| Presbyters | 80 |
| Deacons | 150 |
| Deaconesses | 40 |
| Subdeacons | 70 |
| Readers | 160 |
| Singers | 25 |
| Doorkeepers | 75 |
| Total | 600 |
The subdeacons, according to the forty-third canon of the Council of Laodicea, stood by the doors. Porphyrogenitus[156] speaks of the emperor “passing through the narthex of the gynaeceum, where the deaconesses have their usual place.” The same author also mentions[157] “hypurgi of the narthex, readers for alternate weeks, ostiarii of the Holy Well, a domesticus of the subdeacons, and deputati of S. Sophia.” A series of seals of the officers of S. Sophia is given by Schlumberger;[158] the seals are those of the klerikos, diakonos, manglabites, ekdikos, deuteroboetes, protospatharios, and the chartophulax. An anonymous author[159] gives a list of the officers of the “holy and great” church which is too long to be given in full, but we may note some of the duties mentioned.
The Oeconomus held “one of the flabella, and stood at the right hand of the altar, when the patriarch was officiating;” while “the sacellarius, holding a napkin, stood on the left.” The skeuophylax stood in front of the skeuophylakium, so as to be ready to hand any vessel that might be wanted. The chartophulax stood near the “holy doors,” and pronounced the words of the service, “Approach, ye priests.” The castensius holds the censer, and draws the curtain at the Trisagion. The refendarius and deputati carried the orders of the patriarch to the princes and nobles, and summoned them to his presence. When the patriarch was officiating, the protopapas took precedence of all the other priests, and even gave the communion to the patriarch. The protopsaltes “stood in the middle of the church between the right and left choirs,” and led the singing. On one occasion the number of priests was so great “that the church of S. Sophia, though it is the greatest of all on the earth, seemed then too small.”[160]
Up to the eleventh century, services were only performed in S. Sophia on Sundays and Saints’ days. In the middle of the eleventh century, Monomachus arranged that the service should be every day, and for this extra salaries were given.[161]
Some idea of the ritual of the services may be gathered from the offices in the Euchologium, edited by Goar, the Cherubic and other hymns, together with the Ceremonies of Porphyrogenitus. An account given by Anthony of Novgorod is quoted in the next chapter. Bertrandon Brocquière writes: “I was curious to witness the manner of the Greeks performing divine service, and went to S. Sophia on a day when the patriarch officiated. The emperor was present accompanied by his wife, his mother, and his brother, the despot of the Morea. A Mystery was represented, the subject of which was the three youths whom Nebuchadnezzar had ordered to be thrown into the fiery furnace.”
Having in our last chapter quoted the description of the procession and celebration of the Mass, we now give the accounts of the Adoration of the Cross given by Arculf[162] in the seventh century, and by Porphyrogenitus in the tenth; together with the directions for the emperor’s procession to the great church.
The Adoration of the Cross.—“In the northern part of the interior of the house (S. Sophia) is shown a very large and beautiful aumbry, where is kept a wooden chest, in which is shut up that wooden cross of salvation on which our Saviour hung for the salvation of the world. This notable chest, as the sainted Arculf relates, is raised with its treasure of such preciousness upon a golden altar, on three consecutive days after the lapse of a year. This altar also is in the same round church, being two cubits long, and one broad. On three consecutive days only throughout the year is the Lord’s cross raised and placed on the altar, that is on the day of the supper of the Lord, when the emperor and the armies enter the church, and, approaching the altar, after that sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation. First of all the emperor of the world kisses it with bent face, then going up one after another in the order of rank or age all kiss the cross with honour. Then on the next day, that is on the sixth day of the week before Easter, the queen, the matrons, and all the women of the people approach it in the above-mentioned order, and all kiss it with reverence. On the third day, that is on the Paschal Sabbath, the bishop, and all the clergy after him, approach in order with fear and trembling and all honour, kissing the Cross of Victory which is placed in its chest. When these sacred and joyful kissings of the sacred cross are finished, that venerable chest is closed, and with its honoured treasure it is borne back to its aumbry. But this should also be carefully noted, that there are not two but three short pieces of wood in the cross, that is the cross beam and the long one which is cut and divided into two equal parts; while from these threefold venerated beams when the chest is opened, there arises an odour of a wonderful fragrance,[163] as if all sorts of flowers had been collected in it, wonderfully full of sweetness, satiating and gladdening all in the open space before the inner walls of the church, who stand still as they enter at that moment; for from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smelling liquid distils, like pressed-out oil, which causes all men of whatever race, who have assembled and entered the church, to perceive the above-mentioned fragrance of so great sweetness. This liquid is such that if even a little drop of it be laid on the sick, they easily recover their health, whatever be the trouble or disease they have been afflicted with.”
The passage from the Book of the Ceremonies[164] describing the Exaltation of the cross on September 14th begins with the emperor “passing through the palace Manaura, and the upper corridors, ascending by the wooden staircase, and entering the catechumena[165] of the great church.” After he has reached the catechumena and “lighted candles, and prayed, he takes his seat in the part on the right-hand side.” “The emperor then summons the patriarch, who remains for a short time with the emperor, and then goes out, and comes to the small secretum, where is kept the Holy Wood, and receives the emperor there. And as the congregation begin the ‘Glory to God in the Highest,’ the emperor enters, and kisses the Sacred Wood, and comes out into the great secretum. Then the emperor, following the Cross, descends by the great winding staircase, keeping to the left, and passes through the Didaskalion,[166] where the paschalia are inscribed, and having gone down the steps, he enters through the great gate of the narthex, and reaches the royal doors and stands there. The emperor and patriarch now pass through the middle of the nave, and on the right of the ambo into the solea; here the emperor stands before the Holy Doors, and gives the candle he is carrying to the praepositus. He then enters the bema, and having kissed the Sacred Wood, and turning round, he comes out again, and passes through the solea, then mounts the third or fourth step of the ambo and stands there, holding the candle. The patriarch then comes out of the bema and mounts the ambo with the Sacred Wood, and the emperor gives his candle to the praepositus, and remains there until the Wood has been elevated in the four quarters of the ambo. The emperor and patriarch then descend from the ambo and enter the bema, and the Wood being placed before them the emperor prays and kisses it, and coming out through the side of the bema he is conducted by the patriarch to the Holy Well, and having kissed it, he continues to the palace.”
It would almost appear that whereas in the time of Arculph (circa 680) the Cross was kept in one of the north-eastern chambers by the bema, in the time of Porphyrogenitus (tenth century) it was preserved, during certain periods, in a secretum accessible from the gynaeceum. Possibly the small upper chapel on the south side with mosaic ceiling, and the additions over the south porch, both built about the tenth century, may be the chambers in question. At the end of the ceremony the Cross was left in the bema, and it may be that only on the occasion of the Festival of the Cross was it taken up to the gallery, preparatory to a procession through all parts of the church.
Procession to the Church.—The following is an account of a pageant, which is the first in the Book of Ceremonies—the order of the royal procession to the Great Church. On the day preceding the feast, notice was given so that the way might be adorned with flowers. The emperor and princes carried gifts, and processional candles, and the Cross of St. Constantine.[167] Priests were sent to receive him with the Cross of the Lord, which was taken from the church by the Sacristan (skeuophulax).