“In the chapel behind the altar are affixed to the wall the upper slab of the Lord’s sepulchre, the hammer, the gimlet, and the saw, with which the cross of the Lord was made; also the iron chain which was hung to the gate of S. Peter’s prison, and the wood of the cross which Christ’s neck touched. This is inserted in a reliquary in the form of a cross. In this chapel above the door is painted S. Stephen, protomartyr, and a lamp is hung before him; when any one has bad eyes, they put round his head the rope by which this lamp is hung, and his eyes are healed.
“There is also the figure of Christ whose neck the Jew struck,[184] and the bronze trumpet of Joshua, who took Jericho, and the marble mouth of the well of Samaria. Near it Christ said to the woman of Samaria, ‘Give me to drink;’ the well mouth has been cut in half, and the Samaritans still draw water [from the other half].
“There lie also the bodies of S. Abercius, S. Gregory, and S. Sylvester, and the heads of Cyrus and John, and many other relics. There also is the Baptistery, upon which is painted all the history of the baptism of Christ by John in the Jordan: and how John taught the people, and how little children and men threw themselves in the Jordan: all this was executed by Paul the Skilful during my lifetime, and there is no painting like this. There are there wooden supports, upon which the patriarch has had placed the figure of Christ, thirty cubits high; Paul first painted the Christ with colours made of precious stones and crushed pearls mixed with water; this image is still at S. Sophia.
“And when they sing matins at S. Sophia, they sing first before the great doors of the church, in the narthex, then they enter and sing in the middle of the church; then they open the paradise gates, and sing the third time before the altar. Sundays and saints’ days the patriarch assists at matins and at mass, then he blesses the singers from the ambo, they stop singing and then say the polykronia: then they begin to sing again, and sing as harmoniously and sweetly as the angels till the Mass. After matins are finished, they put off their surplices and then go out and ask the patriarch’s benediction for the mass. After matins the prologue is read in the ambo till the mass; when the prologue is finished, the liturgy is commenced, and, after the service is over, the chief priest in the sanctuary recites the prayer called ‘Of the ambo,’ while the second priest recites it in the church on the side of the ambo, away from [the sanctuary]: both, when the prayer is finished, bless the people. In a similar way vespers are sung. There are no bells at S. Sophia, but a little hand-bat [hagiosidère] which they strike for matins, though they do not strike it for mass and vespers, as in other churches: they follow the precepts of the angel in having this bat; the Latins have bells.... When they built S. Sophia, they inclosed holy relics in the walls of the sanctuary. There are also many cisterns at S. Sophia. Above [evidently under] the galleries are the cisterns and storehouses of the patriarchs and of the Church. Vegetables of every kind [suitable for the table] of the patriarchs, melons, apples, and pears are preserved at the bottom of the cisterns in baskets hung by cords: when the patriarch wants to eat, they bring them up quite fresh: and the emperor eats them also. The bath of the patriarch is also above [under] the galleries; the water of the fountains mounts by pipes, and the rainwater is preserved in cisterns. On the galleries are painted all the patriarchs and emperors of Constantinople, and those who shared their heresies. In the choirs of the church are five heads ornamented with pearls like a silver [word indecipherable].... Lazarus, the image painter[185] ... first painted at Constantinople, in the sanctuary of S. Sophia, the Virgin holding Christ and two angels.... S. Sophia has 3,000 priests; 500 share in the benefices of the church and 1,500 have no share; when one of the 500 priests dies, his place is taken by one of the 1,500.”
Frankish Occupation and After.—Three years after the visit of Anthony, Constantinople was taken by the Latins. One of the Crusaders, Villehardouin, writes, “Of holy relics I need only say it contained more than all Christendom combined; there is no estimating the quantity of gold, silver, precious vessels, jewels, rich stuffs, silks, robes of vair, gris, and ermine, and other valuable things—the production of all the climates in the world. It is the belief of me, Geoffrey Villehardouin, maréchal of Champagne, that the plunder of this city exceeded all that has been witnessed since the creation of the world.”
Much of the accumulated wealth of six centuries—the gifts from emperors and private individuals of “sacred vessels of gold and pearls and precious stones”[186]—was removed by the Venetians and Franks. Many of these precious objects are lost beyond hope of recovery; such are the candlesticks and crosses. As some representation of these we give a figure of a gemmed processional cross, with its seizae of jewels, from the Menologium of Basil ([Fig. 15]).
Fig. 15.—Jewelled Processional Cross.
In the treasury of S. Mark’s at Venice there is however a rich hoard of vessels, lamps, and other objects, which were taken from the churches of Constantinople; and many of these crystal lamps, agate cups, and enamelled book-covers doubtless belonged to S. Sophia.