in which the laity played a significant role.29 Canons, on the other hand, belonged to monastic Matins. In due course, with the rise in importance of monasticism, its services infiltrated the Byzantine cathedral rite. In this way the canon soon found a place in urban worship. It is worth noting that kontakia were chanted up to 1204 in Constantinople and well into the fifteenth century in Thessaloniki where St. Symeon (d. 1430), the archbishop, preserved their use. Finally, the eleventh century is