A particular form of amusement among the Byzantines is the installation of a Consul every year on the Calends of January in imitation of the old republican function at Rome. The person nominated assumes a gorgeous robe decorated with purple stripes and gold embroidery,[457] grasps a sceptre surmounted with a figure of Victory,[458] and proceeds in state to the Hippodrome, where he displays his authority by manumitting a number of slaves specially provided for the purpose.[459] He presides at the games from the Kathisma, and for the moment, if not the Emperor himself, as frequently happens, the pretence is made of regarding him as the sovereign of the Empire.[460] The year is legally distinguished by his name and that of his colleague of the West,[461] a series of public spectacles are exhibited for seven days,[462] he scatters golden coin as largess among the citizens,[463] and emissaries are dispatched in all directions throughout the provinces to announce his elevation,[464] and to deposit in the local archives his diptychs, a pair of ivory plates inscribed with his likeness or insignia.[465] Immediately afterwards, the office relapses into a sinecure, and the Consul resumes his ordinary avocations in life.
On Sunday there is a cessation of business and pleasure throughout the city, though not of agricultural labour in the rural districts.[466] At the boom of the great _semantron_,[467] a sonorous board suspended in the porch of each church, and beaten with mallets by a deacon, the various congregations issue forth to attend their respective places of worship. In the forecourt they are met by a crowd of mendicants, exemplifying every degree of poverty and every form of bodily infirmity, who enjoy a prescriptive right to solicit alms at this time and place. This practice has, in fact, been encouraged by the early Fathers of the Church, in order that the heart may be melted to pity and philanthropy at the sight of so much human misery as the most fitting preparation for the order of divine service.[468] The centre of the same inclosure is occupied by a fountain of pure water, in which it is customary to wash the hands before entering the sacred edifice.[469] In the narthex or vestibule, in a state of abject contrition, are found the various penitents, who, for some offence, have been cut off from the communion of the faithful, condemned to advance no farther than this part for a term of years proportionate to the heinousness of their sin.[470] The males of the congregation make use of the central or Beautiful Gate of the church, in order to gain their station in the nave, whilst the females, passing through the doors on each side, ascend to the galleries which are set apart for their special accommodation.[471] The liturgy consists of reading from the Scriptures, of prayers, and of hymns sung in responses;[472] after which the Patriarch, coming forward from his throne in the apse to the ambo,[473] preaches a homily based on some portion of the Bible. Finally the Eucharist is administered to the whole congregation, a spoon being used to give a portion of wine to each person.[474] Ladies, to attend public worship, bedeck themselves with all their jewels and finery,[475] whence female thieves, mingling amongst them, often take the opportunity to reap their harvest.[476] Men, in the most obvious manner, betray their admiration for the women placed within their range of vision.[477] The general behaviour of the audience is more suggestive of a place of amusement than of a holy temple; chattering and laughter go on continually, especially among the females; and, as a popular preacher makes his points, dealing didactically or reprehensively with topics of the day, the whole congregation is from time to time agitated with polemical murmurs, shaken with laughter, or bursts into uproarious applause.[478] Contiguous to each church is a small building called the Baptistery, for the performance of the ceremonial entailed on those who wish to be received among the Christian elect. The practice of the period is to subject the body to complete immersion in pure water, but separate chambers or times are set apart for the convenience of the two sexes. Here on certain occasions nude females of all ages and ranks descend by steps into the baptismal font, whilst the ecclesiastics coldly pronounce the formulas of the mystic rite,[479] a triumph of superstition[480] over concupiscence pretended more often perhaps than real.[481]