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AFTER the departure of Epiphanius, John, when preaching in the
church as usual, chanced to inveigh against the vices to which females
are peculiarly prone. The people imagined that his strictures were
enigmatically 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 speedy
presence of Theophilus and the convocation of a council. Severian,
bishop of Gabala, who had not yet changed his former resentment
against John, cooperated in the promotion of 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 Chalcedon 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 Chalcedon with
the utmost alacrity, as likewise all those who cherished any feeling of
hostility against him. The ships which Theophilus expected from
Egypt had already come to Chalcedon. When they had convened again in
the same place, and when they had deliberated how the attempt against
John might be judiciously forwarded by them, Cyrinus, leader of the
church of Chalcedon, who was an Egyptian and a relative of
Theophilus, and who had besides some other difficulties with John,
spoke very abusively of him. Justice, however, seemed to follow him
speedily; 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.
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