Tzetzes sent three letters to Joseph, hegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery

Summary:
Ioannes Tzetzes sent three letters to Joseph, hegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery. In the first, he wrote to thank Joseph for some sweet-smelling gift which was incomparably better than anything produced in Arabia. The second referred to their first meeting: he described it in terms of extreme eulogy of the hegoumenos. The third referred to a promise by Joseph to repair all the paths around the monastery, at which Tzetzes had gratefully told all his friends. Joseph had largely fulfilled the promise, but had not succeeded with the path to the monks' cells. Tzetzes thus was proved a liar: Joseph should correct this by completing the last path 
Dates:
1146: 
Ioannes Tzetzes, man of letters (Ioannes 459)
  • He wrote to thank Joseph 114 for a sweet-perfumed gift which was incomparably better than anything produced in Arabia (:) Tzetzes, Letters 72.5-73.12
  • When he first met Joseph 114, he described the occasion in a letter, which was expressed in extremely eulogistic terms (:) Tzetzes, Letters 74.1-12
  • When Joseph 114 promised to repair all the paths round the monastery, Tzetzes told all his friends; Joseph carried out his promise, save that the path to the monks' cells was left difficult; Joseph should complete his promise, because Tzetzes had been proven a liar (:) Tzetzes, Letters 74.14-75.11
Joseph, kathegoumenos of the Pantokrator monastery (Joseph 114)
  • He gave Ioannes 459 the gift of some perfumed material, and received in return a complex and flowery letter of thanks (:) Tzetzes, Letters 72.5-73.12
  • He met Ioannes 459 for the first time, and received a letter describing the occasion in terms of very flattering eulogy (:) Tzetzes, Letters 74.1-12
  • He largely fulfilled a promise to improve the paths round the monastery, but not the path to the monks' cells; Tzetzes, who had reported the promise in letters, was thus proven a liar; he asked Joseph to put this right by completing his promise (:) Tzetzes, Letters 74.14-75.11