 Paul's new office — in effect "a second Pope", as he called it — quickly caused him to become conceited. He abandoned his simple monastic habit and adopted magnificent vestments to suit his new rank, wore ostentatious jewellery, and, according to the chronicler of Saint-Denis, went about on horseback surrounded by a magnificently outfitted entourage. An example of Paul's splendid vestments and accoutrements at this time is probably the richly embroidered altar cloth, featuring a Byzantine double-headed eagle with a monogram on its breast and the legend "Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome" in Greek, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
