ury,
Theodore the Metochites' (Plate XCI.).

The restoration of the church must have been completed before the year
1321, for in that year Nicephorus Gregoras[531] describes it as then
recently ([Greek: arti]) renovated, and in use for the celebration of
divine service. How long before 1321 the work of repair precisely
commenced cannot be determined, but it was in process as early as 1303,
for that date is inscribed in Arabic numerals on the mosaic depicting
the miracle at Cana, which stands to the right of the figure of Christ
over the door leading from the outer to the inner narthex. But to have
reached the stage at which mosaics could be applied the work of
restoration must have been commenced sometime before 1303.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIV.
S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX.]

[Illustration: S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX.
_To face page 300._]

One of the most distinguished members of the Chora was the historian
Nicephorus Gregoras, who learned to know the monastery through his
friendship with Theodore Metochites. The two men met first when
Nicephorus came from his native town Heraclea on the Black Sea to
Constantinople, a youth eager to acquire the knowledge that flourished
in the capital. Being specially interested in the science of astronomy,
the student placed himself under the instruction of Theodore, then the
greatest authority on the subject, and won the esteem and confidence of
his master to a degree that ripened into the warmest friendship and the
most unreserved intellectual intercourse. In his turn, Nicephorus
Gregoras became the instructor of the children of the grand logothetes,
and was treated as a member of the family. He was also associated with
the restoration of the Chora, attending particularly to the collection
of the costly materials required for the embellishment of the church.
Thus the monastery became his home from youth to old age, and after
Theodore's death was entrusted to his care.[532] During the fierce
controversy which raged around the question whether the light beheld at
the Transfiguration formed part of the divine essence, and could be seen
again after prolonged fasting and gazing upon one's navel, as the monks
of Mount Athos and their supporters maintained, Nicephorus Gregoras, who
rejected that idea, retired from public life to defend what he deemed
the cause of truth more effectively. But to contend with a master of
legio