What information we have in regard to the chapel is little, but clear and definite, resting as it does on the authority of the two epitaphs which the poet Philes composed to be inscribed on the interior and exterior walls of the building. One of the epitaphs, if ever placed in position, has been destroyed or lies concealed under Turkish plaster. Of the other only fragments remain, forming part of the scheme of decoration which adorns the south wall of the chapel. But fortunately the complete text of both epitaphs is preserved in the extant writings of their author, and affords all the information they were meant to record. The chapel was dedicated to Christ as the Logos [249] and was built after the death of the protostrator by his wife Maria, or Martha in religion, for a mausoleum in which to place his tomb. [250] As the protostrator died about 1315, the chapel was erected soon after that date. An interesting incident occurred in this chapel soon after the Turkish conquest. One day when the Sultan was riding through his newly acquired capital he came to the Pammakaristos, and upon being informed that it was the church assigned to the Patriarch Gennadius, alighted to honour the prelate with a visit. The meeting took place in this parecclesion, and the conversation, of which a summary account was afterwards sent to the Sultan, dwelt on the dogmas of the Christian Faith. [251]
Fig. 49
The text of the epitaph, portions of which appear on the exterior face of the south wall of the parecclesion of the church of the Pammakaristos (Carmina Philae, ccxxiii. ed. Miller, vol. i. pp. 117-18) reads as follows:—
Ἄνερ, τὸ φῶς, τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ πρόσφθεγμά μου, καὶ τοῦτό σοι τὸ δῶρον ἐκ τῆς συζύγου· σὺ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἄγρυπνος ἐν μάχαις λέων ὑπνοῖς, ὑπελθὼν ἀντὶ λόχμης τὸν τάφον· 5ἐγὼ δέ σοι τέτευχα πετραίαν στέγην, μὴ πάλιν εὑρὼν ὁ στρατός σε συγχέῃ, κἂν δεῦρο τὸν χοῦν ἐκτινάξας ἐκρύβης, ἢ τοῦ πάχους ῥεύσαντος ἡρπάγης ἄνω, πᾶν ὅπλον ἀφεὶς ἐκκρεμὲς τῷ παττάλῳ· 10τὰς γὰρ ἐπὶ γῆς ἐβδελύξω παστάδας ἐν εὐτελεῖ τρίβωνι φυγὼν τὸν βίον καὶ πρὸς νοητοὺς άντετάξω σατράπας, στεῤῥὰν μετενδὺς ἐκ θεοῦ παντευχίαν. ὡς ὄστρεον γοῦν ὀργανῶ σοι τὸν τάφον, 15ἢ κόχλον ἢ κάλυκα κεντρώδους βάτου· μάργαρέ μου, πορφύρα, γῆς ἄλλης ῥόδον, εἰ καὶ τρυγηθὲν ἐκπιέζῃ τοῖς λίθοις ὡς καὶ σταλαγμοὺς προξενεῖν μοι δακρύων, αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ ζῶν καὶ Θεὸν ζῶντα βλέπων 20ὡς νοῦς καθαρὸς τῶν παθῶν τῶν ἐξ ὕλης τὸν σὸν πάλιν θάλαμον εὐτρέπιζέ μοι· ἡ σύζυγος πρὶν ταῦτά σοι Μάρθα γράφει, πρωτοστράτορ κάλλιστε καὶ τεθαμμένων. [252]
O my husband, my light, my breath, whom I now greet. This gift to thee also is from thy wife. For thou indeed who wast like a sleepless lion in battles Sleepest, having to endure the grave, instead (of occupying) thy lair. But I have erected for thee a dwelling of stone, Lest the army finding thee again, should trouble thee, Although here thou art hidden, having cast off thy (body of) clay, Or, the gross flesh having dropped off, thou hast been transported above, Leaving every weapon hung up on its peg. For thou didst abhor the mansions in the world, [253] Having fled from life in the cheap cloak (of a monk), And didst confront invisible potentates, Having received instead (of thine own armour) a strong panoply from God. Therefore I will construct for thee this tomb as a pearl oyster shell, Or shell of the purple dye, or bud on a thorny brier. O my pearl, my purple, rose of another clime, Even though being plucked thou art pressed by the stones So as to cause me sheddings of tears. Yet thou thyself, both living and beholding the living God, As a mind pure from material passions, Prepare for me again thy home. Martha, [254] thy wife formerly, writes these things to thee, O protostrator, fairest also of the dead!
The following epitaph in honour of the protostrator Glabas [255] was to be placed in the parecclesion of the church of the Pammakaristos (Carmina Philae, ccxix., ed. Miller, vol. i. pp. 115-16):—
Ἐπίγραμμα εἰς τὸν ναὸν ὃν ᾠκοδόμησεν ἡ τοῦ πρωτοστράτορος σύμβιος ἀποθανόντι τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς.
ἡ μὲν διὰ σοῦ πᾶσα τῶν ὄντων φύσις οὐ δύναται χωρεῖν σε τὴν πρώτην φύσιν· πληροῖς γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείων μένεις, Θεοῦ Λόγε ζῶν καὶ δρακὶ τὸ πᾶν φέρων, 5 κἂν σὰρξ ἀληθὴς εὑρεθεὶς περιγράφῃ, ψυχαῖς δὲ πισταῖς μυστικῶς ἐνιδρύῃ μονὴν σεαυτῷ πηγνύων ἀθάνατον· οὐκοῦν δέχου τὸν οἶκον ὃν τέτευχά σοι δεικνύντα σαφῶς τῆς ψυχῆς μου τὴν σχέσιν· 10τὸν σύζυγον δὲ φεῦ τελευτήσαντά μοι καὶ τῆς χοïκῆς ἀπαναστάντα στέγης, οἴκισον εἰς ἄφθαρτον αὐτὸς παστάδα, κἀνταῦθα τηρῶν τὴν σορὸν τοῦ λειψάνου, 15μή τις ἐνεχθῇ συντριβὴ τοῖς ὀστέοις. πρωτοστράτορ καὶ ταῦτα σὴν δήπου χάριν ἡ σύζυγος πρίν, ἀλλὰ νῦν Μάρθα γράφει.