Peter the Hermit went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His Christian host there told him about outrages to Christians in the city in the past, and severe problems in the present. He saw the truth of this and discussed it in an interview with the patriarch Symeon. Symeon was impressed with him, told him of his helplessness, and said that salvation could only lie in the prosperous west, as Byzantium had just lost half its empire. Peter wept and assured him that the Pope and western rulers would act, if they had credible information. Different texts divide responsibility in different ways. Peter asked Symeon to write to them (which he did), and promised personal intervention on his return home, perhaps at the patriarch's suggestion. He saw a confirmatory vision of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Anna Komnene's version has him setting out on pilgrimage but badly treated by the Turks and Saracens who dominated the route, and returning home to try again via the crusade