NICEFORO CALLISTO XANTHOPOULOS. - Little information is available about the life of this Byzantine ecclesiastical writer. From hints at dates, some vague and others precise, that are found in his works, whether published or in manuscript, it may probably be held that he lived from 1256 to about 1335. He was a priest in the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople (Cod. Miscell. gr. 79, of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and PG 145, 609 C) and, later, a monk under the name of Nilus (Cod. Vat. Reg. Suec. 182, f. 1).
OPERE
A complete and definitive list of the works of N. C. is premature; the known works can be classified as:
1. Historical writings
The work that immortalized N. is his Ecclesiastica Historia (PG 145, 559; 146; 147, 1-448) in 18 books. It begins with the origins of Christianity and ends with the death of Phocas (618). The first letter of each book forms the acrostic Νικηφόρου Καλλιάτου. From the dedication to the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282-1328), one can learn the theological position of N. C. with regard to the Latins (PG 145, 592). The historical value of this work is very uneven; the judgment depends on the discovery of the sources used. He also left a catalogue of the bishops and patriarchs of Constantinople: Eutroatio de episcopis Byzantii (PG 147, 449-68); a short poem De excidio Hierusalem (PG 147, 601); a life of St. Nicholas of Myra, etc.
2. Liturgical writings
Known of him are: a) the Triodion, in which he explains the origin and the arrangement of the principal feasts of the Triodion in the liturgical calendar (Venice 1639 and 1650); the additional Pentecostarion is of doubtful authenticity; b) an Ermeneia, or explanation of liturgical terms; c) a commentary (Exegesis) εἰς τοὺς ἀναβαθμοὺς τῶν ὀκτὼ ἠχῶν (Cod. Miscell. gr. 79, f. 5); d) another commentary on the hymn of the troparion of St. Cosmas the Melodist to the Virgin: Ἐξῆγησις εἰς τὴν τιμωτέραν, κτλ. (Cod. Miscell. gr. 79, f. 181, and Cod. gr. Roe 3, f. 131, of the Bodleian Library of Oxford); e) a summary of the Triodion in iambic verses (the §§ 2-6 were published by Athanasiadis, Ἐρμηνεία εἰς τοὺς ἀναβαθμοὺς τῆς ὀκτὼ ἦχον παρὰ τοῦ Νικηφόρου Καλλιάτου τοῦ Σανθοπούλου [Jerusalem 1862], critically defective).
3. Exegetical writings
On Holy Scripture N. C. left a Σύνοψις θείας Γραφῆς (PG 147, 607-24) and a summary in iambic verses of Hebrew history from the time of the Maccabees: Συνεκτικὴ πρὸς θείαν Γραφὴν (ibid. 623-32).
Bibliography6 works
The Storia Ecclesiastica of N. C. was published in Latin by J. Lange at Basel in 1555 (not 1553); in French in 1567; in German by Fugger von Kirchberg in 1588 at Ingolstadt; in Greek-Latin by Fronten Le Duc (Ducæus) at Paris in 1630.