Nikolai A. Makarov, Piotr G. Gaidukov, Vladimir V. Sedov, Valentin V. Bejlekchi

Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow (nmakarov10@yandex.ru, russianchange@yandex.ru, sedov1960@mail.ru)

Key words: Pereslavl-Zaleskiy, the Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Saviour, stamp, Patriarch of Constantinople Athanasius.

In July 2014 during the research of the Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Saviour in Pereslavl-Zaleskiy in a sounding trench made inside the temple a lead seal with the depiction of the Holy Mother sitting on the throne (similar to Nikopeia) and the Greek inscription which means “Athanasius, by the grace of God the archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Patriarch of Constantinople” was found by the expedition of IA RAS. In authors’ opinions, this is Patriarch Athanasius I who occupied the Patriarch throne in 1289–1293 and 1303–1309 and played an important role in the history of Russian Church and between the Princes’ opposition in Rus in the 14th c.