haste, for he did not know when he would arrive at the city with his army. And these riders captured and, in some cases, even killed those residents who found themselves outside [of the city gates when the riders attacked]. After some time the khagan himself arrived together with his warriors who were bringing various machines and war contraptions in order to destroy our fatherland. With this plan and so armed, did the barbarians immediately set out. About the fifth hour their cavalry iron-clad charged from all sides. Because the inhabitants had not foreseen this, those that had at that time been out in the fields tending to the harvest were killed and yet others were taken captive; Many animal flocks were also taken as, too, much of the harvest tools.

After a few days, the barbarian khagan himself with the entire throng of Bulgars and other above-mentioned peoples, like a winter storm, fell on the walls of city. They surrounded it so that it alone, like a mountain should be visible from all sides. The earth could not withstand this great crowd or suffer their marches, nor could the rivers or wells suffice to deliver water to them or their animals.

When the citizens of there city noticed the great throng of the barbarians clothed with iron and, on all sides, the soaring stone throwers whose height exceeded even the internal wall turrets as well as so-called “turtles” made of woven [materials] and hides, about these battering rams [ready to assault] the gates made of giant tree trunks and riveted with hoops, the very great wooden towers exceeding in height the gates, and on top of these [towers] burly youths, spears stuck, mobile ladders on wheels, flame throwers, then, seeing the city so greatly oppressed, they said [prayers].

[there follows a prayer led by the bishop and then a description of the earthquake]

Thereafter, the enemies’ devices were ignored with contempt, and their battle preparations proved in vain by reason of the actions of the Victorious. Thus, their wooden tower, which they believed was the most dangerous of all, useful and ready to take the walls, collapsed, by God’s Providence, together with all the gear that had been gathered within it and its crew perished. Those others that were attacking using “turtles”, were pulled down/off by means of rods that were lowered [from the walls] with an attached blade similar to a ploughshare and the unprotected soldiers [left] at the bottom of the walls were [then] injured with projectiles…

When the barbarians finally realized that their assault on city was failing, they demanded a payment to in exchange for departing the city. They [Thessalonicans] refused this and went back to their military posture. The leader of the enemy, khagan [a khagan?] felt ignored by the city’s citizens by reason of the great delay* [and] ordered [his forces] to set fire to all the temples that were outside [the gates] and also to burn down all the nearby homes, ordering his [followers] not to retreat from there but instead to gather other tribes to help against our town. Thus, 33 days passed in a ceaseless siege and [then] all the citizens agree to the request of the barbarians that they appoint someone to negotiate peace. Thus, a peace treaty was agreed upon and [the others] were to depart for their dwellings.

[*note: Presumably he was waiting for a response to his demand for payment while the defenders, refusing to agree to that, went back to their business, perhaps without communicating their refusal outright.]

After the peace accord, [they]  came close to the gates without fear and sold, at a small profit, back the prisoners they had taken. On this occasion of peace, [the barbarians] spread the word of the divine rescue of the city and marveled at the miracle which occurred on the gates during the earthquake** as wall as that, by reason of these [divine] manifestations, their prepared arms and machines proved to be weak and pointless. For all that they and constructed in various manners and what they thought would be necessary and useful at the siege, proved [instead] to be useless and dangerous [to them], when the saw the Saints.

[**note: This refers to the appearance of Saint Demetrius (and others?) on the walls protecting the city]

III. Of Earthquakes and the Fire at the Temple

In those days when earthquakes constantly threatened the city, many of its buildings collapsed and the gates remained wide open, when the majority of the citizens, defenseless, dispersed themselves outside of the city and when no one had the courage to come back home, the tribe of the Sklavenes which had been living nearby which had, when the walls were still standing and the citizens hadn’t scattered, aimed to conquer the city, now had neither the courage to come near to it nor to try to ransack it…

It was then when the miracles sent by God through the device of our savior (Saint Demetrius) were being praised in song, the aforementioned Sklavenes, sitting nearby us,triumphantly heraldde our deliverance. They said that right after the first great earthquake which some of them survived, they with their own eyes saw, as they say ,that the air for many hours was filled with the dust of the earth being rent asunder. After ascending he hills surrounding the city, they saw that it had fallen inter ruin in its entirety. Believing that all the citizens had perished, they took up pick axes and other tools to clean the earth, or, some of them  they they started without any equipment,  coming to dig up and take the belongings of the citizens [of Thessalonica]. And they started with this goal in mind but when they came close by, it then seemed to them as if the walls were still standing everywhere and the city remained untouched as before and they beheld guards on the city ramparts as also outside [the gates]. Fearfully they retreated then having achieved nothing…

IV. Of the Hunger Caused by Perbundos and of the Unending Siege

When the Sklavenes, the oft-mentioned neighbors of the God-protected city maintained peace [with us], the then prefect of the city, for reasons unknown, in his reports to the emperor spread rumors against the duke of the Rhynchines, by the name of Perbundos, accusing him of insidiously preparing to move against our city. The emperor, being true to the Lord, sent a letter to the prefect with orders to take this duke captive by whatever means necessary and to deliver [the duke] to him. When the letter reached the prefect, Perbundos was immediately captured in the city and sent, bound, to the emperor, in accordance with the orders in the letter.

When the entire nation of the Sklavenes, learned of this occurrence, the Rhynchines and the Strymones decided to ask the emperor not to put Perbundos to death but to forgive his guilt. They pleaded too that [the emperor] should free him and sent him back to them. In this matter a high-level embassy was sent to the emperor; and because he was at the time getting ready for war against the Agarenni, it was decided with the envoys that Perbundos would be freed after [said], war.

[He] sent them back with that promise and then ordered that [Perbundosj be freed and that he be provided with transportation [back] and care at all times [during the journey]. Thanks to the aforementioned envoys and the barbarians’ embassy that were taken there [?], [having received] this promise, all the Sklavenes abandoned their foolhardy course of action [against the city]. But the enemy of everything – evil demon, the originator of evil = had reached the above mentioned imperial interpreter, a man liked both by the Emperor and the archons and made him into a tool of his own undoing. He then [the interpreter] convinced the mentioned Perbundos to escape by traveling to his suburban estate located in Thrace, saying that he himself would arrive there in a few days, would escort him and protect him all the way to his own country.

After agreeing to this, duke Perbundos donning Byzantine attire and possessing knowledge of our tongue left the gate at Blachernae as if a citizen of the city and then proceeded to the translator’s estate and hi himself there. When they began to search for Perbundos in the capital and were unable to locate him – for no one knew of the interpreter’s agreement – the Emperor and his dignitaries, greatly concerned, ordered that all the shipping be halted and all the gates closed. Riders and vessels were dispatched searching for Perbundos in all directions for forty days, day after day, one after another. [The emperor] ordered the guards who were supposed to have been looking after Perbundos to be tortured and then put to the sword and ordered that those upon whom suspicion fell were to have their limbs chopped off. In short, many people suddenly found themselves in danger as a consequence of Perbundos’ escape. Even the then eparch of Constantinople was punished by being sent away to [Thessalonica?]. This once happy city one now found troubled, plunged into sadness and tears. The Emperor, concerned by the prevailing anxiety over Perbundos‘ escape, immediately sent a ship to our city bearing tidings of what had occurred. He also ordered that the city be supplied with defenses and provisions fearing an attack against the city by the tribe of the Sklavenes.

But the Lord and Creator of everything, the merciful God, through his bravest and most compassionate martyr, kept the Emperor from his troubles; at the end, when all hope had gone and the search for Perbundos was about to be given up, he was finally located in the suburban residence of the interpreter. He was hiding in the bushes near the town of Vize having food delivered to him by the interpreter’s wife. It was only through God’s Providence that Duke Perbundos had survived for so many days. He was found at a considerable distance from the capital and was unaware of the location to which he had been taken nor that there were Sclavene tribes in the area to which he could have fled to and saved himself…

Having been caught he was brought back to the city and interrogated about the manner of his escape. When it was determined that he escaped at the suggestion and with the aid of the interpreter and that he was awaiting him in accordance with their agreement, having secured a promise of help, the emperor ordered the interpreter to be beheaded together with his wife and children. Perbundos, on the other hand, he did not have punished but ordered to be held under guard, as before, and pledged to deliver him safely to us [in Thessalonica].

But even then the deceitful enemy of all Satan did not waste time and once more whispered thoughts of escape to him. And when Perbundos was getting ready to flee, by God’s Will, it became known what was to happen. It was reported to the Emperor what he was planning  and what he was planning in case the escape were to be successful. For, while the search was still going on, he decided that if he makes it safely back to his country then he won’t enter into any peace agreements but will [instead] gather together his neighboring tribes and not leaving any place on land or on sea unharassed, he will battle constantly so as not to leave a single Christian alive. And when his intentions were, as they say by God’s will, revealed, he brought death upon himself and found an appropriate end to his noxious schemes. From that time on, the tribes of the above mentioned Sklavenes, I mean the Strymones, the Rhynchines and the Sagudatis, eagerly began to arm against Thessalonica.

They first agreed amongst themselves that each day the Sklavenes from the Strimon [area] will work to conquer the Eastern and Northern territory and the Rhynchines and Sagudatis, the Western [territory], and that their ships will work together to take the coast. And so they did this for a whole two years. They advanced, as it is said, three or four units each day, so that the citizens of the city eventually fell numb, unable to suffer the excessive cares and pain. When… [Thessalonicans] some set out to the East, a new commotion would arise in the West. And when they moved towards the North, cries issued from the direction of the sea and the Thessalonicans saw themselves unable to suffer further and constantly they saw people killed and taken prisoner. [The city is gripped by starvation faced with increasingly meager food stores].

Finally, it came to pass that some of the weaken in spirit, as it seems, concerned about their lives, when faced with an opportunity to do so, escaped to the barbarians; some leaving their children and wives, others their parents, relations and faith…

And when so many people had fled to the barbarians, an idea occurred to our enemies to sell all those who find their way to them to the Sklavenes who lived in the interior of the country; they [worried perhaps] that, should the number of escapees become overly large, given the closeness of the city, [these escapees could] change their plans.*

[*note: apparently, so many people fled the starving city that the besieging Suavs were worried about the relative number of their new Thessalonican “friends”].

When the barbarians put their plan into motion and still people were escaping with the help of Saint Demetrius, the remaining people desiring to flee [the city] were stopped so as to prevent the entire city from being depopulated in this manner even before the barbarians took it. Finally, thanks to the help of Saint Demetrius, the dire straights of the city could have been altered but [then] through the treachery of the Sklavenes, who seemed to be cooperating with us, on the northern outskirts of the city the flower of the [city’s] youth was murdered…

The city’s sense of powerlessness grew for the barbarians would convert the temples many of which were found beyond the city walls into fortresses and they hid there; and when, during the day, the citizens tried to open the gates and come out, [the barbarians] would immediately descend like hawks upon those who dared to venture out and would murder them. And others, hiding on the monoxilae, at the steep shores and in unseen places, attacked and killed those who, in this difficult situation, tried to fish in the sea to get some sustenance.  The [city’s] grief intensified, [as did] the boundless suffering, the lamentation, the crying and the despair.

It was at that point that the city leaders agreed with the citizens that the still existing and seaworthy equipment, monoxylae and ten ships and also the prepared funds should be sent to the tribe of the Velegeziti, near Thebes (in Thessaly) and Demetrias, so as to purchase from them grain for the city. It was also established that all those people who were not otherwise working should remain at the walls until the return [of the Thessalonican envoys to the Velegeziti]. And when these healthy men in the prime of life sailed away to the afore-mentioned Velegeziti, who at the time maintained peaceful relations with Thessalonica, the dukes of the Drugoviti decided to storm the walls so as to surround and take the city. They ignored the weak and increasingly few residents and besides a few Sklavenes assured them that they will easily destroy the city. So they prepared by the gates fire-carrying weapons, war machines made out of wicker rods, giant ladders, also stone-throwing ballistas and many other machines, newly made projectiles, in short, all that gear that no one of our generation had known or had seen. The names of a majority of these we cannot pronounce till this day. And so, in this way all the Sklavenes of the Rhynchine tribe together with the Sagudatis attacked the city on the twenty-fifth of July of the fifth indiction, some from the land, others from the sea together with many oarsmen…

The merciful and beneficent God, always present amongst those who call on him, appeared immediately and with his intercession gave rise to a beginning of miracles, forcing one of the barbarian tribes – the Strymones – to flee. When in accordance with their earlier plots they found themselves three miles distant from our city, thanks to the prayers of Saint Demetrius, by God’s will, they were forced to turn back. From this moment on, the entire tribe of the Rhynchines and those who were with them and other barbarian tribes together with the Sagudatis besieged us from land and sea. On the first day they surrounded the city from the western side all the way to the eastern side and [their] seasoned warriors took in all the places from which it would have been easy for them to take the city during a siege. Likewise, the Sklavenes on their coupled together [boats?] guarded all the coast; and they all together readied ruin for the city raising destructive machines alongside the [city] walls.

The Thessalonicans feared then that the Velegeziti would kill those who had been sent to them for they [the Velegeziti] knew about the assault on us. And indeed the Velegeziti did harbor such plans and would have put them in effect but for being thwarted in this by the martyr [that is Demetrius]…

When it began to dawn, all the barbarians rose up and raised a great cry such that the whole earth shook and the [city] walls trembled. Upon this, all those [barbarians] who were close to the walls, scaled them together with their prepared weaponry, machines and fire; some from the side of the land, others on their conjoined boats alongside the entire shoreline, then the armored bowmen, shield bearers, infantry units, javelin throwers, slingers, war machine keepers and the braver of them with siege ladders and fire. Then the entire populace gathered in the city saw that a great swarm of missiles shrouded the world and day turned to dusk…

In the ensuing fog of war, the Sklavenes attempted to set the aforementioned gate on fire. Having lit a great fire, they threw firebrands and [their] bowmen archers, light armored troops and javelin throwers and [other] missile tossers did not permit any of [our] armored soldiers to lean out over the gates but kept them all under fire. And even though their actions caused all the wood inside [the gate] to burn down, the iron joints did not fail and they were as if [merely] buried [by the wood] and in other ways were [even] strengthened. In this manner, the gate that had been set on fire remained untouched and the frightened barbarians retreated from that place. They also, quite unexpectedly suffered a great loss of men, both killed and wounded, and not only in this place [at the gate] but on the entire land and sea.

The feuding barbarians berated those who has egged them on earlier: “Did you not tell us that there was no one in the city save old people and a few women? How then did such a great gathering of people stand against us?” For all of them it became clear that the battle had been fought by our champions, the holy [protectors] of the city by intercession of [Saint] Demetrius. After a few days there returned, with grain and vegetables, safely [to the city] those who had gone to the Velegeziti. They had learned there from the Sklavenes about the salvation of the city, which happened, God willing, through the intercession of our guardian, [Saint] Demetrius. The barbarians suspected, how we have already said, and how they themselves had proclaimed that God shall not fail to save and strengthen the weak and [shall not fail too] to harshly judge the haughty… The Lord had foiled [their] hostile [plans] towards us, for our enemies in their wretchedness placed their hopes in their armor and were sure of their numerical superiority. …

And truly this was the greatest of the then miracles. For the afore-mentioned Sklavenes, to their own ruin did design and maliciously prepare resilient weaponry and devices to attack the city, some prepared hostile machines and inventions; others, gathering supplies of swords and missiles, some trying to prove themselves more eager and better than the others, competing in front of the leaders of the tribes. At this time there was among the Sklavenes a certain man capable in deed[s] and ideas who, by reason of his great experience being present during the preparation and setting up of the devices, asked the duke himself that this one give him permission and guarantee assistance in the building of a mighty [siege] tower on wheels and rollers which [indeed] was a clever design of wood; he said that this should be covered with fresh hides, placing stone throwers on top and swords on both sides and shields on top to protect armored men; this [machine] had three levels and also housed archers and slingers; in short, he wanted to construct a device with the assistance of which, he would, he firmly claimed, undoubtedly take the city.

The dukes of the Sklavenes, excited by the description of the singular device, but not [fully] trusting this tale, asked him that he should draw the afore-mentioned on the ground. Without delay, this constructor and inventor sketched out the outlines of this machine in the dirt. Since at last the dukes of the Sklavenes, were convinced of the effective nature of this machine that was to be built, they eagerly delivered many young men, some experienced and hardy lumberjacks to chop down trees for the base [of the machine], craftsmen to make iron weaponry and some heavy troops to make missiles. Many helpers aided the afore-mentioned enterprise. Each helped the other so that finally the construction was to begin. It was then that the defender and caretaker of all, thoughtfully foreseeing the future, God’s servant, Demetrius, having appeared to the one who was supposed to engineer the machine, with a sudden strike to his face, deprived [the engineer] of his mental faculties. And immediately this man started to flee from his own [companions], while they urged him to return to work [and] when he ran away again; and when they approached him, he would flee from them. HIs mental faculties having been rendered ineffective, he lived like a wild animal, without clothes, in hard to cross mountains, in hiding, avoiding people. And so the work on erecting this complicated machine was halted.

And the engineer, as was described, lived in the wilderness until such time as Demetrius had weakened the siege efforts. Then the inventor of this machine, having regained his senses, told everyone about the punishment that he met by the hand of the martyr. It was when he began to construct this tower that he saw a certain red-haired man in a rich outfit who struck him in the face with his hand. For this reason he lost his faculties and seeing himself in each man [that he encountered], he fled. When he again saw this man, this one told him to return from his desolation and said to him that he should not fear but that he should return to the city to find him. And so he did come back and searched for the one who caused miracles to transpire, the holy savior of the fatherland and having found him and recognized that it was he who had prevented his building of the machine, he [the engineer] honestly and immediately turned his trust to God and the holy martyr Demetrius. He was deemed worthy of baptism and he, in turn, told everyone about this miracle.

And so this time too did the city receive aid by means of its patron. All the Sklavenes, Strymones and Rhynchines, after a short rest, assaulted using their bound boats those rowers who were returning to Constantinople with a grain transport; they robbed the people from the islands, from the straight, from Parium and Prokonnessus [Marmara].* Taking customs officials and rowers prisoner, they sailed away together with their booty home. Them the Emperor, crowned by will of Christ, seeing the tenacity and cunning of the enemies of our city, but also that they had the daring to go against the authorities, deemed it appropriate that the soldiers of his army should move against the Strymones [marching] through Thrace and the lands lying nearby and to do so not covertly or secretly but letting them know of the attack. Some of them [the Strymones], having been earlier informed [of the Byzantine advance], filled the ravines and fortified place in full armor so as to resist the Byzantine armies having convinced all the auxiliary units of various barbarian dukes to cooperate [with the defenders].

[* note: at the Hellespont/Dardanelles straight]

And then… the Byzantine army won a victory over the Sklavenes, and in the ambushes that they [the Suavs] prepared, [the army] destroyed strong and excellent warriors. The entire barbarian tribe was fleeing and those who were secretly returning to our city, were being persuaded that they should go to their [Suavs’] houses that lat nearby and take away their [Suavs’] harvest bounty.  For by reason of the indescribable fear and defeat which found place, their families, leaving all behind, were moving deep into the country. You could see the exhausted Thessalonicans with women and children leaving for the houses that lay near Lete and other nearby places and taking away grains, vegetables and equipment and carrying on their shoulders what could be eaten; [they moved] unarmed for that was easier and [only] half-clothed by reason of exhaustion from travel and the heat…

When the Emperor, on whom it befell to justly and piously to rule over us, sent his army to do battle with the Sklavenes, he also sent ships with grains, even before we asked for it. The city government delayed [having it sent to the city] fearing that the delivery for which they were pleading should not create outrage and suspicion among some who should find out about it. And even though it was said that five thousand measures of grain would suffice for the city, our lord [the Emperor], inspired by God, ordered to sixty thousand to be delivered to us. It was then that, after the delivery of the grains and other products and the arrival of the ships that escorted them, the barbarians as a last resort agreed to peace…

V. Concerning the Civil War Planned Secretly Against our City by the Bulgars
Mauros and Kouver
(this piece is from the Peter Charanis translation)

As you know, lovers of Christ, we have related in part, in what has proceeded, about the Sklavenes, the one called Chatzon, and also the Avars; that having ravaged virtually all Illyricum and its provinces, I mean the two Pannonias, the two Dacias, Dardania, Mysia, Praevalin, Rhodope, and also Thrace and the regions along the walls of Byzantium, and having taken the rest of the cities and towns, they lead the people to a place near the Danube in the direction of Pannonia whose metropolis had been formerly the aforementioned Sirmium. It was there, as it is said, that the aforementioned Chagan settled all the people he had captured to be henceforth his subjects. There they intermarried with Bulgars, Avars, and other peoples, had children with them, children whom they brought up according to the traditions of the Romans, and so through orthodoxy and the holy and life-giving baptism the race of the Christians increased and became numerous as had that of the Hebrews in Egypt under the Pharaoh. And as each related to the other concerning the residence of their ancestors, they fired in each other’s heart to desire to return.

After some sixty and more years had passed following the devastations which affected their ancestors, another and new people evolved, and in time the greatest number of them became free. Finally, the Chagan, considering them to constitute a people with an identity of its own put, in accordance to the custom of his race, a chieftain upon them, a man by the name of Kouver. When Kouver learned from some of his most intimate associates the desire of the exiled Romans for their ancestral homes, he gave the matter some thought, then took them together with other peoples, i.e., the foreigners who had joined them, [as is said in the Book of Moses about the Jews at the time of their exodus,] with all their baggage and arms. According to what is said, they rebelled and separated themselves from the Chagan. The Chagan, when he learned this, set himself in pursuit of them, met them in five or six battles and, being defeated in each one by them, took flight and retired to the regions further north. After the victory, Kouver, together with the aforementioned people, crossed the aforementioned river Danube, came to our regions and occupied the Keramesion plain. Once there, the people, in particular those who were orthodox, sought their ancestral cities, some, our city of Thessalonica, protected by the martyr, others, the most prosperous and queen of cities, and still others, the cities in Thrace which still stood.

This is what the people wanted. But counsellors of mischievious intent conceived the following ill advice: that no one among the people achieve what he desired, but that Kouver remain their chieftain and Chagan, mixed as they had come. For if they tried to go to the one who had obtained from God the scepter to rule over us and he received and dispersed them, Kouver would thereby be deprived of his authority. Accordingly, an embassy was sent to the bearer of the scepter requesting that he [Kouver] be allowed to remain together with his people where he was, and that the nation of the Drugoviti, situated near us, be ordered to furnish him in sufficient quantity the necessary provisions. And this was done. Accordingly, when most of them went among the huts of the Sklavenes in order to provision themselves and, when upon asking, they ascertained was not very far, most of those of Roman origin, with wives and children, began to enter our city saved by God. The administrative officials immediately sent them by ship to the capital.

When Kouver learned this, as he could not reveal the perfidy which lay in his heart, he took counsel with his advisers about his own thought and loss, and came to this secret resolve: that one of his most remarkable and clever chieftains, a man, to speak briefly, replete with the machinations of the devil, who knew our language, that of the Romans, Sklavenes, and Bulgars, should feign to have rebelled against Kouver. He should, like the rest, approach our city guarded by God, and pretending to offer himself the servitor of the emperor, introduce among us the greatest part of his people, those who shared his evil design. And so, in this way, through a civil war, he would take the city. After its occupation, Kouver, with baggage and the rest of his chieftains, would openly establish himself there and then. Having fortified himself, he would attack the surrounding nations, and having become master of them, he would wage war against the islands and Asia, and even against the emperor himself.

Following the consultation and this decision confirmed, it appears, by oath, one of the chieftains, a man by the name of Mauros, found refuge in our city. There, using fine but deceptive words confirmed by oaths, persuaded those in power to bring to the most pious emperor a report about him which was most favorable and worthy of belief. The emperor, the benefactor of all, persuaded by what was reported to him, sent a written act designating Mauros consul as a mark of honor, and offering him a standard as gift. He ordered further that all the Sermesians who had fled from Kouver be put under his command. When this order became public and was inserted in the register of matriculation, all the people who had fled here were put under the command of Mauros, and he became their general. However, some among the Romans, knowing that Mauros never kept any faith, but that by his machinations, deceptions, and perjuries he was always evil in his ways and had thus ravaged many places and peoples, advised that one should have no faith in him. When Mauros learned this–he learned it from charges made by those who were close to him in their ways of thought and manner of acting–he cut off the heads of those who were revealing in secret his terrible design and sold their wives and children wherever and as he pleased.

Thus, the rest of the Christians, not daring to reveal the ambush being set up against the city, bemoaned their fate and that of the city. No one dared to offer resistance. Moreover, those who were in power then seemed to fear him. For this, Mauros had designated as centurions, decurions, and officers at the head of fifty men those persons who shared his evil designs. And his armed men, provided for at the public expense, watched day and night wherever there were courageous men. His plan was this, that, during the night of the great feast of Holy Saturday, when the city, with all, would be celebrating the joyous resurrection of the Savior Christ, he would with his men experienced in war incite civil war, set fire in certain official places, and thus take possession of the city.

But he who had received power from God by an invisible inspiration and sign, according to what it is written, that the heart of the king is in the hand of God, diverting it as water wherever he wishes, considered it good, without yet knowing of the evil planned against the city, to order Sisinnios, then commander of the ships, a man wise in his words and ways and in all things confiding in God, to come to this city guarded by the glorious athlete, together with the soldiers of the ships under his command. He was to watch over the aforementioned Mauros, and those who had gathered about him, to the end that with such an army as his here present, those about the aforementioned Kouver would be more eager to seek refuge in the city. This illustrious Sisinnios, wishing to execute this order, departed from the regions of Hellas and reached the island of Skiathos, now for many years uninhabited, on Sunday before Holy Easter, a Sunday which is celebrated in all orthodox cities and is called Palm Sunday. And finding one of the holy churches located there overgrown with shrubs and trees, he ordered his obedient soldiers to have part of it cleared in order to celebrate the holy liturgy. And this was done.

On the following day, which was the Holy Monday of the Lord’s passion, as the winds were not favorable for sailing towards us, this most virtuous man assembled alt his army and said to them that they should not be negligent, that they should clear the rest of the church and the baptistry that was there, and that they should prepare themselves to hear the words of Christ and celebrate the holiday as was customary. Having heard the speech, they put themselves most willingly, each one urging the other, to the task of clearing the church and the baptistry. Some among them occupied themselves with the preparations for the holiday, others fished, while still others hunted; in a word, each hoped to contribute what appeared to him best in the preparations for the holiday. Meanwhile, they were all ignorant of what was in the mind of the aforementioned Kouver, Mauros, and their associates. Now, after the divine liturgy for this Holy Monday vrai celebrated, after all had dined and according to custom rendered thanks to God, they were ordered by that most praiseworthy man, after he had taken care of everything that pertained to the watch, to rest.

As for him, as soon as he fell asleep, there appeared before him not in dream but in reality the one who ever works and cares for unworthy servants and country, who manages all well for our salvation, the glorious martyr of God, Demetrius, and spoke to him thus:“ Arise, why do you sleep! Put sail, the wind is favorable.” Thereupon Sisinnios, considering this vision as most real, asked the guardian of the ship what was the wind. And he replied: “it is contrary and more violent than yesterdayHe was again about to sleep, when the same saint reappeared and, arousing him quickly and touching his side, said: “Arise I told you, put sail, the wind is favorable.” Aroused thus again, he asked those who slept nearby and those in charge of the watch who it was who had spoken to him and had awakened him in order to depart. As everyone denied having seen anybody or to have heard anything about the matter at all, he asked again if the wind was favorable. Everyone said that it was contrary. Perplexed by what was said and seen, he was, because of his great preoccupations, about to fall asleep again, when the martyr approached him for the third time and, not without some concern and annoyance, said to him:

“Do not be negligent, arise, set sail, the wind is favorable; here you are sleeping, while others sail.” This admirable man, a true friend of God and the martyr, now got up, realized that such an exhortation to sail was a divine revelation, not a thing imagined, and began, without making any inquiries, to move quickly about the ships, ordering them to set sail towards us. There were some who objected to this, asking why. Since the winds were unfavorable and they were busy preparing for the celebration of the holiday, he wished to transport them to another place still more deserted. But he, assured by the third appearance of the martyr, i.e. the vision of the protector of our city, Demetrius, and his persistent belief that the sailing would be favorable, gave orders to row in order to put to sea. Just then he saw a ship, seeming to come from the regions of Chalcidice, sailing towards them and he recalled what was said to him in the revelation.

The ships, propelled by the oars, moved towards the open sea, facing, as we said, the wind, when suddenly the wind, through a sign of God, thanks to the intercession of the saint, began to blow behind them. And so, sailing smoothly and happily, they reached this city, delivered by God thanks to its defender Demetrius, on Holy Wednesday of the Holy Week, at the seventh hour. Thus, the drama of the civil war, cruelly conceived and planned by Mauros and his followers, was avoided. Mauros, frightened and discouraged, was seized by a fever which put him to bed for many days. Indeed, he would have passed away had not the aforementioned man, the ever praiseworthy general, unaware of what he had meditated, reassured him by words and oaths. As regards to the appearance of the martyr and his urgings on him to set sail, all this the general related to most of the citizens, emphasizing the concern and providence which the martyr had for the city. He gave orders finally that Mauros with all the following which had come to him from Kouver, as well as the army of the ships under his own command, withdraw from the city and encamp in the regions to the west of it in order that the Keramesians, who wished to get away from the Sklavenes and come here, might do so freely and without fear.

Now, after this, when an imperial order and the vessels intended to transport the Keramesians, so often mentioned, had reached the aforementioned God-loving general in charge of the ships referred to, this Mauros, together with those who had fled with him, joined the emperor, crowned by God, and, having been received by him, was named archon. But not even in this did the providence of the saint inspired by God remain lax, but through the son of the same Mauros he made known to the pious ears the evil project which Mauros and Kouver had formulated against our city, revealing thus to him, (i.e. the emperor) the treachery of the so often mentioned Mauros; and also this, that in the regions of Thrace, he had resolved in his treachery even to turn against his life. That these things appeared to be truly so is shown by this: that, the often mentioned Kouver, observing what had been agreed between him and Mauros, did no harm to any of the men or property of Mauros. Furthermore, not only did he allow the wives of Mauros to retain their honors, but had these honors increased. The aforementioned pious emperor, who puts the affairs of the empire into the hands of God, the source of his power, did not put Mauros, whom God had now abandoned to him, to death, but, stripping him of his honors, deprived him of the command and his army, and confined him in a suburb under the watchful eyes of reliable men.

Who will not admire, dear and Christ-loving brothers, the passion, the solicitude and the help of Demetrius of everlasting memory, protector and liberator of our city ? We were without concern and in ignorance with regard to the capture of our city and he, through God, put it into the heart of the emperor to send the fleet here for the help and salvation of the city ; and, as the day of the planned civil war and our unexpected and inescapable death approached, he aroused the general, turned the wind from unfavorable to favorable,inducing thereby a smooth and happy sailing and so destroyed the plans and hopes of those who had thought to capture this city, his servant.

V. A Different Miracle by the Holy Martyr Demetrius or of the Bishop Cyprianus

When he* was already on his way, traveling by ship which approached the shores of Greece, he was taken prisoner by the savage Sklavenes. They took prisoner who were with him on the ship and, having counted them all, made into servants, including the bishop. And taking them towards their lands they used them whether or not the prisoner was of a gentle or gruff disposition…

[* note: this refers to Cyprian, an African bishop on his way to Constantinople.]

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January 26, 2018

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