The importance of this luxurious codex lies in the imperial portraits of Constantine IX Monomachos flanked by the empress Zoe and his sister Theodora (p. 3r) that it contains. On the opposite page (p. 2v) we find the scene of Matthew presenting his Gospel to John Chrysostom. The portraits and inscriptions allow us to date this manuscript somewhere between 1042 and 1050. It is believed that this was an imperial gift on the occasion of the founding of the Monastery of Saint George of Mangana in Constantinople in 1047.
