#nicomedia

A large Byzantine bronze to close the month…

Byzantine Empire

AE Follis - 30mm 10.71g

Maurice Tiberius 587-588 AD

Nicomedia Mint

Obverse D N MAVRIC TIBER P P A

Bust of Maurice Tiberius front, helmeted, cuirassed, holding globus cruciger and shield

Reverse Large M

ANNO left, regal year right, cross above, B below, NIKO in exergue

 Lord Jesus Christ, Our God, Creator and Provider of all, Holy and venerable You are; The King Of Kings and God Of Gods, may You be glorified.

I ask You, The One Who lives in the incomprehensible and distant light, to make the demons depart from your followers and extinguish all their deception, for the sake of my prayer, for I am your humble and unworthy servant. Make the rain fall over the earth when it is needed, and make the earth bear its fruit; make the trees and the vineyards plenarily bear their fruit; set the women free from sins and from any infertility of their womb; after all these are achieved and the entire world is freed, set the entire creation free of all of the devil’s binds. And set your servant (insert the name of the person whom you are praying for) and everything in his/her household free from all the binds of satan, of magic, of charms and of all of the enemy’s powers. Hinder, oh, Lord, God of our ancestors, all of satan’s work, You, Who offer exemption from magic, charms, spells and all his doings and bindings, and destroy all disingenuous work by the mention of Your Most Holy name.

Thusly, God, Lord of all things, hear me, the unworthy one, and unfetter your servant (insert the name of the person you’re praying for) from all of satan’s bindings, and if they be bonded in the skies or on Earth, or with the skin of unreasoning animals or with iron or with stone, or with wood, or with writing, or with human blood, or with the blood of birds or of fish, or through uncleanliness, or in any other way has this befall upon them, or if from other places has it come, from the sea, from wells, from graves, or from any other place, or if it came through human nails, or through the claws of animals or birds, or through snakes (alive or dead), or through the soil of the dead, or if it came through piercing of needles, unbind them all forever this very moment, Lord, with Your great power. 

You, Lord, Our God, Who knows and discerns all things, unbind, batter and destroy right now the works of magic, and protect Your servant (insert the name of the person whom you are praying for) and all their household from all of the demonic conspiracies.

With the magnitude of Your incorruptible and life-giving Cross, crush all the adverse powers. 

Desolate, destroy and banish forever the works of magic, witchcraft and sorcery from your servant (insert the name of the person whom you are praying for). 

Lord, hear me, the sinner, with everyone in my household, and set them free from the demon of the afternoon, from all sickness and from all the curse, from all anger, adversity, gossip, envy, charms, unmercifulness, idleness, greediness, helplessness, stupidity, foolishness, pride, cruelty, inequity, conceit, and of all known or unknown errancies and mistakes, for the sake of Your holy name, for blessed are you forever. Amen.

(translated into English by Lucian Hodoboc)

( If you want to know more about Saint Cyprian of Nicomedia, an ex-wizard, and how he turned to God because of the Holy Virgin Saint Justina, I invite you to read this article:

http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Stjustina.htm )

In 267 CE, Saint Barbara met her violent end.

Barbara was the secretly-Christian daughter of a well-to-do Nicomedian pagan named Dioscorus who had no truck with this newfangled "Christianity" business.  So she couldn't exactly let on that she was digging that sort-of monotheism.  When she finally did let her old man know that she was down with JC, he drew his sword to kill her; however, according to hagiographies, she prayed and was miraculously transported away.  It's more probable that the starship Enterprise was caught in a temporal vortex, sent back in time to the 3rd century CE, and then experienced a transporter malfunction localized entirely on Barbara, but let's roll with it.

So she ended up hiding out with a couple of shepherds, because why not?  The second dude she was hiding out with betrayed her, and she was arrested.  Apparently, she was only good for one get-out-of-jail-free miracle/transporter problem, because this time her goose was cooked.  Her father demanded that she recant her faith, and, naturally, Barbara refused.  So he turned her over to the local prefect, who attempted to use the torturer's arts to persuade her that paganism was a better idea.

But she was the focus of other miracles then!  The dungeon was bathed in holy light at night, her wounds healed every morning, and torches brought near to her to make her suffer would simply die out before they could harm her.  Finally, her father decided to cut her head off.

And, in a shocking display of responsibility from a rich shitheel, Dioscorus decided to swing the sword himself.  As he was headed home after his blade separated Barbara's head from her shoulders, a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck Dioscorus dead.  The peal of thunder was deafening.  So he ended up a corpse, too, but you kind of have to question the Almighty's timing here.

Due to her association with lightning and loud noises, Barbara became the patron saint of people who work with explosives--armorers, artillerists, and gunsmiths.  She also became the patron saint of another group of people who regularly use dynamite:  miners.

Finally got a replacement for the Crispus I sent to Socpens…

Roman Empire

AE18 - 3.04g

Crispus as Caesar 324-325 AD

Nicomedia Mint

Obverse FL IVL CRISPVS NOB C

Bust of Crispus left, laureate, draped, cuirassed

Reverse PROVIDENTIAE CAESS

Camp gate with two turrets, star above, SMNB mint

A really nice Byzantine bronze…

Byzantine Empire

AE Half Follis - 25mm 6.00g

Justin II + Sophia 574-575 AD

Nicomedia Mint

Obverse D N IVSTINVS P P AVG

Justin II and Sophia seated front in throne, both nimbate, Justin holding globus cruciger, Sophia holding cruciform sceptre

Reverse Large K

ANNO left, X right, cross above, NI below