According to surviving funerary inscriptions distinguished members of the Petraliphas family, which the empress (basilissa) and later Saint Theodora belonged to, were buried in the church. Although two of the tombs still survive respectively in the western bay of the north and south aisles, they are modern restorations created in 1936 under the direction of A.K. Orlandos.

In the 1280s a narthex was added to the church and decorated with frescoes which were uncovered in the 1970s. Some of the iconography is unique such as the scenes of the Christmas Sticheron and the litany of the Hodegetria icon in Constantinople. The church had the richest sculptural decoration of all Arta churches: particularly impressive was the marble temple of the naos which was destroyed at an unknown date. Many pieces of the marble temple were incorporated into the church but some have been removed and reconstructed in the Byzantine Museum of Arta. Also, the floor of the church is an impressive example of the late Byzantine period and is unique amongst the churches in Arta.