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Elias bishop of Berisse (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of St. Stephen; details indistinct. Vertical inscription on either side: ο|σ|τ|.-φ|α|ν, : ὁ (ἅγιος) Στ[έ]φαν(ος).

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+κ.R,θ,
ηλ.αε
πισκοπ,
Rερισ
σν

Κ(ύρι)[ε] β(οή)θ(ει) Ἠλ[ί]ᾳ ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Βερίσσων

Obverse

Bust of St. Stephen; details indistinct. Vertical inscription on either side: ο|σ|τ|.-φ|α|ν, : ὁ (ἅγιος) Στ[έ]φαν(ος).

Reverse

Inscription of five lines. Border of dots.

+κ.R,θ,
ηλ.αε
πισκοπ,
Rερισ
σν

Κ(ύρι)[ε] β(οή)θ(ει) Ἠλ[ί]ᾳ ἐπισκόπ(ῳ) Βερίσσων

Accession number BZS.1947.2.141
Diameter 23.0 mm; field: 17.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 4, no. 50.1.

Translation

Κύριε βοήθει Ἠλίᾳ ἐπισκόπῳ Βερίσσων.

Lord, help Elias, bishop of Berisse.

Commentary

Berisse, modern Bolu, was a bishopric of the province of Armenia, a suffragan of Sebasteia, 25 km southwest of Tokat. It is mentioned in the notitiae episcopatuum throughout the twelfth century (see Darrouzès, Notitiae, passim) but its bishops are attested only in the fifth and sixth centuries: our specimen shows that the see continued to function effectively in the eleventh century. See Janin, in DHGE 8, 498-499; and Fedalto, HEO I, 54.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Vol. 4: The East (Open in Zotero)
  • Notitiae Episcopatuum Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Open in Zotero)
  • Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Open in Zotero)
  • Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis: Series episcoporum ecclesiarum christianarum orientalium (Open in Zotero)
  • La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)