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.