NICETA MARONENSE. - Byzantine theologian of the 12th century. A native of Maronea in Thrace, he held several ecclesiastical offices at Constantinople. He flourished in the time of Manuel Comnenus (1143-80), but was already metropolitan of Thessalonica in 1133.
His celebrated Dialogues on the procession of the Holy Spirit were cited as early as 1177 by Ugo Eteriano (De haeresibus, chs. 18-19; PL 202, 388-89). In them his knowledge of the Latins is perfect, and it is conceded (an important point in Byzantine theology) that an in-depth study of the Fathers leads to the equivalence of the Greek formula διά τοῦ Τίοῦ and the Latin ex Patre Filioque. Nevertheless, it is maintained that this phrase must disappear from the traditional Creed. The first of the six Dialogues and fragments of the others were edited by Hergenröther (PG 139, 169-222) and by N. Festa; the following three in Bessarione (9-14 [1912-16]), while the fifth and sixth Dialogues remain unpublished in Vat. gr. 1115 and Laurent. gr. plut. XXXI, 37.