[Greek:(HO O)IKODOMÔN EIS T(ON OIKON SOU KAI) ANABASIN AUTOU, KAI TÊN EPANGELIAN (TOU HAGIOU PNEUMATOS EU HÊMAS ÊLPEISAMEN EIS TO O)NOMA A(UTOU)]. The mosaic above the crown of the semi-dome has been injured and restored imperfectly in plaster, paint, and gilt. Hence the large black patch in it which includes the upper arm of the cross. The letters enclosed within curved brackets are in paint and are manifestly the work of a restorer who has spoiled the grammatical construction of the words and obscured the meaning of the inscription. The remaining letters are in unrestored mosaic. I venture to suggest that the original text was a quotation from Amos ix. 6, with possibly some variations: [Greek: ho oikodomôn eis ton ouranon anabasin autou kai tên epangelian autou epi tês gês themeliôn]. 'He who builds his ascent up to the heaven and his command on the foundations of the earth.' The words, [Greek: êlpeisamen eis to onoma autou], 'we have hoped in his name,' may be original (Psalm xxxii. 21; Isaiah xxvi. 8). With these inscriptions may be compared the beautiful collect used at the consecration of a church: [Greek: Akolouthia eis enkainia naou. Nai Despota Kyrie ho Theos ho Sôtêr hêmôn, hê elpis pantôn tôn peratôn tês gês, epakouson hêmôn tôn hamartôlôn deomenôn sou kai katapempson to panagion sou Pneuma to proskynêton kai pantodynamenon kai hagiason ton oikon touton]. 'Yea, Lord God Almighty our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth, hear us sinners when we call upon thee, and send thy Holy Spirit, the worshipful and all powerful, and sanctify this house.' Below the windows of the apse are ranges of seats for the clergy, forming a sloping gallery, and consisting of eleven risers and eleven treads, so that, according to the method of seating adopted, there are five or six or eleven rows of seats. There is no vestige of a special episcopal seat in the centre, but the stonework has been disturbed; for some of the seats are built with portions of the moulded base of the marble revetment of the building. Underneath the seats runs a narrow semicircular passage originally well lighted through openings[142] in the riser of one range of seats, and having a doorway at each end. [Illustration: PLATE XX. (1) S. IRENE. MOSAIC ON SOFFIT OF AN ARCH BETWEEN THE NARTHEX AND THE ATRIUM. (2) S. IRENE. PORTION OF THE MOSAIC INSCRIPTION ON THE OUTER ARCH OF THE APSE. _To face page 96._]