Skip to Content

Theophylaktos hegoumenos (of the monastery) of Kathara (eighth/ninth century)

 
 

Obverse

A cruciform invocative monogram (type V). In the quarters: το-σο|δ-λο. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σο δούλο

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

θοφυ
.κτιγ
.ν /τν
κθρ,

Θεοφυ[λ]άκτῳ ἱγου[μ]έν(ῳ) τῶν Καθαρᾶ

Obverse

A cruciform invocative monogram (type V). In the quarters: το-σο|δ-λο. Wreath border.

Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σο δούλο

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Wreath border.

θοφυ
.κτιγ
.ν /τν
κθρ,

Θεοφυ[λ]άκτῳ ἱγου[μ]έν(ῳ) τῶν Καθαρᾶ

Accession number BZS.1958.106.917
Diameter 24.0 mm; field: 21.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 3, no. 48.1.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει το σο δούλο Θεοφυλάκτῳ ἱγουμένῳ τῶν Καθαρᾶ.

Theotokos, help your servant Theophylaktos, hegoumenos of (the monastery of) Kathara.

Commentary

After the final α we have an abbreviation sign, so that the final word could be read as Καθαρᾶ(ς).

The monastery was certainly in Bithynia, inside the theme of Opsikion, probably at the thermae of Pythia, 10 km inland from Pylai. It is attested for the first time in the early seventh century and would have been founded, according to a legend, well before; it appears for the last time in the eleventh century. It was dedicated to the Virgin. Its name, τῶν Καθαρᾶ, appears in this form in several texts, on an inscription, and on our seal; it comes from the name of a man, Καθαρᾶς, τὰ Καθαρᾶ (cf. τὰ Στοθδίου), and it has nothing to do with the Cathar haeretics. See Janin, Grands centres, 158-160; J.-Cl. Cheynet and B. Flusin, "Du monastère de Kathara à Thessalonique: Thédore Stoudite sur la route d'exil," REB 48 (1990) 193-211 (for the monastery, see 205-7).

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and at the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 3: West, Northwest, and Central Asia Minor and the Orient (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
  • Du monastère de Kathara à Thessalonique: Thédore Stoudite sur la route d’exil (Open in Zotero)