e, the attitude of the general towards the
new regime was not considered satisfactory, and with the cruel taunt,
'Wretch, thou didst not make a good son-in-law; how canst thou be a true
friend?' Heraclius relegated him to political nonentity by forcing him
to become a monk at the Chora. The new brother did not live long, but
his wealth furnished the fraternity with the means for the erection of a
large and beautiful church.

Schmitt, indeed, thinks that the biographer of S. Theodore, already
cited, failed to recognise the identity of the person concerning whom he
wrote, and assigned events which occurred in the time of Heraclius to
the reign of Justinian. According to Schmitt, S. Theodore is really
Priscus under his name in religion, and to him, and not to Justinian,
was the Chora indebted for its first great era of prosperity. One thing
is certain, the splendid church with which the biographer of S. Theodore
was acquainted, and the wealth and beauty of which he extols in
extravagant terms, was not the church erected by Justinian at the Chora.
The latter was a basilica;[515] while the church alluded to in the
biography of S. Theodore was a domical building.[516] Probably the fame
of Justinian veiled not only what others had done for the Chora before
him, but also the services performed by others after his day.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXII.
S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA, FROM THE NORTH-EAST.]

[Illustration: S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. THE NORTH SIDE.
_To face page 292._]

In 712 the Patriarch Kyros was confined in the Chora by the Emperor
Philippicus for adherence to the tenets of the Sixth General Council
(680),[517] which condemned the attribution of a single will to the
person of Christ. The fidelity of the patriarch to orthodox opinion was
commemorated annually in the services held at the Chora, as well as in
S. Sophia, on the 8th of January.

The monastery was also honoured by the burial there, in 740, of the
Patriarch Germanus (714-730), famous for his piety, his learning, and
above all for his opposition to Leo the Isaurian, when that emperor
commenced the crusade against eikons. The tomb of the patriarch was
reputed to perform wonderful cures.[518] Another notable personage
buried at the Chora was the patrician Bactagius, an associate of
Artavasdos in the effort, made in 743, to drive Constantine Copronymus
from the throne. Upon the failure of that attempt Bactagius was
captured, beheaded in the Kynegion, a