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.”