★ Metropolitan of Ephesos and an important historical figure ★

Byzantine lead seal: Kyriakos, Archbishop/Metropolitan of Ephesos (Nov. 1027- Sep. 1039) and Synkellos; issued 1029-1039. 23mm, 12.05g.
Obv: +KEA?…; Facing bust of John the Theologian, raising right hand in benediction and holding Gospels in left, Iω / O/ ΘЄ/OΛ… in left and right fields.
Rev: Κυρια / Κω Αρχιε / Π[ις]κοπω ε/Φε κ’ συγ/[κ]ελλω (Kyriakos, Archbishop of Ephesus and Synkellos)
Unpublished. (We are unaware of any other seals of Kyriakos.)

Kyriakos of Ephesos is an important historical figure, multiply attested in our sources. In the religious hierarchy he ranked third, and occupied the rarified office of Synkellos to the emperor ((literally “same cell,” as in brother monks). He was a key ally of his brother Alexios Stoudites, Patriarch of Constantinople, during that most Byzantine of periods from the end of the reign of Basil II, through Constantine VIII and Romanus III, and into Michael IV’s reign and the prelude to the Great Schism with Rome. He must have had a very interesting, if rather stressful life!

We have taken his dates from Georgios A. Rhalles and Michael Potles, Syntagma ton theion kai hieron kanonon (Athens 1852-1854). Assuming they are correct, it is likely that his brother Alexios the Patriarch arranged for his appointment as metropolitan not long after he received his own office from Basil II. The brothers were both strong supporters of Romanus III. Here is the context of chronicler John Skylitzes' mention of Kyriakos in the Synopsis of Histories, which recounts important Byzantine events from 811-1057:

Thus, contrary to all hope and expectation, Romanos [III] escaped the danger of losing his eyes, [surviving] to be girded with imperial authority and proclaimed ruling emperor together with Zoe, daughter of Constantine. No sooner was he seated on the throne than he honoured his subjects with preliminary bounties and inaugural gifts. His earliest benefactions were in the religious domain.... He honoured three metropolitan [bishops] with the title of synkellos: Kyriakos of Ephesus, the patriarch’s brother; Demetrios of Kyzikos, with whom he had been close friends before becoming emperor; and Michael of Euchaita, who was related by blood to Demetrios as they were both born into the family of the Rhadenoi."

Importantly, this seal confirms Skylitzes' account of Romanus honouring Kyriakos with the title Synkellos.

Despite the dwindling importance of Ephesos commercially due to its silted-up port, its religious significance was of the highest order. Each metropolitan was an autonomous head of their diocese, with the Patriarchate of Constantinople having the status of “first among equals,” the metropolitan of Caesarea as second rank, and our man third; he was in fact the metropolitan for the entire province of Asia. (This was the position granted to emperor Michael VII after he was deposed in 1078.) In practice, as the brother of the Patriarch, Kyriakos was likely the second most influential, as can be seen from his signatures on synodic decisions from the period where his name typically appears immediately after the Patriarch’s.

One such synod was of particular importance; in Oct. 1029 John VIII bar Abdoun, Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, was tried in Constantinople, excommunicated, and forced to retire to a monastery. Kyriakos is the third signatory to this synodal decree, after John VIII’s main accuser, John of Melitene. Kyriakos is signatory to a number of other synodical decisions, and was probably involved in the constant conflict between the metropolitan of Ephesos and the stylite monk, Lazaros of Mount Galesios, as recounted in Gregory the Cellarer’s hagiography. Before the end of his tenure (and life?), Kyriakos would have helped defend Alexios Stoudites against Michael IV’s eunuch brother John the Orphanotrophos’s attempt to steal the patriarchy for himself in 1037.

Ephesos would be captured by the Seljuq Turks in 1080, but the title of archbishop retained its significance.

(Many thanks to Mike Braunlin at the University of Cincinnati, and Pavlos at CoinTalk, for their help in deciphering this seal.)