calamitous days. Nothing seemed to have been done for the repair of the
church immediately upon the recovery of the capital in 1261. The ruin
which the Latin occupants of Constantinople left behind them was too
great to be removed at once. The first reference to the Chora at this
period occurs some fourteen years after the restoration of the Byzantine
Empire, when the monastery, owing to its proximity to the palace of
Blachernae, was assigned to the Patriarch Veccus as the house in which
to lodge on the occasion of his audiences with Michael Palaeologus, on
Tuesdays, to present petitions for the exercise of imperial generosity
or justice. But the decay into which the establishment had fallen could
not be long ignored, and a wealthy, talented, and influential citizen
who resided in the neighbourhood, Theodore Metochites,[528] decided to
restore the edifice as a monument of the artistic revival of his own
day.

Theodore Metochites was one of the most remarkable men of his day. His
tall, large, well-proportioned figure, his bright countenance, commanded
attention wherever he appeared. He was, moreover, a great student of
ancient Greek literature and of the literature of later times, and
although never a master of style, became an author and attempted verse.
He was much interested in astronomy, and one of his pupils, the
historian Nicephorus Gregoras, recognised the true length of the year
and proposed the reform of the calendar centuries before Pope Gregory.
Theodore's memory was so retentive that he could converse on any topic
with which he was familiar, as if reading from a book, and there was
scarcely a subject on which he was not able to speak with the authority
of an expert. He seemed a living library, 'walking encyclopaedia.' In
fact, he belonged to the class of brilliant Greek scholars who
might have regenerated the East had not the unfortunate political
situation of their country driven them to Italy to herald and promote
the Renaissance in Western Europe. Theodore Metochites was, moreover, a
politician. He took an active part in the administration of affairs
during the reign of Andronicus II., holding the office of Grand
Logothetes of the Treasury; and such was his devotion to politics, that
when acting as a statesman it might be forgotten that he was a scholar.
The unhappy strife between Andronicus II. and Andronicus III. caused
Theodore Metochites the profoundest anxiety, and it was not his fault if
the feud be