According to Leo VI's Taktika (an extensive Byzantine military manual written in the 10th-Century AD), battles were so loud that orders could not be reliably sent to divisions within the Byzantine Army via audio cues. To counter this, the Byzantine Army was instructed to say a lengthy prayer to God and to the Holy Mother before entering battle, and thereafter remain silent. The silence was only to be broken by the shouting of orders by superior officers, and the sound of the battle horns, which gave divisions the orders in a less obvious way. Of course, the enemy was generally very loud, but the silence of the Byzantine Army would have demoralized the enemy by providing an unsettling foil to the opposing forces unruly battle cries. The Byzantine machine of silent, faceless warriors clad in gleaming mail and klivania was probably a dreadful and terrifying sight indeed.

Sometimes, in the midst of the silence, the order was given for the army to shout a single, unified ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ ΝΙΚΑ, meaning "Cross Victorious", which was designed to surprise and frighten the enemy. But this was one of the few times when soldiers were allowed to make any kind of noise other than the clanking of armor and weapons. The silence itself also sought to show the "incomparable Roman discipline" of the Byzantine Army against its many foes.