Editing Nikephoros I of Constantinople (section)

== Life ==
He was born in [[Constantinople]] as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox family, which had suffered from the earlier [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|Iconoclasm]]. His father Theodore, one of the secretaries of Emperor [[Constantine V]], had been scourged and banished to [[Nicaea]] for his zealous support of [[Iconodule]]s,<ref name="Kirsch">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11050a.htm Johann Peter Kirsch, "St. Nicephorus", Catholic Encyclopedia], Vol. 11, New York, Robert Appleton Company, 1911 {{PD-notice}}</ref> and the son inherited the religious convictions of the father.

While still young Nicephorus was brought to the court, where he became an imperial secretary and entered the service of the Empire. Under [[Emperor|Empress]] [[Irene of Athens]] he took part in the [[Second Council of Nicaea|synod of 787 of Nicaea]] as imperial commissioner. He then withdrew to one of the [[cloister]]s that he had founded on the [[Thracian]] [[Bosporus]]. There he devoted himself to ascetic practices and to the study both of secular learning, as [[grammar]], [[mathematics]], and [[philosophy]], and the [[religious text|Scriptures]]. Around 802 he was recalled and appointed director of the largest hospital for the destitute in Constantinople.<ref name="Kirsch" />

After the death of the Patriarch [[Tarasios of Constantinople]], there was great division among the clergy and higher court officials as to the choice of his successor. Although still a [[laity|layman]], Nicephorus was chosen patriarch by the wish of the emperor ([[Easter]], 12 April 806). The uncanonical choice met with opposition from the strictly clerical party of the [[monastery of Stoudios|Stoudites]],<ref name="Kirsch" /> and this opposition intensified into an open break when Nicephorus I, in other respects a very rigid moralist, showed himself compliant to the will of the emperor by reinstating the excommunicated priest Joseph.

After vain theological disputes, in December 814, there followed personal insults. Nicephorus I at first replied to his removal from his office by excommunication, but at last, under Emperor [[Leo V the Armenian]] was obliged to yield to force, and was taken to one of the cloisters he had founded, ''Tou Agathou'', and later to that called ''Tou Hagiou Theodorou''. From there he carried on a literary [[polemic]] for the cause of the [[iconodule]]s against the [[Council of Constantinople (815)|synod of 815]]. On the occasion of the change of emperors, in 820, he was put forward as a candidate for the patriarchate and at least obtained the promise of toleration.

He died at the monastery of Saint Theodore (''Hagiou Theodorou''), revered as a [[confessor]].<ref>[http://dce.oca.org/assets/templates/bulletin.cfm?mode=html&id=85 "Martyrs and Confessors", Orthodox Church in America].</ref> His remains were solemnly brought back to Constantinople by [[Methodios I of Constantinople]] on 13 March 847 and interred in the [[Church of the Holy Apostles]], where they were annually the object of imperial devotion. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as the day of his death.