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John metropolitan of Russia (eleventh century)

 
 

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ on her breast. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Linear border.

Θ̅Κ̅Ε̅
,θ,Ι̅̅Ο
Π̅Ο̅ρσι

ασ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ μητροπολίτῃ Ῥωσίας

Obverse

Bust of the Virgin orans with medallion of Christ on her breast. Sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅: Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. No visible border.

Reverse

Inscription of four lines. Linear border.

Θ̅Κ̅Ε̅
,θ,Ι̅̅Ο
Π̅Ο̅ρσι

ασ

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ μητροπολίτῃ Ῥωσίας

Accession number BZS.1947.2.358
Diameter 15.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 1, no. 85.3.
Laurent, Corpus V/1, no. 781. Cf. Janin, Aktovye, 175, no. 50.

Translation

Θεοτόκε βοήθει Ἰωάννῃ μητροπολίτῃ Ῥωσίας.

Theotokos, help John, metropolitan of Russia.

Commentary

Laurent dated this specimen to the first half of the eleventh century and attributed it to a "Metropolitan John" who was reputedly active between 1008 and 1020. Yet both Baumgarten and Golobinskij consider this metropolitan a legendary figure (Baumgarten, Chronologie ecclésiastique, 33 and note 1). Janin, Aktovye, no. 50, cautiously attributes this seal to John IV (1164-66). In our view, the seal belongs to the late eleventh century; the office of metropolitan of Russia was then held by one John until 1089, who was succeeded by another John in 1091.

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)
  • Chronologie ecclésiastique des terres russes du Xe au XIIIe siècle (Open in Zotero)