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Theopemptos metropolitan of Russia (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. John Prodromos holding a scroll. Vertical inscription: Ο||ΔΡ|Ο|Μ: Ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης Πρόδρομος. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

Κ̅Ε,θ,
θεοπεμ
πτομρο
π,λ,ροσ,
...

Κύριε βοήθει Θεοπέμπτο μητροπολίτῃ Ῥοσσίας

Obverse

Bust of St. John Prodromos holding a scroll. Vertical inscription: Ο||ΔΡ|Ο|Μ: Ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης Πρόδρομος. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

Κ̅Ε,θ,
θεοπεμ
πτομρο
π,λ,ροσ,
...

Κύριε βοήθει Θεοπέμπτο μητροπολίτῃ Ῥοσσίας

Accession number BZS.1958.106.150
Diameter 26.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 85.4b.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 782.
Janin, Aktovye, 174, no. 41.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Θεοπέμπτο μητροπολίτῃ Ῥοσσίας.

Lord, help Theopemptos metropolitan of Russia.

Commentary

This seal is an accurate copy of 1955.1.4840, but from a different boulloterion.

This prelate, who was the first metropolitan of Kiev (1037-ca. 1043), appears as a signatory to a synodal decree of 1039 (Ficker, Erlasse, 42).

The location of the see varied. Its early history remains a matter of dispute, but we know that it was established at Kiev in the 1030s, was movied to Vladimir in 1298, and finally to Moscow in 1328. Cf. Laurent, Corpus V/1, 599-600.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of the Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • Aktovye pečati Drevnej Rusi X — XV vv., Vol. 1, Pečati X - načala XIII v. (Open in Zotero)
  • Un sceau gréco-russe au Xle siècle (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Erlasse des Patriarchen von Konstantinopel Alexios Studites (Open in Zotero)