rch Veccus took refuge on two occasions in the
monastery of the Panachrantos, once in 1279 and again in 1282. He could
do so readily and without observation, as the case demanded, when the
shelter he sought stood in the immediate vicinity of his cathedral and
official residence. To escape to a monastery situated in the valley of
the Lycus was, under the circumstances, impracticable.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXII.
(1) S. MARY PANACHRANTOS. THE NORTH CHURCH, LOOKING EAST.
(2) S. MARY PANACHRANTOS. THE NORTH CHURCH, LOOKING WEST.
_To face page 126._]

Constantine Lips was an important personage during the reign of Leo the
Wise (886-912) and of Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus (912-956). Under
the former emperor he held the offices of protospatharius and domestic
of the household. He also went on several missions to the Prince of
Taron, in the course of which romance mingled with politics, with the
result that the daughter of Lips became engaged to the son of the
prince.[200] Upon the accession of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Lips
came under a cloud, on suspicion of being implicated in the plot to
raise Constantine Ducas to the throne, and was obliged to flee the
capital.[201] Eventually he was restored to favour, and enjoyed the
dignities of patrician, proconsul, commander of the foreign guard, and
drungarius of the fleet.[202] He fell in battle in the war of 917
between the Empire and the Bulgarians under Symeon.[203]

The monastery of Lips was restored in the reign of Leo the Wise; the
festival of the dedication of the church being celebrated in the year
908, in the month of June.[204] The emperor honoured the occasion with
his presence, and attended a banquet in the refectory of the monastery.
But the happy proceedings had not gone far, when they were suddenly
interrupted by a furious south-west wind which burst upon the city and
shook houses and churches with such violence that people feared to
remain under cover and imagined that the end of the world had come,
until the storm was allayed by a heavy downpour of rain. As the
south-west wind was named Lips, it is not clear whether the historians
who mention this incident intend to explain thereby the origin of
Constantine's surname, or simply point to a curious coincidence.

Near the church Lips erected also a xenodocheion for the reception of
strangers.[204] The monastery is mentioned by the Anonymus of the
eleventh century,[206] but does not appear again unti