Saint Nicephorus

Nicephorus, Saint (nīsĕf'ərəs), 758?-829?, patriarch of Constantinople (806-15), Byzantine historian and theologian. St. Nicephorus attended the Second Council of Nicaea as lay representative of the emperor. His appointment by Emperor Nicephorus I to the patriarchate while he was still a layman aroused the anger of the monastic party under St. Theodore of Studium, but the quarrel was quieted. St. Nicephorus opposed iconoclasm and secured a pledge of orthodoxy from Emperor Michael I. Michael's successor, Leo V, however, insisted that the patriarch modify his views, but Nicephorus refused and was deposed and exiled. In his exile he wrote a brief narrative of Byzantine history from 602 to 769 and several tracts against iconoclasm. Feast: Mar. 13.