elieve that it was a weakness of
which his accuser was guilty, and to prove that statement, he there and
then sent two members of the court to the treasurer of the palace for
evidence in support of the charge. In regard to the accusation that he
did not always favour the petitions addressed to him by the patriarch,
he remarked that it was not an emperor's duty to grant all the petitions
he received, but to discriminate between them according to their merits.
At the same time he expressed his readiness to be more indulgent in the
future. Moved by these explanations, as well as by the entreaties of the
emperor and the bishops present at this strange scene, held in the dead
of night in the secrecy of the monastery, Cosmas relented, and returned
next day to the patriarchate.[229]

But peace between the two parties was not of long duration. Only a few
weeks later Andronicus restored to office a bishop of Ephesus who had
been canonically deposed. Cosmas protested, and when his remonstrances
were disregarded, he withdrew again to the Pammakaristos,[230] and
refused to allow his seclusion to be disturbed on any pretext. To the
surprise of everybody, however, he suddenly resumed his functions--in
obedience, he claimed, to a Voice which said to him, 'If thou lovest Me,
feed My sheep.'[231] But such conduct weakened his position. His enemies
brought a foul charge against him. His demand for a thorough
investigation of the libel was refused. And in his vexation he once more
sought the shelter of the Pammakaristos, abdicated the patriarchal
throne, and threw the ecclesiastical world into a turmoil.[232] Even
then there were still some, including the emperor, who thought order and
peace would be more speedily restored by recalling Cosmas to the office
he had laid down. But the opposition to him had become too powerful, and
he was compelled to bid farewell to the retreat he loved, and to end his
days in his native city of Sozopolis, a man worsted in battle.[233]

[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII.
S. MARY PAMMAKARISTOS. THE PARECCLESION FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
_To face page 144._]

Of the life at the Pammakaristos during the remainder of the period
before the Turkish conquest only a few incidents are recorded. One abbot
of the monastery, Niphon, was promoted in 1397 to the bishopric of Old
Patras, and another named Theophanes was made bishop of the important
See of Heraclea. An instance of the fickleness of fortune was brought
home t