Soon after arrival in Ephesos, he wrote three letters to his acquaintances: to Georgios (Bourtzes), metropolitan of Athens, from whom he had no news; to Eirene Doukaina, daughter of Anna Komnene, without seeking to add to her burdens, and with greetings to her don Alexios; and to Theodoros Pantechnes, telling him that Ephesos had deteriorated markedly since he saw it. The message of the three letters was similar: he was dismayed by coming face-to-face with the problems he had taken on, and wished he had not. His great church, the basilica of Hagios Ioannes, was in a bad state with falling masonry, suitable only for birds and animals. He was to return to Constantinople to lobby Manuel I, who had just returned to the capital