In these descriptions we still find a reminiscence of the old election by the Senate, ratified by the soldiery and people. The military assent is signified by the raising aloft on the shield, and by the imposition of the military torque, which was retained as late as the time of Justin II. Leo I also received a second torque in his right hand, which may perhaps be identified with the second golden crown given to Leo II. The meaning of this second crown is not clear, but Mr Brightman[16] has suggested that it may represent authority to crown consorts in the Empire. The acclamations evidently follow a fixed ritual, and the imperial speech is a written document.
We are told in these accounts of inaugurations something of the imperial insignia. The imperial tunic (στιχάρις διβητήσις αὐρόκλαβος, αὐρόκλαβον διβητήσιον) was of white, and when girded with the belt reached to the knees. The belt (ζωνάριον) was a cincture of gold jewelled. The gaiters (τουβία) were purple hose. The buskins (καμπάγια) were of crimson, with gold embroideries and rosettes. The purple paludamentum reached to the ankles, was apparelled with gold, and was fastened on the right shoulder with a jewelled morse. The diadem was a broad gold jewelled circlet with pendants over the ears.
It is to be noticed that the inauguration of an Emperor took place at first in the Hippodrome. It is not until the days of Phokas (602) that we find the ceremony being performed in a church. The Emperor Phokas was crowned by the Patriarch Cyriacus in St John in the Hebdomon; Heraclius (610) by the Patriarch in St Philip in the Palace; Heraclius II in St Stephen in Daphne. The Empress, unless crowned with her consort or father, was not crowned in church, and if crowned at all, the ceremony was of a private and domestic nature and took place in the palace, the Emperor himself setting the diadem upon the head of the Empress.
We have not much information as to the developement of the rite during the seventh and eighth centuries. The following description is given by Theophanes of the coronation of Constantine VI by his father Leo IV in 780[17].
On Good Friday an oath of allegiance was taken to the new Emperor by all classes in writing. On the Saturday the imperial procession went down to St Sophia. There the Emperor, according to custom, arrayed himself in the imperial vestments, and accompanied by his son and the Patriarch ascended into the Ambo, the written oaths of allegiance being deposited on the Holy Table. The Emperor informed the people that he had acceded to their request, and had associated his son with himself in the Empire. ‘Lo, ye receive him from the Church and from the hand of Christ.’ The people respond, ‘Answer us, Son of God; for from thy hand we receive the Lord Constantine as Emperor, to guard him and to die for him.’ On Easter Day the Emperor proceeds to the Hippodrome, where an antiminsion (a portable altar) having been set up, in the sight of all the people the Patriarch recites a prayer, and the Emperor sets the crown on the head of his son. Thereupon the procession returns to the Great Church.
In the tenth century we have from the pen of Constantine Porphyrogenitus[18] a full description of the ceremonial of the coronation of an Emperor, except for the actual prayers used. These however can be found elsewhere, for there are extant two patriarchal Euchologia belonging to this same period, one of the end of the eighth century, the famous Barberini uncial codex, and the other the Grotta Ferrata codex of the twelfth century[19]. These both contain the rite, and it is noticeable that it is the same in both books, except for the fact that the second includes the coronation of an Empress. The rite therefore had remained unchanged from at least the end of the eighth century until the twelfth.
The description given by Constantine is as follows.
The Emperor proceeds to the church of St Sophia and enters the Horologion, and the veil being raised, passes into the Metatorion, where he vests himself with the Dibetesion and the Tzitzakion (a mantle, probably flowered), and over them the Sagion (a light cloak). Entering the church with the Patriarch he lights tapers at the silver gates between the narthex and the nave, and passes down the nave until he comes to the platform before the sanctuary, which is called the Soleas. Here before the Holy Doors leading through the Eikonostasis he prays and lights more candles. The Emperor and the Patriarch then go up into the Ambo, where the Chlamys or imperial robe, and the Stemma or crown, have already been set out on a table. The Patriarch then says the ‘Prayer over the Chlamys,’ and the chamberlains put it on the Emperor. The Patriarch next says the ‘Prayer over the Crown,’ and at the end of it takes the crown and sets it on the Emperor’s head, and the people cry Holy, holy, holy, Glory be to God on high and on earth peace, three times; and then acclaim him, Many be the years of N., the great Emperor and Augustus.
If it is the son of a reigning Emperor who is being crowned as an associate Emperor, the Patriarch gives the crown into the hands of the Emperor, who himself sets it on his son’s head, the people crying, He is worthy, and the standards are dipped in obeisance.
After the Coronation the ‘Laudes’ follow.