Also known as:
Nikephoros I, Nikephoros I of Constantinople
NICEPHORUS I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint. - N. was born ca. 758 in Constantinople of a noble family; he was appointed secretary of the imperial chancery and, while still a layman, founded a monastery on the shores of the Asian Bosporus, where he withdrew for some time, devoting himself to study. He became director of the great hospital of Constantinople under the emperor Constantine VI (780-97). In Apr. 806, after the death of the patriarch St. Tarasius, he was elected patriarch, though still a layman; but the zealous monks, among them St. Plato and his nephew St. Theodore, were displeased with this election because of the violation of ecclesiastical discipline. For this reason they were imprisoned for 24 days and later condemned in a synod (809) because they did not recognize the ecclesiastical rehabilitation of the Greek priest Joseph, who had blessed under Tarasius the adulterous marriage of the emperor Constantine VI.
NICEPHORUS I, patriarch of CONSTANTINOPLE, saint - Breviarium historicum. Fragment - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. gr. 977, f. 185 (11th-12th cent.).(phot. Enc. Coll.)
Peace between N. and the monks returned when, after the death of the emperor Nicephorus I (802-11), the patriarch renewed under Michael I (811-13) the sentence of Tarasius against the priest Joseph and vigorously defended the cult of the sacred images against the new iconoclast emperor Leo V (813-20), showing himself ready to suffer exile for the sake of the faith. He died, in fact, in exile, on 2 June 829, having refused to yield to a compromise proposed to him by the new emperor Michael II (820-29). N. left historical, apologetic and canonical writings; his letter to pope Leo III also survives (PG 100, 169-200). The Byzantine and the Roman Church venerated him as a saint.
Bibliography3 worksV. Grumel, Les regestes des actes du Patriarcat de Constantinople, I, II, Kadikov (Isamboll) 1936, nos. 374-407, pp. 230-40; R. Janin, Nicép
BIBL.: V. Grumel, Les regestes des actes du Patriarcat de Constantinople, I, II, Kadikov (Isamboll) 1936, nos. 374-407, pp. 230-40; R. Janin, Nicéphore de Constantinople, in DThC, XI, coll. 452-55; G. Ostrogorsky, Studien zur Geschichte des byzantinischen Bildestreites, in Historische Untersuchungen, I, Breslavia 1929, passim.
Hofmann, Giorgio. “Niceforo I, patriarca di costantinopoli, santo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, coll. 1834–1835. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/niceforo-i-patriarca-di-costantinopoli-santo.
MLA
Hofmann, Giorgio. “Niceforo I, patriarca di costantinopoli, santo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 1834–1835. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/niceforo-i-patriarca-di-costantinopoli-santo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec8_niceforo_i_patriarca_di_costan,
author = {Hofmann, Giorgio},
title = {Niceforo I, patriarca di costantinopoli, santo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VIII},
pages = {1834--1835},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/niceforo-i-patriarca-di-costantinopoli-santo}
}
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