The whole nature of existing things which thou hast made Cannot contain Thee, the primordial nature, For Thou fillest it, and yet remainest more than it; O Logos of God, living and holding all in the hollow of Thy hand, Although as true flesh Thou art circumscribed, And dwellest, mystically, in faithful souls, Establishing for Thyself an immortal habitation, Yet accept the house which I have built for Thee, Which shows clearly the disposition of my soul. My husband who, alas! has died to me And gone forth from his house of clay, Do Thou Thyself settle in an incorruptible mansion, Guarding also here the shrine of his remains, Lest any injury should befall his bones. O protostrator, these things, too, for thy sake I trow, Writes she who erewhile was thy wife, but now is Martha.[256] [Illustration: FIG. 50.] _To face page 160._ [Illustration: FIG. 51.] [Illustration: FIG. 52.] [Illustration: FIG. 53.] [215] See the masterly articles of Mr. Siderides in the _Proceedings of the Greek Syllogos of C.P._; supplement to vols. xx.-xxii. pp. 19-32; vol. xxix. pp. 265-73. I beg to acknowledge my great indebtedness to their learned author. [216] 'This is the thoughtful deed of John Comnenus and of his consort Anna of the family Ducas. Grant to them, O Pure One, rich grace and appoint them dwellers in the house of God.' [217] Vol. ii, p. 183. [218] _Carmina Philae_, vol. i. ode 237, lines 21-23. Codex Paris, p. 241. [219] M. Crusius, _Turcograecia_, p. 189. [220] It should read, [Greek: Branaina]. See Siderides, in the _Proceedings of the Greek Syllogos of C.P._ vol. xxix. p. 267. [221] For the protovestiarius, see Pachym. i. pp. 205, 469; ii. pp. 68, 72, 210; for the protostrator, see Pachym. ii. pp. 12, 445. The former died in 1284, the latter about 1315. Cf. Siderides, _ut supra_. See on this subject the article of A. E. Martini in _Atti della R. Academia di archeologia, lettere e belle arti_, vol. xx., Napoli, 1900. [222] _Carmina Philae_, vol. i. Codex Florent. ode 95, lines 280-82. [223] See _Carmina Philae_, edited by E. Miller, odes 54, 57, 59, 92, 164, 165, 219, 237, for references to the protostrator, or to his wife, or to the Pammakaristos. [224] Hans Jacob Breüning, _Orientalische Reyss_, chap. xvii. p. 66. He visited Constantinople 1579-80. The portraits stood 'Im Eingang auff der rechten Seiten,' or, as another authority has it, 'in patriarchica porta exteriore, in pariete dextero ab ingredientibus conspiciuntur,' _Turcograecia_, p. 75. [225] Gerlach refers to these portraits, but without mentioning the names of the persons they represented. The legends were communicated to M. Crusius (_Turcograecia_, p. 75) by Theodosius Zygomalas, the protonotarius of the patriarch in the time of Gerlach.