Neilos Doxapatres (Greek:Νεῖλος ὁ Δοξοπατρῆς)^[1] was aByzantine Greek monk, theologian, and writer active inConstantinople andSicily during the first half of the 12th century.

Born into a nativeGreek family^[2][3][4] ofConstantinople,^[5][6] he made his career there, where he held various ecclesiastical and secular high offices;deacon of theHagia Sophia, patriarchal notary,protoproedros of theprotosynkelloi andnomophylax.^[1][7] At some point he became a monk, assuming themonastic name "Neilos", and left for Sicily.^[1] According to the prologue of Neilos' work on the patriarchs, he was inPalermo in 1142/43, at the court of kingRoger II of Sicily.^[4][5] His signature appears at the bottom of an act, dated 1146, regarding thechurch of the Martorana in Palermo.^[8]

Neilos Doxapatres sharesa surname withJohn Doxapatres, a professor ofrhetoric who taught inConstantinople in the eleventh century, but their relationship is unknown.

Two works by Doxapatres have survived:

• Treatise on thefive patriarchs (Σύγγραμμα... περὶ τῶν πέντε πατριαρχικῶν θρόνων καὶ τῶν ὑπ'αὐτοὺς ἀρχιεπισκόπων καὶ μητροπόλεων κτλ. orΤάξις τῶν πατριαρχικῶν θρόνων), a work of geography and ecclesiastical history commissioned by KingRoger II of Sicily. In it, Doxapatres explores Orthodox ideas of the Universal Church, which were far removed from those of thepapacy (as well as the other Greek theologians active in southern Italy^[1]). As a result, the work was very controversial in the West, and only two manuscript copies survive before 1453, but which were translated intoArmenian around 1179/80. The first printed edition appeared inÉtienne Le Moine's collectionVaria Sacra, seu Sylloge variorum opusculorum Græcorum ad rem ecclesiasticam spectantium, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1685).
• A Useful Inquiry into the Divine Economy in Relationship to Man (Περὶ τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους οἰκονομίας τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἱστορία ἐπωφελής, καὶ περὶ τῆς χριστιανικῆς πολιτείας ὅπως συνέστη, καὶ κατὰ πάντων τῶν αἱρετικῶν), a vast theologicalsumma apparently conceived of in five books, of which only the first two have survived——although we don't know whether the other three were ever, in fact, written. The first book discusses, in 263 chapters, thecreation of man, Paradise, andthe Fall; the second devoted 203 chapters to Christ, the second Adam, who repairs the sins for the first and saves humanity through hisIncarnation andPassion. Book I was inspired above all byGregory of Nyssa'sOn the creation of man andNemesius'sOn the nature of man, Book II by the commentaries ofTheophylact of Ohrid. Books III and IV, based on their titles, were probably meant to discuss the later history of the apostles and the Church.

TheSynopsis Canonum written byAlexios Aristenos was falsely attributed to him.^[9]

• Patrologia Graeca 132, col. 1083-1114 (Traité sur les patriarcats) and col. 1292–96. First chapter and final paragraph of Book 1 ofDe Œconomia Dei, based on a publication byAngelo Mai.
• Finck, Franz Nikolaus, ed.Des Nilos Doxopatres Τάξις τῶν πατριαρχικῶν θρόνων. Vagharshabad (Etchmiadzine), Mayr Athorho, 1902. Greek and Armenian versions.

• Caruso, Stefano. "Echi della polemica bizantina antilatina dell'XI-XII sec. nelDe Œconomia Dei di Nilo Doxapatres." InAtti del Congresso internazionale di studi sulla Sicilia normanna, 403–31. Palermo, 1973.
• Morton, James. "A Byzantine Canon Law Scholar in Norman Sicily: Revisiting Neilos Doxapatres'sOrder of the Patriarchal Thrones."Speculum 92.3 (2017): 724–54.
• Neyrinck, Stefaan. "TheDe Œconomia Dei by Nilus Doxapatres. Some Introductory Remarks to the Work and its Edition & Chapter I, 40 : Edition, Translation and Commentary,"Byzantion 80 (2010): 265–305.
• P. Van Deun, "Lire les Pères grecs en Sicile normande : le cas duDe oeconomia Dei de Nil Doxapatrès", dans B. Cabouret, A. Peters-Custot et C. Rouxpetel (éd),La réception des Pères grecs et orientaux en Italie au Moyen Âge (Ve-XVe siècle), Paris 2020, p. 161‑179.

• Kingdom of Sicily people
• Eastern Orthodox deacons
• 12th-century Byzantine government officials
• 12th-century Byzantine writers
• 12th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians
• Byzantine jurists
• 12th-century Greek writers
• 12th-century jurists
• Byzantine theologians

• CS1: long volume value
• Articles containing Greek-language text
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text