Another of the sanctuaries at the Hebdomon was the church erected, in 407, by the Emperor Arcadius to enshrine the reputed remains of the Prophet Samuel.[1282] Such importance was attached to these relics that their conveyance from Palestine to Constantinople, by way of Asia Minor, resembled an Imperial progress through the country. One might have supposed the prophet himself was moving through the land, so great was the interest and devotion displayed by the population along the route.[1283] Nor were the relics less honoured upon their arrival at the capital. The emperor and the highest dignitaries of Church and State did homage to them at the Scala Chalcedonensis and carried them in procession to the Church of St. Sophia, where the sacred remains rested until the church built for them at the Hebdomon was completed.[1284] The church fell in the earthquake which shook the city in the thirty-first year of the reign of Justinian the Great.[1285] But the most venerated church in the suburb was that dedicated to St. John the Baptist (τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου),[1286] a domical edifice, built by Theodosius the Great[1287] for the reception of the head, it was supposed, of the heroic Forerunner of Christ. The Emperor Valens had already sought to obtain the relic. But its possessors, certain monks of the sect of Macedonius, who had taken it with them from Jerusalem to Cilicia, refused to surrender the treasure, and all that Valens succeeded in doing was to bring it as near to Constantinople as Panticheion (Pendik), on the opposite shore of the Sea of Marmora. There, the mules which drew the car conveying the relic refused to proceed any further, and at that village, accordingly, in obedience to what appeared to be an indication of the Divine will, the sacred head was allowed to remain. When Theodosius the Great endeavoured to acquire the relic, its custodians, a woman Matrona and a priest Vicentius, did everything in their power to prevent the execution of the emperor’s design. But the pressure to make them yield was such that at last they gave their reluctant consent. In doing so, however, Matrona cherished the secret belief that Theodosius would be hindered, like Valens, from carrying out his purpose; while Vicentius laid down a condition which he thought could never be fulfilled, viz. that the emperor in removing the head should walk after the Baptist. Theodosius saw no difficulty in the condition. He reverently wrapped the reliquary in his Imperial mantle and, holding the sacred contents in front of him, took them to the Church of St. John the Evangelist at the Hebdomon, and commenced the erection of a church consecrated to the Forerunner’s name as their final shrine. This won Vicentius over to the emperor’s side, and he followed the head to the Hebdomon. But Matrona, with a true woman’s intensity of feeling, maintained her protest, and would never come near the suburb which had disappointed her faith, and purloined her treasure.[1288]