Georgios, archbishop of Bulgaria, final quarter of the 9th century. Seal (Lead, 21 mm, 9.27 g, 12 h). +ΘKЄ ROHΘ TⲰ CⲰ Δ૪Λ, The Mother of God “Nikopoios”, nimbate, holding medallion of Christ with both hands. Two crosses across fields. Rev. +ΓЄⲰ/PΓIⲰ APX/IЄΠICKOΠ/Ⲱ ROVΛΓA/PIAC in five lines. DO Seals I, 29.5. Jordanov, Corpus I 19.4. Jordanov, Shumen 13. A highly interesting and important seal for the history of Bulgaria. Flan fault, scrapes and surface roughness, otherwise, very fine.



After the conversion of tsar Boris I to Christianity in AD 864, the Bulgarian Church was organized as an autocephalous archbishopric, which means that it was independent ('own head'), not subject to the authority of another prelate. The owner of our seal, Georgios, was one of the first of these autocephalous archbishops of Bulgaria. His seat was in Pleska. Georgios is known from other sources as well, as he is mentioned in a letter by Pope John VIII (872-882).