THE SCENE: When a prominent monk criticized the Emperor for his veneration of religious icons, the Emperor was desperate for advice. In a truly medieval twist, the person that the Emperor consulted was a raving hermit, who proved somewhat less that reliable.
THE TEXT: When the sovereign received the letter and learnt from the messenger what he had heard the monk say with his own ears, he was deeply troubled. He sent for Theodotus Melissenos and discussed with him what should be done concerning this matter. Now Theodotus had been in the clutches of this iconoclastic heresy for some time and was only waiting for the right moment to speak openly of such impiety. Some such advice as this he gave to the emperor: there was a monk living in Dagisthe (he said) who performed extraordinary deeds.
“This matter must be entrusted to him,” he said, “and whatever he prescribes, that is what must be done” – that is what he said to the emperor. Then he came out quickly and went to the monk in question and said to him: “Tomorrow night the emperor will come to you in ordinary clothing, to ask about the faith and other pressing matters. For your part, you are to remember to threaten him with the imminent loss of his life and his fall from the throne, unless he choose of his own free will to embrace the dogma of the emperor Leo the Isaurian and to cast out the idols” – that is what he called the holy icons – “from the churches of God. Nor must you forget to promise him that, if he adopts the way of life you suggest, he will enjoy long life and a fortunate reign of many years.” Having given the monk his instructions and coach him in what he ought to say to the emperor, he went his way.
Shortly after, taking the emperor with him dressed in ordinary clothing, he came to the monk by night. When the conversation was under way, the monk, standing right next to the emperor, said to him (as though it had just been revealed to him by divine inspiration that this man was of imperial rank): “What you are doing is not sensible, O emperor, deceiving us with private citizens’ clothes and concealing the emperor hidden within them. Do what you will, the grace of the divine Spirit has not allowed us to be outsmarted by you any longer.” The emperor was taken aback when he heard this and realized that he had not succeeded in concealing his imperial rank beneath a simple costume, but this is hardly surprising in one who did not know the mischief that was being practiced on him. Taking the monk to be a godly man, he obediently undertook speedily to execute what he proposed; he accordingly decreed the taking down of the sacred icons.
– John Skylitzes, Synopsis of Histories, 11th Century AD
