ore
strongly marked and rest on marble columns set against shallow
pilasters. The cubical capitals are of white marble and very beautifully
carved with figures of angels and acanthus wreaths. Any marble revetment
which may once have covered the walls has disappeared, but mosaics
depicting scenes in the Saviour's life still decorate the vaulting and
the lunettes of the arches, whilst figures of saints appear upon the
soffits. The mosaics are damaged and have lost some of their brilliancy;
the background is of gold, and the mosaic cubes are small, averaging
about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch.

[Illustration: FIG. 100.]

The parecclesion is entered from the return bays of the outer narthex
through a triple arcade, now partly built up. The capitals of the
columns are Byzantine Corinthian, and retain sufficient traces of their
former decoration in dark blue, gold, and red to give some idea of the
effect of colour on marble in Byzantine churches.

The parecclesion is in two bays. The western bay is covered by a high
twelve-sided drum dome, with windows in each side separated by flat
ribs. In the compartments are figures of the archangels in tempera, with
the legend, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God.'

The eastern bay is covered by a dome vault, and terminates in an apse
semicircular within and lighted by a triple window. It has neither
prothesis nor diaconicon of its own, but communicates with the original
diaconicon of the main church. The three transverse arches in the bay
are tied with wooden tie beams carved with arabesques and retaining
traces of gilding.

On the north and south walls of the western bay are large arches
enclosed in square frames and with finely carved archivolts. Above the
south arch is a slab inscribed with the epitaph to the memory of the
celebrated general Tornikes. There are no indications of an entrance
under the arch. It may have covered a niche, now built up, intended to
receive a tomb, possibly the tomb of the sebastocrator Isaac.

The archivolt of the arch in the north wall is formed of acanthus leaves
turned over at the points; the spandrils are filled with the figures of
the archangels Michael and Gabriel, bearing appropriate emblems, and
above the crown of the arch is a small bust of Christ. In both arches
the carved work is exactly like that of the eikon frame in the
south-eastern pier of the church, and closely resembles the work on the
lintel of the eikon frames in the church of the D