THEOPHANES of NICEA. — Byzantine theologian of the 14th century. No particular details of his life are known. However, from the subscriptions to certain synodal acts of the time, it is known that he occupied the see of Nicaea at least from 1366 until about 1381.
As a follower of Palamism—though quite moderate in his expression of the new theological formulas—he enjoyed the full confidence of the Emperor Cantacuzenus, who had by then become a monk, and from whom he received the task of defending Palamism against the Latin patriarch of Constantinople, Paul. The works of T. are almost all unpublished and of a polemical nature; notable is the Sermon in Deiparam, edited by Jugie, which with great originality treats of the excellence of the place occupied by the Mother of God in the divine plan, as well as other considerations on the Incarnation and on many questions concerning Grace.