★ Nikephoros, one of just three known bishops of Hermokapeleia ★

Nikephoros, bishop of Hermokapeleia, circa 850-900. Seal (Lead, 24 mm, 9.51 g, 11 h). +MAPTVC R, TO CO ΔOVΛO ("Martyr, help your servant") Half-length nimbate bust of a beardless saint (likely St. Nikephoros) holding a martyr's cross in his right hand. Rev. +NHKHΦ/OP, ЄΠHCK/OΠ' APMOK/AΠHΛHA' in four lines with decorations above and below. Apparently unpublished. A splendid and well-struck seal of a Byzantine prelate in fine 9th century style. Scrape on the reverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

Hermokapeleia was a minor bishopric in Lydia of which only three bishops are known by name. Our seal very likely belongs to the bishop Nikephoros mentioned as one of the 383 attendants of the 8th Ecumenical Council, convened in Constantinopolis in 879-880. It comprised representatives from all five patriarchates, including Rome. The council confirmed the contested position of the patriarch, Photios, and implicitly condemned the 'Filioque' ('and the Son') addition to the Nicaean Creed, one of the main controversies between Eastern and Western Christianity about the nature of the Trinity, which revolved around the central question whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father alone or from the Son as well. The other two known bishops of Hermokapeleia are Theopistos, who attended the 2nd Council of Nicaea in 787, and Daniel, owner of a seal type dated to the middle of the 11th century (Zacos II 440 and SBS VIII p. 117-118). The saint on the obverse is not identified by a legend, but he is probably the namesake of our bishop, Saint Nikephoros of Antioch, who was beheaded during the reign of Gallienus (253-268). His image only very rarely appears on seals.