[2] Tarchaneiotes distinguished himself early on as a soldier, fighting under his uncle, the despotes John Palaiologos, in the 1262 campaign against Michael II Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus.

[2] Nevertheless, Tarchaneiotes soon came to oppose the Palaiologoi, and by 1266 he had emerged one of the leaders of the Arsenites,[2] the supporters of the former Patriarch of Constantinople Arsenios Autoreianos, who had excommunicated Michael VIII for usurping the rights and the blinding of his predecessor, John IV Laskaris (r. 1258–1261).

They ipso facto refused to recognize the validity of Andronikos' claim to the throne as well, whom they regarded as "the son of the excommunicated usurper" (Nicol), and who had been crowned by an "illegitimate" patriarch, the anti-Arsenite Joseph I Galesiotes.

Philanthropenos had ended up rising in revolt, supported by the local populace which still largely cherished the memory of the Laskarids of Nicaea and resented the Palaiologoi; to prevent Tarchaneiotes, an avowed Arsenite, from following the same path as his predecessor, Andronikos first extracted from him a personal oath of loyalty and then appointed him commander in the southern and most endangered sector of the front, along the Maeander River.

[4][5] There Tarchaneiotes achieved swift success, not only in the field, but most importantly in reorganizing the local administration and ending corruption which had allowed the alienation of the pronoia estates, originally intended for the upkeep of the army, from their rightful holders.