ly
the death of the abbot in 846 and lack of money prevented the
reconstruction of those sanctuaries. The only churches attached to the
Chora noticed in the biography of Michael Syncellus are the church of S.
Anthimus, containing the relics of S. Babylas and his eighty-four
disciples, the dependent chapel of S. Ignatius, and the church of the
Forty Martyrs.[522] Let it also be noted that there is yet no mention of
a church specially consecrated to the Saviour.

After its restoration in the 9th century the Chora does not appear again
in history until the reign of Alexius I. Comnenus (1081-1118), when,
owing to its great age, it was found in a state of almost complete
ruin.[523] If for no other reason, the proximity of the church to the
palace or Blachernae, which had become the favourite residence of the
court, brought the dilapidated pile into notice, and its restoration was
undertaken by the emperor's mother-in-law, Maria, the beautiful and
talented granddaughter of Samuel, the famous king of Bulgaria, and niece
of Aecatherina, the consort of Isaac I. Comnenus. Maria had married
Andronicus Ducas, a son of Michael VII., and the marriage of her
daughter Irene Ducaena to Alexius was designed to unite the rival
pretensions of the families of the Comneni and the Ducas to the throne.
It had been strenuously opposed by Anna Dalassena, the mother of
Alexius, and its accomplishment in 1077, notwithstanding such formidable
opposition, is no slight proof of the diplomatic skill and determination
of the mother of the bride. Nor can it be doubted that Irene's mother
acted a considerable part in persuading Alexius, when he mounted the
throne, not to repudiate his young wife, as he was tempted to do in
favour of a fairer face. Perhaps the restoration of the Chora was a
token of gratitude for the triumph of her maternal devotion.

The church was rebuilt on the plan which it presents to-day, for in the
account of the repairs made in the fourteenth century it is distinctly
stated that they concerned chiefly the outer portion of the
edifice.[524] To Alexius' mother-in-law, therefore, may be assigned the
central part of the structure, a cruciform hall; the dome, so far as it
is not Turkish, the beautiful marble incrustation upon the walls, the
mosaic eikons of the Saviour and of the Theotokos on the piers of the
eastern dome-arch, and the exquisite marble carving above the latter
eikon--all eloquent in praise of the taste and munificence