Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas Mystikos | |
---|---|
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | |
Installed | 901 912 |
Term ended | 907 925 |
Predecessor | Antony II Euthymius I |
Successor | Euthymius I Stephen II |
Personal details | |
Denomination | Chalcedonian Christianity |
Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus (Greek: Νικόλαος Μυστικός, Nikolaos I Mystikos; 852 – 11 May 925) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 907 and from May 912 to his death in 925. His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is 16 May.[1]
Nicholas was born in the
On 1 March 901, Nicholas was appointed patriarch. However, he fell out with Leo VI over the latter's fourth marriage to his mistress Zoe Karbonopsina. Although he reluctantly baptized the fruit of this relationship, the future Constantine VII, Nicholas forbade the emperor from entering the church and may have become involved in the revolt of Andronikos Doukas. He was deposed as patriarch on 1 February 907 and replaced by Euthymios. Exiled to his own monastery, Nicholas regarded his deposition as unjustified and involved Pope Sergius III in the dispute.
About the time of the accession of Leo VI's brother
This unpopular concession undermined his position, and by March 914, with the support of the
In addition to his numerous letters to various notables and foreign rulers (including Simeon of Bulgaria), Nicholas Mystikos wrote a homily on the sack of Thessalonica by the Arabs in 904. He was a critical thinker who went as far as to question the authority of Old Testament quotations and the notion that the emperor's command was unwritten law.
References
- ^ (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Νικόλαος ὁ Α’ ὁ Μυστικὸς, Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. 16 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
Sources
- Nicholas I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Letters. Greek Text and English Tr. by R. J. H. Jenkins and L. G. Westerink (Washington, D.C., 1973).
- The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (ed. by Alexander Kazhdan) (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991).