Nikon the Metanoeite | |
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_-_Nikon_Metanoeite.jpg) | |
| Venerable | |
| Born | c. 930 Pontus orArgos, Peloponnese |
| Died | 26 November 998 |
| Honored in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 26 November |
| Patronage | Sparta, Laconia, Greece |
Nikon the "Metanoite" (Greek:Νίκων ὁ Μετανοεῖτε,Nikon ho Metanoeite (Nikon "Repent!" ); born circa 930,[1] died 26 November, 998[2][3]) was aByzantinemonk, itinerantpreacher, and saint in theEastern Orthodox Church.[4][5] Nikon is best understood, according to historianAndrew Louth, as the heroic subject of hisLife, ahagiography of the saint written after his death by a successor abbot of his monastery.
Life focused on Nikon's mission to re-Christianize sections of theByzantine Empire that had been lost in theearly Muslim conquests, particularly theEmirate of Crete that existed from the late 820s to Byzantine reconquest in 961.[6]Life describes Nikon's work on Crete and the central Greek mainland, telling of miracles he performed during and after his life. Nikon himself is represented as a missionary monk in the biography, one who was constantly preaching rather than constantly praying.[7]
Nikon, ofGreek origin, was born inPontus (modern north-easternTurkey) or inArgos.[4][5][8] When he was young, Nikon went to amonastery known as Khrysopetro ("Golden Stone") located on the borders of Pontus andPaphlagonia.[4][5][8] He spent twelve years there, living anascetic life of prayer andpenance so extreme that his brothers tried to persuade him to lessen his regimen.[5] His abbot, impressed by his spiritual discipline and worried that his newly-returned father would draw take from the ascetic life, sent Nikon out into the world toproselytize.
Nikon traveled intoAsia Minor and preachedrepentance there for three years. Following the expulsion of theArabs from the island ofCrete in 961 following theSiege of Chandax, Nikon began his mission on the island, seeking to persuadeconverts to Islam to revert toChristianity. The area had been aMuslim emirate since the 820s, and in that time Christianity there had declined. Many of the island's Christians were forcibly converted to Islam, and even after the Arab expulsions they feared execution at the hands of extremists or returning Arab soldiers—the punishment prescribed by thehudud for the crime ofapostasy against Islam. Even those who remained faithful to Christianity had lost contact with the living tradition, as churches and monasteries had fallen into decay.
According to Nikon'sLife, he viewed the forced converts not as Muslims but rather as Christians who had been corrupted "by time and long fellowship with theSaracens." Nikon was forced to change his tactics on Crete, now having to use his wit to lead his listeners to repentance, rather than just preaching the message of repentance. It was there that he acquired the nicknamemetanoite (Greek for "penitent/repent") for his habit of using it as a preface to all his sermons.[6]
After five years on Crete—no earlier than 966—Nikon visitedEpidauros,Athens, and Euboea. He then travelled toThebes andCorinth, and finally down into thePeloponnese. Tradition credits him with saving the region ofLaconia from aplague. While inSparta, Nikon had three churches and a monastery built as he pursued his mission; according to Life his work was accompanied bymiracles.
In hisLife, the Peloponnese is represented as a land full ofdemons which Nikon is constantly struggling against. The isolatedMani Peninsula in particular—the southernmost part of the Peloponnese—had resisted the spread of Christianity even as it had taken firm hold on the mainland. In Laconia Nikon exerted considerable influence on both clergy andlaity, founding a large number of churches. He is credited with finally introducingChristianity to Mani and its inhabitants, traditionally known as theManiots. The Maniots began to convert to Christianity in the 9th century AD, but it wasn't until 200 years later that the Mani was said to be Christian.
After thirty years of preaching in the Peloponnese, he died in a monastery on the peninsula on November 26, 998.
According to his biography, Nikon continued to perform miracles posthumously. (Much ofLife deals solely with these miracles.) Nikon wascanonized by theEastern Orthodox Church and namedpatron saint of the city ofSparta. Hisfeast day is celebrated in Laconia and Mani on 26 November.
Nikon is depicted inmosaics in the monastery ofHosios Loukas inBoeotia, founded in the mid-10th century.[3]
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