Nikephoros II or Nicephorus II (died 25 July 1261) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

cleric and

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

in exile at the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

. Originally serving as

Metropolitan of Ephesus The Metropolis of Ephesus ( el, Μητρόπολις Εφέσου) was an ecclesiastical territory (metropolis) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in western Asia Minor, modern Turkey. Christianity was introduced already in the city o ...

, he was elected to the patriarchate after the resignation of

Arsenios Autoreianos Arsenios Autoreianos (Latinized as Arsenius Autorianus) ( el, Ἀρσένιος Ἀυτωρειανός), ( 30 September 1273), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, lived about the middle of the 13th century. Born in Constantinople c. 1200, A ...

in 1260. He died after a few months, in early 1261, and was buried at Nymphaion. A period of vacancy followed his death, but after the

reconquest of Constantinople The Reconquest of Constantinople (1261) was the recapture of the city of Constantinople by the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, leading to the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, after an interval of 57 years ...

in July, Arsenios was recalled from his retirement and restored to the patriarchal throne.

Sources

Brief biography at the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
1261 deaths 13th-century patriarchs of Constantinople Bishops of Ephesus People of the Empire of Nicaea Year of birth unknown {{EasternOrthodox-bishop-stub