Just as Michael 61 was senior in learning, so too his spiritual progress was comparably advanced and Michael 61 was senior to him and Ioannes 289 in the palace
A wise and learned man, well known in the imperial administration and most virtuous
καὶ τοῖς πολιτικοῖς περίβλεπτος γεγονώς. Attaleiates: History 92.16-19 / 70.6-8
His father died while he was young, but his mother lived much longer, surviving into a virtuous and godfearing old age, even predicting the prominence of her son
Psellos Xiphilinos 421
His legal and intellectual training and experience as a monk gave him all the academic and practical skills needed to become an excellent patriarch
Psellos Xiphilinos 421
A wonderful man by his education, wisdom, sagacity and virtue, he hailed from Trebizond and lived as an ascetic on Mount Olympus
He gave precedence in education to law over philosophy, and became as dominant in that field as Michael 61 in philosophy, without neglecting other studies
He, Michael 61 and Ioannes 289 were brought together by love of learning; ... he and Ioannes were devotees of philosophy, while Psellos was occupied with the highest philosophy