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Anthony I Kassymatas, patriarch of Constantinople (821–37)

 
 

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in each quarter, a cross. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΝΤΩ
ΝΙΩΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΩΚΩΝ
ΣΤΑΝΤΙΝ
..ΛΕ

Ἀντωνίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Κωνσταντινου[πό]λε(ως).

Obverse

Cruciform invocative monogram (type VIII); in each quarter, a cross. Wreath border.

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Wreath border.

ΝΤΩ
ΝΙΩΕΠΙΣ
ΚΟΠΩΚΩΝ
ΣΤΑΝΤΙΝ
..ΛΕ

Ἀντωνίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Κωνσταντινου[πό]λε(ως).

Accession number BZS.1958.106.5703
Diameter 38.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 6, no. 111.1; Zacos–Veglery, no. 1417; Zacos, Seals 2: no. 3; Laurent, Corpus 5.1: no. 4; Oikonomides, Dated Lead Seals, no. 45.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Ἀντωνίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως.

Lord, help Anthony, bishop [patriarch] of Constantinople.

Commentary

Anthony’s given name was Constantine. Unlike his predecessor he was not the scion of an illustrious family. His father stemmed from a family of shoemakers. Constantine (Anthony) was born at Constantinople between 760 and 780; he rose through education to the position of nomikos or lawyer, a profession that he exercised during the first phase of his career in the Constantinopolitan quarter known as Sphorakiou. Subsequently he became a monk and then abbot of a monastery located in the Petrion quarter of Constantinople called μονὴ τῆς Θεοτόκου τῶν Μητροπολίτου (Janin, Églises, 197); by 814 he had been elevated to the episcopal throne of Syllaion (ἐπίσκοπος τοῦ Συλέου; see Letter of the Three Patriarchs, p. 116). In 821 Michael II, frustrating the wishes of the party of Theodore of Stoudios, who wanted to see Nikephoros I return to the patriarchal throne, placed Anthony on it instead. Before his death in 837 he seems to have convened an iconoclast synod (Letter of the Three Patriarchs, p. 66). He is anathematized, along with his predecessor Theodotos and his successor John, in the Synodikon of Orthodoxy: Θεοδότῳ, Ἀντωνίῳ καὶ Ἰωάννῃ, τοῖς ἀλληλοπροξένοις τῶν κακῶν καὶ ἑτεροδιαδόχοις τὴν δυσσέβειαν, ἀνάθεμα (Gouillard, “Synodikon,” 57, at lines 173–74). For an overview of Anthony’s career, see Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit 1: no. 550.

Laurent illustrates this seal, but fails to mention it in the entry. Instead he cites a specimen in the Vienna Collection (no. 74) that seems to have slightly different lettering. Both this seal and that of Patriarch Theodotos (BZS.1947.2.3) employ a decorative motif consisting of a cruciform monogram with a cross in each quarter. It is not a common device and at this date is anachronistic. One can cite examples, such as Zacos–Veglery, nos. 1396 and 1399, but both specimens date from the eighth century.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 6, Emperors, Patriarchs of Constantinople, Addenda (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
  • Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
  • A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, Vol. 1, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, Pt. 3, Les églises et les monastères (Open in Zotero)
  • The Letter of the Three Patriarchs to Emperor Theophilos and Related Texts (Open in Zotero)
  • Le Synodikon de l’orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire (Open in Zotero)
  • Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (Open in Zotero)