_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_). In proceeding to the church there were six “receptions.” Three were in various parts of the palace, “and the princes come to the gate (Chalké), and the fourth reception takes place outside the barrier of Chalké; the fifth reception takes place in front of the Great Gate which leads into the Augusteum; and the sixth reception is at the Horologium of S. Sophia.”[168] “And from thence the princes enter through the Beautiful Gate, and have their crowns removed by the praepositi within the curtain that hangs in the chamber, that is to say, the propylaeum of the narthex. And the patriarch receives them at the door of the narthex with the usual ceremony.... The lords remove their crowns, kiss the holy Gospel carried by the archdeacon, greet the patriarch, and proceed up to the royal doors. Bearing the candles and bowing thrice, the entrance is made after a prayer by the patriarch; then those carrying the sceptres and vessels stand right and left of the church; but those bearing the banners and the books stand on either side in the solea; and the Cross of St. Constantine is placed on the right side of the bema. And when the lords come to the Holy Doors and to the porphyry omphalion, the patriarch alone enters within the screen, by the holy door on the left. The princes, after bowing thrice, enter with the candles, following the patriarch, and coming to the holy table they kiss the holy cloth, and they place as is usual on the holy table the two white veils, and kiss the holy chalices, and the two discs and the holy corporal cloth, which are handed to them by the patriarch. And then by the right-hand side of the bema the princes enter with the patriarch the _Kuklis_, where is placed the Holy Crucifix of gold, and again they bow with the candles three times praising God; and the patriarch gives the censer to the emperor and he censes the crucifix: then they kiss the patriarch, and take leave of him and enter the oratory, which is in front of the metatorion, and there, bowing three times and praising God, they kiss the Holy Cross as well as all the Instruments of our Lord’s Passion, and then enter the metatorion.” CHAPTER VI RELICS, TREASURE, AND THE LIGHTING OF THE CHURCH § 1. RELICS.