Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I (c. 758 – 5 April 828) 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 ...
as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox family, which had suffered from the earlier
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
. His father Theodore, one of the secretaries of Emperor
Constantine V
Constantine V ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντῖνος, Kōnstantīnos; la, Constantinus; July 718 – 14 September 775), was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able ...
, had been scourged and banished to
Nicaea
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...
for his zealous support of
Iconodule
Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from el, ε ...
s, and the son inherited the religious convictions of the father. Nevertheless, he entered the service of the Empire, became cabinet secretary (''
asekretis
The term ''asekretis'' ( gr, ἀσηκρῆτις, asēkrētis, invariable form) designated a senior class of secretaries in the Byzantine imperial court in the 6th–12th centuries.
The term is derived from the Latin ''a secretis'', and in its ...
''), and under
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
took part in the synod of 787 as imperial commissioner. He then withdrew to one of the
cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
s that he had founded on the eastern shore of the
Bosporus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
, until he was appointed director of the largest home for the destitute in Constantinople c. 802.
After the death of the Patriarch
Tarasios of Constantinople
Saint Tarasios (also Saint Tarasius; el, Ἅγιος Ταράσιος; c. 730 – 25 February 806) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806.
Background
Tarasios was born and raised i ...
, although still a
layman
In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother.
In both religious and wider secular usage, a layper ...
, he was chosen patriarch by the wish of the emperor (
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
, 12 April 806). The uncanonical choice met with opposition from the strictly clerical party of the Stoudites, and this opposition intensified into an open break when Nikephoros, in other respects a very rigid moralist, showed himself compliant to the will of the emperor by reinstating the excommunicated priest Joseph.
After vain theological disputes, in December 814, there followed personal insults. Nikephoros at first replied to his removal from his office by excommunication, but was at last obliged to yield to force, and was taken to one of the cloisters he had founded, ''Tou Agathou'', and later to that called ''Tou Hagiou Theodorou''. From there he carried on a literary
polemic
Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...
for the cause of the
iconodule
Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from el, ε ...
s against the synod of 815. On the occasion of the change of emperors, in 820, he was put forward as a candidate for the patriarchate and at least obtained the promise of toleration.
He died at the monastery of Saint Theodore (''Hagiou Theodorou''), revered as a
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death."Martyrs and Confessors", Orthodox Church in America /ref> His remains were solemnly brought back to Constantinople by
Methodios I of Constantinople
St. Methodios I or Methodius I ( el, Μεθόδιος Α΄), (788/800 – June 14, 847) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 4, 843 to June 14, 847. He was born in Syracuse and died in Constantinople. His feast day is celeb ...
on 13 March 847 and interred in the
Church of the Holy Apostles
The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...
, where they were annually the object of imperial devotion. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as the day of his death.
Works
Compared with Theodore of Stoudios, Nikephoros appears as a friend of conciliation, learned in patristics, more inclined to take the defensive than the offensive, and possessed of a comparatively chaste, simple style. He was mild in his ecclesiastical and monastical rules and non-partisan in his historical treatment of the period from 602 to 769 (''Historia syntomos, breviarium''). He used the chronicle of Trajan the Patrician.
His tables of universal history, ''Chronography'' or ''Chronographikon Syntomon'', in passages extended and continued, were in great favor with the Byzantines, and were also circulated outside the Empire in the Latin version of
Anastasius Bibliothecarius
Anastasius Bibliothecarius or Anastasius the Librarian (c. 810 – c. 878) was ''bibliothecarius'' (literally "librarian") and chief archivist of the Church of Rome and also briefly a claimant to the papacy.
Early life
He was a nephew of Bis ...
, and also in Slavonic translation. The ''Chronography'' offered a universal history from the time of
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
to his own time. To it he appended a canon catalog (which does not include the ''
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...
'' of
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
). The catalog of the accepted books of the Old and New Testaments is followed by the ''
antilegomena
''Antilegomena'' (from Greek ) are written texts whose authenticity or value is disputed. Eusebius in his ''Church History'' (c. 325) used the term for those Christian scriptures that were "disputed", literally "spoken against", in Early Christia ...
'' (including ''Revelation'') and the
apocrypha
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
. Next to each book is the count of its lines, his stichometry, to which we can compare our accepted texts and judge how much has been added or omitted. This is especially useful for apocrypha for which only fragmentary texts have survived.
The principal works of Nikephorus are three writings referring to
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...
:
* ''Apologeticus minor'', probably composed before 814, an explanatory work for laymen concerning the tradition and the first phase of the iconoclastic movement;
* ''Apologeticus major'' with the three ''Antirrhetici'' against Mamonas-Constantine Kopronymos, a complete dogmatics of the belief in images, with an exhaustive discussion and refutation of all objections made in opposing writings, as well as those drawn from the works of the
Fathers
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...
;
* The third of these larger works is a refutation of the iconoclastic synod of 815 (ed. Serruys, Paris, 1904).
Nikephoros follows in the path of John of Damascus. His merit is the thoroughness with which he traced the literary and traditional proofs, and his detailed refutations are serviceable for the knowledge they afford of important texts adduced by his opponents and in part drawn from the older church literature.
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...