Depiction of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos in the bestiary of the lithi (with the emperor and the founder John Primikarios as a soldier and as a monk). Alexios I Komnenos is depicted standing, full-length and slightly turned to the left. He wears a tunic and cloak and carries a crown. With one hand he holds a cross-bearing scepter and with the other he holds the effigy of the catholic, together with one of the possessors, the prominent Constantinopolitan official John Primikarios, who became a monk by the name of Ioannicus. According to the ancient tradition of the monastery, Alexios I Komnenos was the first founder. Gerasimos Smyrnakis mentions this tradition. The same tradition was preserved by the scholar monk and hymn writer Iakovos Neoskitiotis in the mid-19th century.