Michael Psellos claimed to have come to the holy altar of the Church of Stoudios and seen Michael V and Konstantinos the nobelissimos, both clutching the holy table and in monastic dress, surrounded by the furious populace and terrified. He was, he says, deeply moved. The two suppliants noticed his emotion, and converged on him. He asked Konstantinos why he had shared in the ill-treatment of Zoe, and Michael what he had suffered from her to justify his actions. Konstantinos denied involvement, saying that Michael was beyond restraint, complaining of his violent persecution of the rest of the family and claiming that he too would have suffered if he had tried to stop him. Michael wept and accepted the divine justice of his punishment