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Rh he had excited, yet conscious of high purpose and determined to persevere, he consented to accept the post only upon condition that his control over the Church should be absolute and unfettered, and should be so declared by imperial decree.

His elevation to the primacy was signalized by more energetic action, and his measures of reform aimed higher than at mere restoration of accurate ceremonial observance. He punished with relentless severity all transgressions of the clergy, all indifference and sloth in the discharge of their duties, and, especially, he set his face against their besetting sin, intemperance. Heads of monasteries and high dignitaries, as well as simple monks, were made to feel the weight of his displeasure; the distant convents of Siberia were filled with dissolute, wretched priests, condemned without appeal and banished without mercy. He endeavored to give life to the Church, and to create a sense of the moral obligation imposed by religion. As supreme pontiff, he continued his former habit of expounding and preaching. In the account of Macarius's travels there is frequent allusion to the surprise of the Eastern prelates at this innovation, of which they were witnesses, and to the long and "copious" patriarchal sermons, "until our spirits were broken within us the tedious while." Their chronicler, Paul of Aleppo, also expatiates, with pious joy, upon the extraordinary devotion manifested by the emperor and the people. When Alexis took the field against the Poles "the patriarch stood before him, and raised his voice in prayer for the emperor, making a beautiful exordium with parables and proverbs from the ancients … and with much prolixity of discourse, running on at his leisure, like a copious stream of running water. … No one seemed to find fault with him, or to be tired of his discourse; but