The Holy Fathers (tenth/eleventh century)
Obverse
Bust of St. Spyridon blessing and holding a book. On either side the inscription: Ο|ΑΓ|Ι|Ο|,Σ|ΠΥ|ΡΙ|Δ|, : ὁ ἅγιο(ς) Σπυρίδ(ων). Border of dots.
Obverse
Bust of St. Spyridon blessing and holding a book. On either side the inscription: Ο|ΑΓ|Ι|Ο|,Σ|ΠΥ|ΡΙ|Δ|, : ὁ ἅγιο(ς) Σπυρίδ(ων). Border of dots.
Reverse
Inscription of four lines. Border of dots.
+ΕΥΛ|ΟΓΗΑΤˊ|ΑΓΙΩΝΠ|ΑΤΕΡˊ
Εὐλογήα τ(ῶν) ἁγίων πατέρ(ων)
Accession number | BZS.1955.1.4942 |
---|---|
Diameter | 17.0 mm; field: 11.0 mm |
Previous Editions | DO Seals 3, no. 59.13. |
Translation
Εὐλογήα τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων.
A blessing from the Holy Fathers.
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)
- Le Corpus des sceaux de l’empire byzantin (Open in Zotero)
- La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, vol. 2, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Open in Zotero)
- De Thematibus (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 1 (Open in Zotero)
- Byzantine Lead Seals, Vol. 2 (Open in Zotero)
- Die Städte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Open in Zotero)
Commentary
Although it offers a "blessing," this specimen is a seal (with channel) and not a tessera. In all likelihood, it was attached to something blessed. It is not specified from which institution it came precisely because it was not made in order to name the sender but rather to offer reassurance to the holder.
Laurent (Corpus V/2, no. 1216) has published a tenth-century tessera decorated on the obverse with a bust of St. Spyridon. The reverse carries the inscription Διακονία τῶν Ἁγίων Πατέρων ἐν Βοτρεππίῳ. Since our specimen also shows St. Spyridon, it may be that both were issued by the same charitable institution.
Laurent listed his specimen (IFEB Collection) under "Constantinople" because this was the place where one would expect to find a diakonia, but he admitted that nothing confirmed its assignation to the capital and was perplexed that this placename, Botreppion, is not known from other sources. We have placed our specimen under "Nicaea" for no better reason than the fact that there existed in Nicaea a church dedicated to the memory of the Holy Fathers of the Council of Nicaea (cf. Janin, Grand centres, 119), a council in which St. Spyridon was said to have participated. THe name of the "Holy Fathers" was also used later for the monastery of Medikion, possibly in order to indicate its saintly founders (cf. BZS.1951.31.5.3226).