Nicéphore
portant une lettre à l'empereur Michel II en
faveur de la restauration du culte des images,
Saint Nicéphore Ier
Patriarche
de Constantinople (✝ 829)
Il naquit à
Constantinople durant la persécution impériale contre les saintes Images. Après
de solides études profanes, il fut secrétaire du jeune empereur Constantin VI.
Choisi pour participer au Septième Concile de Nicée, il y fut présent et actif
en tant que commissaire impérial. Élu patriarche, alors qu'il était encore
laïc, il reçut successivement et rapidement tous les ordres sacerdotaux. Mais
cette ascension rapide ne fut pas du goût des moines du Studion. Il connut bien
d'autres difficultés, en particulier avec l'empereur Léon l'Arménien qui
combattait le culte des Saintes Icônes. Exilé, il préféra abdiquer devant le
pseudo-concile des évêques soumis à l'empereur. Pendant ses quatorze années de
bannissement, il écrivit un remarquable traité de théologie sur le culte des
Images, en partant de la philosophie d'Aristote.
Près du Bosphore, en 829, le trépas de saint Nicéphore, évêque de Constantinople. Zélé défenseur des traditions de ses pères, il s’opposa fortement à l’empereur iconoclaste Léon l’Isaurien pour défendre le culte des saintes images. Chassé par celui-ci de son siège et longtemps relégué dans un monastère, il s’en alla paisiblement vers le Seigneur.
Martyrologe
romain
Nicéphore,
Discours contre les iconoclastes.
Traduction,
présentation et notes par M.-J. Mondzain-Baudinet, éditions Klincksiek, Paris,
2000, 381 p. (« Esthétique »).
Les
trois Antirrhétiques dont cet ouvrage nous offre la traduction figurent parmi
les œuvres majeures de saint Nicéphore Ier le Patriarche (758-828) qui fut l’un
des principaux défenseurs des icônes lors du second iconoclasme.
Elles
ont pour but de répondre aux arguments développés lors du concile iconoclaste
de Hiéreia (754), les deux premières réfutant l’une après l’autre les Questions
que l’empereur Constantin V avait formulées en vue de ce concile.
Elles
ne se réduisent pourtant pas à des œuvres polémiques de circonstance : comme le
souligne la traductrice, « l’enjeu iconique y est traité sous le mode universel
». Elles figurent, avec l’Apologétique du même auteur, les Discours de saint
Jean Damascène et les Antirrhétiques de saint Théodore Studite, parmi les
ouvrages fondateurs d’une théologie de l’icône, puisque l’icône y est
défendue
comme totalement solidaire du fait de l’Incarnation. Contre certaines positions
origénistes et monophysites dont lui paraissent avoir hérité les iconoclastes,
saint Nicéphore consacre maints développements d’une grande profondeur à
soutenir que le Verbe a assumé une pleine humanité qui, en tant que telle,
impliquait la possibilité d’être représentée. On a donc affaire, au fond, à de
véritables traités théologiques qui, sur certains points ont fourni à la
christologie orientale des précisions significatives.
Il
faut rendre hommage au travail très soigné de M.-J. Mondzain-Baudinet. La
traduction est précise, et en marge de celle-ci figurent les subdivisions du
texte grec de la P.G. qui a servi de référence, ainsi que les
indications des sources scripturaires, patristiques et philosophiques de
Nicéphore et des Questions qu’il réfute. Ces dernières ont été récapitulées en
fin de volume, suivies de la traduction de l’Horos (Définition de foi) de Nicée
II, d’un glossaire des hérésies citées par Nicéphore, d’un index des sources
bibliques et autres. En début de volume figurent, après une introduction
biographique et doctrinale, une bibliographie bien fournie sur les Sources,
Nicéphore et l’Iconoclasme, ainsi qu’une chronologie. On trouve à la fin de
l’ouvrage un important index relatif d’une part à la doctrine de l’icône et
d’autre part au portrait de l’iconoclaste. Cette dernière partie, assez surprenante,
consiste en une récapitulation des injures adressées par Nicéphore à
Constantin, destinée non à nous rappeler la violence de la polémique et le
style des disputes de l’époque, mais à illustrer l’une des thèses que la
traductrice développe, dans son introduction, selon une perspective
délibérément philosophique, en utilisant les catégories de l’esthétique et de
la sémiologie : l’image de l’iconoclaste est une anti-icône. Les seules
réserves que pourront faire les patrologues concerneront cette introduction
qui, en raison de la méthode d’analyse utilisée, paraît souvent en décalage
avec l’esprit et le sens profond du texte.
Saint Nicéphore le Confesseur
Patriarche œcuménique de Constantinople (758-822) Fête le 2 juin
Saint Nicéphore est né vers 758 dans la capitale de l'empire. Ses
parents Théodore et Eudoxie appartenaient à la haute hiérarchie byzantine, tout
en pratiquant la piété et la vertu. Confrontés à la persécution iconoclaste ils
demeuraient fidèles à la Foi orthodoxe. Pour cette raison son père secrétaire
de l'empereur Constantin V Copronyme (741-775) fut destitué et envoyé en exil à
Nicée, où il mourut.
Fort de la piété familiale leur fils entra néanmoins dans le service
de l'État. En 787, sous la régence d'Irène, il participe au septième concile
œcuménique "Nicée-II". Simple laïc, il siège en tant que "commissaire
impérial" (βασιλικος μανδατωρ). Avant l'ouverture des travaux on le charge
d'aller chercher Grégoire de Néo-Césarée : iconoclaste repenti, ce vieil
évêque est le dernier survivant du pseudo-concile des hérétiques réuni par
l'empereur à Hiera en 754.
Dans les années qui suivirent il fit retraite dans l'un des cloîtres
de la rive orientale du Bosphore.
En 806 il fut désigné pour succéder au patriarche Tarase. Cette
promotion d'un laïc rencontra les critiques des moines du Stoudion.
Mais c'est du parti hérétique, à partir de l'événement en 813 de Léon
V l'Arménien que vinrent les principales tribulations, avec le retour de
l'impiété et du mouvement de destruction des icônes.
Nicéphore rappela : "nous ne pouvons pas plus
toucher aux traditions les plus anciennes que nous ne saurions remettre en
cause la Croix et l'Évangile".
L'empereur tenta donc de réunir dans son palais un certain nombres de
prélats qui lui semblaient acquis.
Pourtant ils résistèrent.
L'un d'eux, Émilien, évêque de Cyzique déclara : "Puisqu'il
s'agit d'une affaire ecclésiastique, discutons-en au sein de l'église
conformément à la coutume, pas dans le palais".
Euthyme, évêque de Sardes observa : "Depuis la
venue du Christ, 800 ans se sont écoulés, et pendant tout ce temps nous n'avons
jamais cessé d'avoir des icônes et de les vénérer. Qui donc manifesterait
l'audace d'abolir une si ancienne tradition ?"
Saint Théodore le Stoudite s'exprima après les évêques. Il dit au
Prince : "Monseigneur, ne troublez pas l'ordre de
l'Église. Dieu y a placé des apôtres, des prophètes, des pasteurs et des
professeurs. Vous avez reçu la charge de l'État, laissez celle de l'Église à
ses pasteurs."
Fou de colère, l'Empereur le fit expulser. Peu de temps après, il
convoqua en vue d'un concile les évêques favorables à l'hérésie et chercha à y
mettre en accusation le patriarche Nicéphore.
À leurs sommations, celui-ci répondit : "Qui
vous a donné autorité ? Était-ce un autre patriarche ou celui qui est à Rome.
Dans mon diocèse vous n'avez aucun pouvoir."
Il leur lut alors le canon qui excommunie quiconque tend à exercer un
pouvoir quelconque dans la juridiction d'un autre évêque. Il fut cependant
suspendu de force et condamné au bannissement par l'empereur.
En 820 un nouveau souverain hérétique en la personne de Michel II le
Bègue maintien la persécution et la lutte contre les images.
En 828 le 2 juin saint Nicéphore naissait au ciel après 14
années d'exil.
Confesseur de la foi orthodoxe il a laissé de nombreux écrits
théologiques et historiques.
En 846 par ordre de Theodora son corps retournera à Constantinople,
le 13 mai, date à laquelle il est célébré en occident.
Source : site Orthodoxos Synaxaristis
SAINT
NICEPHORE de Constantinople
26/03 - 13/03
TRANSFERT
des RELIQUES de notre Saint Père NICEPHORE,
Patriarche de CONSTANTINOPLE
Patriarche de CONSTANTINOPLE
SOURCE : http://www.histoire-russie.fr/icone/saints_fetes/textes/nicephore_2.html
Nikephoros I of Constantinople
trample on John VII of Constantinople, who is laying on the ground with coins.
Miniature from Chludov Psalter. Above - fragment of apostle Peter trampling
Simon the Magi.
Иоанн Грамматик ниспровергнут
доводами патриарха Никифора. Патриарх Никифор держит в руках образ Христа, а
правой указывает на лежащего под его ногами Иоанна, вокруг которого рассыпаны
монеты. Наверху фрагмент изображения апостола Петра попирающего Симона Волхва
Nicephorus of Constantinople BM (RM)
Born in 758; died June 2, 828; feast day formerly June 2. It's no wonder that
Nicephorus was a staunch opponent of iconoclasm; his father, the emperor's
secretary, had been tortured and exiled for refusing to accept Emperor
Constantine Copronymus's decrees banning sacred images. Nicephorus became
imperial commissioner known for his eloquence, scholarship, and statesmanship.
He built a monastery near the Black Sea.
Although he was
still a layman and did not desire any preference, he was named patriarch of Constantinople
in 806 to succeed Saint Tarasius. Nicephorus incurred the enmity of Saint
Theodore Studites for giving absolution to the priest who had illicitly married
Emperor Constantine VI and Theodota while Constantine's wife Mary was still
alive. The two were later reconciled.
Nicephorus devoted
himself to reforming his see, restoring monastic discipline, and reinvigorating
the faith of his flock. The patriarch also brought Saint Methodius of
Constantinople, who later became patriarch, from his monastery on Chios. He
resisted the efforts of Emperor Leo the Armenian to reimpose iconoclasm, but
was deposed by a synod of iconoclastic bishops assembled by the emperor.
Several attempts were made on the life of Nicephorus and he was exiled to the
monastery he had built on the Black Sea, where he spent the last 15 years of
his life.
Nicephorus wrote
several treatises against iconoclasm and two historical works, Breviarum and
Chronographia (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0313.shtml
Patriarch of Constantinople,
806-815, b. about 758; d. 2 June, 829. This champion of the orthodox view in the second contest over the veneration
of images belonged to a noted family of Constantinople.
He was the son of the imperial secretary Theodore
and his pious wife Eudoxia.
Eudoxia was a strict adherent of
the Church and Theodore
had been banished by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus (741-75) on account of
his steadfast support of the teaching of the Church concerning images. While still young
Nicephorus was brought to the court, where he became an imperial secretary.
With two other officials of high rank he represented the Empress Irene
in 787 at the Second Council of
Nicaea (the Seventh
Ecumenical Council),
which declared the doctrine of the Church respecting images. Shortly after this
Nicephorus sought solitude on the Thracian Bosporus, where he had founded a monastery. There he devoted himself to ascetic
practices and to the study both of secular
learning, as grammar, mathematics, and philosophy,
and the Scriptures. Later he was
recalled to the capital and given charge of the great hospital. Upon the death of Patriarch
Tarasius (25 February, 806),
there was great division among the clergy and higher court officials as to the choice of his successor. Finally, with the assent of the bishops Emperor Nicephorus (802-11) appointed
Nicephorus as patriarch.
Although still a layman, he was known
by all to be very religious and
highly educated. He received Holy Orders and was consecrated bishop on Easter Sunday, 12 April 806. The direct elevation of a Iayman
to the patriarchate, as had already happened in the
case of Tarasius, aroused
opposition in the ecclesiastical party among the clergy and monks. The leaders were the abbots, Plato of Saccadium and Theodore of Studium, and Theodore's brother, Archbishop
Joseph of Thessalonica. For this opposition the Abbot
Plato was imprisoned for twenty-four days at the command of the emperor.
Kirsch, Johann Peter.
"St. Nicephorus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 13 Mar. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11050a.htm>.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11050a.htm
THEODORUS, the father of our saint, was secretary to the emperor Constantine Copronymus: but when that tyrant declared himself a persecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister remembering that we are bound to obey God rather than man, maintained the honour due to holy images with so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honours, scourged, tortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus was from his cradle animated to the practice of virtue by the domestic example of his father: and in his education, as his desires of improvement were great and the instructions he had very good, the progress he made was as considerable; till, by the maturity of his age, and of his study, he made his appearance in the world. When Constantine and Irene were placed on the imperial throne, and restored the Catholic faith, our saint was quickly introduced to their notice, and by his merits attained a large share in their favour. He was by them advanced to his father’s dignity, and, by the lustre of his sanctity, was the ornament of the court, and the support of the state. He distinguished himself by his zeal against the Iconoclasts, and was secretary to the second council of Nice. After the death of St. Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople, in 806, no one was found more worthy to succeed him than Nicephorus. To give an authentic testimony of his faith, during the time of his consecration he held in his hand a treatise which he had written, in defence of holy images, and after the ceremony laid it up behind the altar, as a pledge that he would always maintain the tradition of the church. As soon as he was seated in the patriarchal chair, he began to consider how a total reformation of manners might be wrought, and his precepts from the pulpit received a double force from the example he set to others in an humble comportment, and steady uniform practice of eminent piety. 1 He applied himself with unwearied diligence to all the duties of the ministry; and, by his zealous labours and invincible meekness and patience, kept virtue in countenance, and stemmed the tide of iniquity. But these glorious successes rendered him not so conspicuous as the constancy with which he despised the frowns of tyrants, and suffered persecution for the sake of justice.
The government having changed hands, the patrician Leo the Armenian, governor of Natolia, became emperor in 813, and being himself an Iconoclast, endeavoured both by artifices and open violence, to establish that heresy. He studied in the first place, by crafty suggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design. But St. Nicephorus answered him: “We cannot change the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the cross and the book of the gospels.” For it must he observed that the ancient Iconoclasts venerated the book of the gospels, and the figure of the cross, though by an inconsistency usual in error, they condemned the like relative honour with regard to holy images. The saint showed, that far from derogating from the supreme honour of God, we honour him when for his sake we pay a subordinate respect to his angels, saints, prophets, and ministers: also when we give a relative inferior honour to inanimate things which belong to his service, as sacred vessels, churches, and images. But the tyrant was fixed in his errors, which he at first endeavoured to propagate by stratagems. He therefore privately encouraged soldiers to treat contemptuously an image of Christ which was on a great cross at the brazen gate of the city; and thence took occasion to order the image to be taken off the cross, pretending he did it to prevent a second profanation. St. Nicephorus saw the storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer with several holy bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor, having assembled together certain Iconoclast bishops in his palace, sent for the patriarch and his fellow-bishops. They obeyed the summons, but entreated his majesty to leave the government of the church to its pastors. Emilian, bishop of Cyzicus, one of their body, said: “If this be an ecclesiastical affair, let it be discussed in the church, according to custom, not in the palace.” Euthymius, bishop of Sardes, said: “For these eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ, there have been always pictures of him, and he has been honoured in them. Who shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?” St. Theodorus, the Studite, spoke after the bishops, and said to the emperor: “My Lord do not disturb the order of the church. God hath placed in it apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers. 2 You he hath entrusted with the care of the state; but leave the church to its pastors.” The emperor, in a rage, drove them from his presence. Some time after, the Iconoclast bishops held a pretended council in the imperial palace, and cited the patriarch to appear before them. To their summons he returned this answer: “Who gave you this authority? was it the pope, or any of the patriarchs? In my diocess you have no jurisdiction.” He then read the canon which declares those excommunicated who presume to exercise any act of jurisdiction in the diocess of another bishop. They, however, proceeded to pronounce against him a mock sentence of deposition; and the holy pastor, after several attempts made secretly to take away his life, was sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stutterer, who in 820 succeeded Leo in the imperial throne, was engaged in the same heresy, and was also a persecutor of our saint, who died in his exile, on the 2nd of June, in the monastery of St. Theodorus, which he had built in the year 828, the fourteenth of his banishment, being about seventy years old. By the order of the empress Theodora, his body was brought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. 3
It is by a wonderful effect of his most gracious mercy and singular love that God is pleased to visit all his faithful servants with severe trials, and to purify their virtue in the crucible, that by being exercised it may be made heroic and perfect. By suffering with patience, and in a Christian spirit, a soul makes higher and quicker advances in pure love, than by any other means or by any other good works. Let no persons then repine, if by sickness, persecution, or disgraces, they are hindered from doing the good actions which they desire, or rendered incapable of discharging the duties of their station, or of labouring to convert others. God always knows what is best for us and others: we may safely commend to him his own cause, and all souls which are dearer to him than they can be to us. By this earnest prayer and perfect sacrifice of ourselves to God, we shall more effectually draw upon them the divine mercy than by any endeavours of our own. Let us leave to God the choice of his instruments and means in the salvation of others. As to ourselves, it is our duty to give him what he requires of us: nor can we glorify him by any sacrifice either greater or more honourable, and more agreeable to him than that of a heart under the heaviest pressure, ever submissive to him, embracing with love and joy every order of his wisdom, and placing its entire happiness and comfort in the accomplishment of his adorable most holy will. The great care of a Christian in this state, in order to sanctify his sufferings, must be to be constantly united to God, and to employ his affections in the most fervent interior exercises of entire sacrifice and resignation, of confidence, love, praise, adoration, penance, and compunction, which he excites by suitable aspirations.
Note 1. The Confession of Faith, which, upon his promotion, he sent to Pope Leo III., is published by Baronius, ad an. 811, and in the seventh tome of Labbe’s Councils, &c. In it the saint gives a clear exposition of the principal mysteries of faith, of the invocation of saints, and the veneration due to relics and holy images. [back]
Note 2. Eph. iv. 11. [back]
Note 3. St. Nicephorus has left us a chronicle from the beginning of the world: of which the best editions are that of F. Goar, with the chronicle of George Syncellus at Paris, in 1652, and that of Venice among the Byzantine historians, in 1729. Also a short history from the reign of Mauritius to that of Constantine and Irene, published at Paris, in 1616, by F. Petau; and reprinted among the Byzantine historians, at Paris, in 1649, and again at Venice, in 1729. The style is justly commended by Photius. (cod. 66.) The seventeen canons of St. Nicephorus are extant in the collection of the councils, t. 7. p. 1297, &c. In the second he declares it unlawful to travel on Sundays without necessity. Cotelier has published four others of this saint, with five of the foregoing, and his letter to Hilarion and Eustrasius, containing learned resolutions of several cases. (Monum. Græc. t. 3. p. 451.) St. Nicephorus wrote several learned tracts against the Iconoclasts, as three Antirrhetics or Confutations, &c. Some of these are printed in the Library of the Fathers, and F. Combefis’s Supplement or Auctuarium, t. 1. in Canisius’s Lectiones Antiquæ, republished by Basnage, part 2, &c. But a great number are only found in MSS. in the libraries of England, Paris, and Rome. The saint often urges that the Iconoclasts condemned themselves by allowing veneration to the cross; for the image of Christ upon the cross is more than the bare cross. In the second Antirrhetic he most evidently establishes the real presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist; which passage is quoted by Leo Allatius. (l. 3. de Consens. Ecclesiæ Occident. et Grient. c. 15. p. 1223.) He does the same almost in the same words, l. de Cherubinis a Moyse Factis, c. 7. apud Canis. t. 2. ed. Basm. part 2. p. 13. & t. 9. Bibl. Patr. Three Antirrhetics are entitled, Against Mamonas (i. e. Constantine Copronymus) and the Iconoclasts. A fourth was written by him against Eusebius and Epiphanides, to prove that Eusebius of Cæsarea was an obstinate Arian, and Epiphanides a favourer of Manicheism, and a very different person from St. Epiphanius of Salamine. F. Anselm Banduri, a Benedictin monk of Ragusa, undertook at Paris a complete edition of the works of St. Nicephorus, in two volumes in folio; but his death prevented the publication. His learned Prospectus, dated in the monastery of Saint Germain-des-Prez, in 1705, is inserted by Fabricius in Biblioth. Gr. t. 6. p. 640. and in part by Oudin, de Scrip. t. 2. p. 13. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume III: March. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/131.html
Niceforo nacque intorno al 758 da una famiglia agiata. Partecipò come segretario al secondo concilio di Nicea del 787. Dopo la caduta dell’imperatrice Irene (802), Niceforo ritornò nella capitale gestendo una casa per i poveri.
Alla morte del patriarca Tarasio (806), l'Imperatore Niceforo I decise di nominare patriarca Niceforo, benché fosse un semplice laico.
Non sappiamo molto dei primi anni del ministero episcopale di Nioceforo. Le notizie aumentano con il sorgere dei problemi, allorquando il patriarca si oppose alla politica religiosa imperiale. Sotto l’impero di Leone V l’Armeno (813-820), infatti, esattamente nel dicembre 814, ci fu uno scontro tra l’imperatore e il patriarca, dovuto al fatto Leone aveva ripreso la tendeza iconoclasta. San Niceforo, sostenuto da un’ampia schiera di vescovi e teologi iconòduli (tra cui san Teodoro Studita), invece, si poneva sulla linea della tradizione che non solo promuoveva la venerazione delle immagini sacre, ma ne affermava anche la liceità dogmatica. Per il suo strenuo coraggio di non sottomettersi ai compromessi imperiali, san Niceforo fu deposto e costretto all’esilio.
Niceforo dovette ritirarsi nel monastero di San Teodoro, a nord di Crisopoli (località poi distrutta, attualmente corrispondente al quartiere Üsküdar di Istanbul). Tra l’814 e l’820 ebbe modo di comporre, tra le sue opere religiose e storiche, scritti che riguardano la controversia iconoclastica.
Sotto Michele II ricevette la proposta di tornare patriarca a condizione che non si immischiasse nella controversia iconoclastica, ma il santo vescovo rifiutò. Rimase in quel monastero fino alla sua morte, che avvenne nell’828.
Morto in esilio, il suo corpo fu solennemente riportato a Costantinopoli dall’imperatrice Teodora, il 13 marzo 846.
E' venerato sia dalla Chiesa Cattolica che dalle Chiese Ortodosse il giorno 2 giugno. Gli ortodossi ricordano anche la traslazione del suo corpo il 13 marzo.
Autore: Ruggiero Lattanzio
St. Nicephorus
Nicephorus soon
gave further cause for
antagonism. In 795 a priest named Joseph
had celebrated the unlawful marriage
of Emperor Constantine VI (780-97) with Theodota,
during the lifetime of Maria,
the rightful wife of the emperor, whom he had set aside. For this act
Joseph had been deposed
and banished. Emperor Nicephorus considered it important to have this matter
settled and, at his wish the new patriarch
with the concurrence of a synod
composed of a small number of bishops, pardoned
Joseph and, in 806, restored him
to his office. The patriarch
yielded to the wishes of the emperor in order to avert more serious evil. His action
was regarded by the strict church
party as a violation of ecclesiastical law
and a scandal. Before the matter
was settled Theodore had written
to the patriarch entreating him
not to reinstate the guilty priest, but had received no answer. Although the matter
was not openly discussed, he and his followers now held virtually no church
communion with Nicephorus and
the priest, Joseph.
But, through a letter written by Archbishop
Joseph, the course which he and
the strict church party followed
became public in 808, and caused
a sensation. Theodore set forth,
by speech and writing, the reasons for the action
of the strict party and firmly maintained his position. Defending
himself against the accusation that he and his companions were schismatic, he declared that he had kept silent
as long as possible, had censured
no bishops, and had always included the name of the patriarch
in the liturgy. He asserted his love and his attachment to the patriarch,
and said he would withdraw all opposition if the patriarch
would acknowledge the violation of law
by removing the priest Joseph.
Emperor Nicephorus now took violent
measures. He commanded the patriarch
to call a synod, which was held
in 809, and had Plato and several monks forcibly brought before it. The opponents of
the patriarch were condemned,
the Archbishop of Thessalonica was deposed,
the Abbots Plato and Theodore
with their monks were banished to neighbouring islands and cast
into various prisons.
This, however, did
not discourage the resolute opponents of the "Adulterine Heresy". In
809 Theodore and Plato sent a joint memorial, through the Archmandrite
Epiphanius, to Pope Leo III, and later, Theodore
laid the matter once more before
the pope in a letter, in which he besought the successor of St. Peter to grant a helping hand to the
East, so that it might not be overwhelmed by the waves of the "Adulterine
Heresy". Pope Leo sent an encouraging
and consolatory reply to the resolute confessors,
upon which they wrote another letter to him through Epiphanius.
Leo had received no
communication from Patriarch Nicephorus and was, therefore, not thoroughly
informed in the matter; he also
desired to spare the eastern emperor as much as possible. Consequently, for a
time, he took no further steps in the matter.
Emperor Nicephorus continued to persecute
all adherents of Theodore of Studium, and, in addition, oppressed those
of whom he had grown suspicious, whether clergy or dignitaries
of the empire. Moreover, he favoured the heretical Paulicians and the Iconoclasts and drained the people by oppressive taxes, so
that he was universally hated. In July, 811, the emperor was killed
in a battle with the Bulgarians. His son Stauracius,
who had been wounded in the same fight, was proclaimed emperor, but was deposed
by the chief men of the empire
because he followed the bad example of his father. On 2 October, 811, with the assent of the patriarch,
Michael Rhangabe,
brother-in-law of Stauracius,
who raised to the throne. The
new emperor promised, in writing, to defend the faith and to protect both clergy and monks, and was crowned with much solemnity
by the Patriarch Nicephorus. Michael
succeeded in reconciling the patriarch
and Theodore of Studium. The patriarch
again deposed the priest Joseph
and withdrew his decrees against
Theodore and his partisans. On
the other side Theodore, Plato, and the majority of their adherents
recognized the patriarch as the lawful
head of the Byzantine Church, and sought to bring the refractory
back to his obedience. The
emperor had also recourse to the papacy in reference to these quarrels and had
received a letter of approval from Leo.
Moreover, the patriarch now sent
the customary written notification of his induction into office (Synodica)
to the pope. In it he sought to excuse the long delay by
the tyranny of the preceding emperor, interwove a rambling confession
of faith and promised to notify Rome at the proper time
in regard to all important questions.
Emperor Michael
was an honourable man
of good intentions,
but weak and dependent. On the advice of Nicephorus he put the heretical and seditious Paulicians to death and tried to suppress the Iconoclasts. The patriarch
endeavoured to establish monastic
discipline among the monks, and to suppress double monasteries which had been forbidden by the Seventh Ecumenical Council. After his complete defeat, 22
June, 813, in the war against the Bulgarians, the emperor lost all authority. With the
assent of the patriarch he
resigned and entered a monastery with his children. The popular general, Leo
the Armenian, now became emperor, 11 July, 813. When
Nicephorus demanded the confession
of faith, before the coronation, Leo
put it off. Notwithstanding this, Nicephorus crowned him, and later, Leo
again refused to make the confession.
As soon as the new emperor had assured the peace of the empire by the overthrow
of the Bulgarians his true opinions began gradually to appear. He entered
into connection with the opponents of images, among whom were a number of bishops; it steadily grew more evident that he was
preparing a new attack upon the veneration of images.
With fearless energy the Patriarch
Nicephorus now proceeded against the machinations of the Iconoclasts. He brought to trial before a synod
several ecclesiastics opposed to images and forced an abbot named John
and also Bishop Anthony
of Sylaeum to submit. Bishop
Anthony's acquiescence was
merely feigned.
In December, 814,
Nicephorus had a long conference with the emperor on the veneration
of images but no agreement was reached. Later the patriarch
sent several learned bishops and abbots to convince him of the truth of the position of the Patriarch
on the veneration of images. The
emperor wished to have a debate between representatives of the opposite dogmatic
opinions, but the adherents of the veneration of
images refused to take part in such a conference, as the Seventh Ecumenical Council had settled the question. Then
Nicephorus called together an assembly of bishops and abbots at the Church
of St. Sophia at which he excommunicated the perjured Bishop Anthony
of Sylaeum. A large number of
the laity were also present on this occasion and the patriarch
with the clergy and people remained in the church
the entire night in prayer. The emperor then summoned
Nicephorus to him, and the patriarch
went to the imperial palace accompanied by the abbots and monks. Nicephorus first had a long, private
conversation with the emperor, in which he vainly endeavoured to dissuade Leo
from his opposition to the veneration of images.
The emperor received those who had accompanied Nicephorus, among them seven metropolitans and Abbot Theodore of Studium. They all repudiated the
interference of the emperor in dogmatic
questions and once more rejected Leo's
proposal to hold a conference. The emperor then commanded the abbots to maintain silence
upon the matter and forbade them
to hold meetings. Theodore
declared that silence under
these conditions would be treason
and expressed sympathy with the patriarch
whom the emperor forbade to hold public service in the church.
Nicephorus fell ill; when he recovered the emperor called upon him to defend
his course before a synod of bishops friendly to iconoclasm. But the patriarch
would not recognize the synod
and paid no attention to the summons. The pseudo-synod now commanded that he
should no longer be called patriarch.
His house was surrounded by crowds of angry
Iconoclasts who shouted threats and invectives.
He was guarded by soldiers and not allowed to perform any official act.
With a protest against this mode of procedure the patriarch
notified Leo that he found it necessary to resign the patriarchal
see. Upon this he was arrested at midnight in March, 815, and
banished to the monastery of St.
Theodore, which he had built on the Bosporus.
Leo now raised to
the patriarchate Theodotus,
a married, illiterate layman who favoured iconoclasm. Theodotus
was consecrated 1 April, 815. The exiled Nicephorus
persevered in his opposition and wrote several treatises against iconoclasm. After the murder of the Emperor Leo, 25 December, 820, Michael
the Amorian ascended the throne
and the defenders of the veneration of images
were now more considerately treated. However, Michael
would not consent to an actual
restoration of images such as Nicephorus demanded from him, for he declared
that he did not wish to interfere in religious
matters and would leave everything as he had found it. Accordingly Emperor
Leo's hostile measures were not repealed, although the persecution ceased. Nicephorus received permission to
return from exile if he would promise to remain silent.
He would not agree, however, and remained in the monastery of St. Theodore,
where he continued by speech and writing to defend the veneration
of images. The dogmatic
treatises, chiefly on this subject, that he wrote are as follows: a lesser
"Apology for the Catholic Church concerning the newly arisen Schism in
regard to Sacred Images" (Migne, P.G., C, 833-849), written 813-14; a larger
treatise in two parts; the first part is an "Apology for the pure,
unadulterated Faith of Christians against those who accuse us of idolatry"
(Migne, loc. cit., 535-834); the second part contains
the "Antirrhetici", a refutation of a writing by the Emperor
Constantine Copronymus on images (loc. cit., 205-534). Nicephorus added to this
second part seventy-five extracts from the writings of the Fathers
[edited by Pitra,
"Spicilegium Solesmense", I (Paris, 1852), 227-370]; in two further
writings, which also apparently belong together, passages from earlier writers,
that had been used by the enemies of images to maintain their opinions, are
examined and explained. Both these treatises were edited by Pitra;
the first Epikrisis in "Spicilegium Solesmense", I,
302-335; the second Antirresis in the same, I, 371-503, and
IV, 292-380. The two treatises discuss passages from Macarius
Magnes, Eusebius of Caesarea, and from a writing wrongly
ascribed to Epiphanius of Cyprus. Another work justifying
the veneration of images was
edited by Pitra under the title
"Antirrheticus adversus iconomachos" (Spicil. Solesm.,
IV, 233-91). A final and, as it appears, especially important treatise on this
question has not yet been published. Nicephorus also left two small historical
works; one known as
the Breviarium", the other the "Chronographis", both are edited
by C. de Boor, "Nicephori archiep.
Const. opuscula historica" in the "Bibliotheca Teubneriana"
(Leipzig, 1880). At the end of his life he was revered and after death regarded
as a saint. In 874 his bones
were translated to Constantinople
with much pomp by the Patriarch Methodius
and interred, 13 March, in the Church of the Apostles. 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.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New
Advent by Donald J. Boon.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil
Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New
York.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11050a.htm
March 13
St. Nicephorus,
Patriarch of Constantinople, Confessor
From his life by Ignatius,
deacon of Constantinople, afterwards bishop of Nice, a contemporary author; and
from the relation of his banishment by Theophanes. See Fleury, l. 45, 46, 47.
Ceillier, t. 18. p. 467.
A.D. 828
THEODORUS, the father of our saint, was secretary to the emperor Constantine Copronymus: but when that tyrant declared himself a persecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister remembering that we are bound to obey God rather than man, maintained the honour due to holy images with so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honours, scourged, tortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus was from his cradle animated to the practice of virtue by the domestic example of his father: and in his education, as his desires of improvement were great and the instructions he had very good, the progress he made was as considerable; till, by the maturity of his age, and of his study, he made his appearance in the world. When Constantine and Irene were placed on the imperial throne, and restored the Catholic faith, our saint was quickly introduced to their notice, and by his merits attained a large share in their favour. He was by them advanced to his father’s dignity, and, by the lustre of his sanctity, was the ornament of the court, and the support of the state. He distinguished himself by his zeal against the Iconoclasts, and was secretary to the second council of Nice. After the death of St. Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople, in 806, no one was found more worthy to succeed him than Nicephorus. To give an authentic testimony of his faith, during the time of his consecration he held in his hand a treatise which he had written, in defence of holy images, and after the ceremony laid it up behind the altar, as a pledge that he would always maintain the tradition of the church. As soon as he was seated in the patriarchal chair, he began to consider how a total reformation of manners might be wrought, and his precepts from the pulpit received a double force from the example he set to others in an humble comportment, and steady uniform practice of eminent piety. 1 He applied himself with unwearied diligence to all the duties of the ministry; and, by his zealous labours and invincible meekness and patience, kept virtue in countenance, and stemmed the tide of iniquity. But these glorious successes rendered him not so conspicuous as the constancy with which he despised the frowns of tyrants, and suffered persecution for the sake of justice.
The government having changed hands, the patrician Leo the Armenian, governor of Natolia, became emperor in 813, and being himself an Iconoclast, endeavoured both by artifices and open violence, to establish that heresy. He studied in the first place, by crafty suggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design. But St. Nicephorus answered him: “We cannot change the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the cross and the book of the gospels.” For it must he observed that the ancient Iconoclasts venerated the book of the gospels, and the figure of the cross, though by an inconsistency usual in error, they condemned the like relative honour with regard to holy images. The saint showed, that far from derogating from the supreme honour of God, we honour him when for his sake we pay a subordinate respect to his angels, saints, prophets, and ministers: also when we give a relative inferior honour to inanimate things which belong to his service, as sacred vessels, churches, and images. But the tyrant was fixed in his errors, which he at first endeavoured to propagate by stratagems. He therefore privately encouraged soldiers to treat contemptuously an image of Christ which was on a great cross at the brazen gate of the city; and thence took occasion to order the image to be taken off the cross, pretending he did it to prevent a second profanation. St. Nicephorus saw the storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer with several holy bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor, having assembled together certain Iconoclast bishops in his palace, sent for the patriarch and his fellow-bishops. They obeyed the summons, but entreated his majesty to leave the government of the church to its pastors. Emilian, bishop of Cyzicus, one of their body, said: “If this be an ecclesiastical affair, let it be discussed in the church, according to custom, not in the palace.” Euthymius, bishop of Sardes, said: “For these eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ, there have been always pictures of him, and he has been honoured in them. Who shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?” St. Theodorus, the Studite, spoke after the bishops, and said to the emperor: “My Lord do not disturb the order of the church. God hath placed in it apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers. 2 You he hath entrusted with the care of the state; but leave the church to its pastors.” The emperor, in a rage, drove them from his presence. Some time after, the Iconoclast bishops held a pretended council in the imperial palace, and cited the patriarch to appear before them. To their summons he returned this answer: “Who gave you this authority? was it the pope, or any of the patriarchs? In my diocess you have no jurisdiction.” He then read the canon which declares those excommunicated who presume to exercise any act of jurisdiction in the diocess of another bishop. They, however, proceeded to pronounce against him a mock sentence of deposition; and the holy pastor, after several attempts made secretly to take away his life, was sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stutterer, who in 820 succeeded Leo in the imperial throne, was engaged in the same heresy, and was also a persecutor of our saint, who died in his exile, on the 2nd of June, in the monastery of St. Theodorus, which he had built in the year 828, the fourteenth of his banishment, being about seventy years old. By the order of the empress Theodora, his body was brought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. 3
It is by a wonderful effect of his most gracious mercy and singular love that God is pleased to visit all his faithful servants with severe trials, and to purify their virtue in the crucible, that by being exercised it may be made heroic and perfect. By suffering with patience, and in a Christian spirit, a soul makes higher and quicker advances in pure love, than by any other means or by any other good works. Let no persons then repine, if by sickness, persecution, or disgraces, they are hindered from doing the good actions which they desire, or rendered incapable of discharging the duties of their station, or of labouring to convert others. God always knows what is best for us and others: we may safely commend to him his own cause, and all souls which are dearer to him than they can be to us. By this earnest prayer and perfect sacrifice of ourselves to God, we shall more effectually draw upon them the divine mercy than by any endeavours of our own. Let us leave to God the choice of his instruments and means in the salvation of others. As to ourselves, it is our duty to give him what he requires of us: nor can we glorify him by any sacrifice either greater or more honourable, and more agreeable to him than that of a heart under the heaviest pressure, ever submissive to him, embracing with love and joy every order of his wisdom, and placing its entire happiness and comfort in the accomplishment of his adorable most holy will. The great care of a Christian in this state, in order to sanctify his sufferings, must be to be constantly united to God, and to employ his affections in the most fervent interior exercises of entire sacrifice and resignation, of confidence, love, praise, adoration, penance, and compunction, which he excites by suitable aspirations.
Note 1. The Confession of Faith, which, upon his promotion, he sent to Pope Leo III., is published by Baronius, ad an. 811, and in the seventh tome of Labbe’s Councils, &c. In it the saint gives a clear exposition of the principal mysteries of faith, of the invocation of saints, and the veneration due to relics and holy images. [back]
Note 2. Eph. iv. 11. [back]
Note 3. St. Nicephorus has left us a chronicle from the beginning of the world: of which the best editions are that of F. Goar, with the chronicle of George Syncellus at Paris, in 1652, and that of Venice among the Byzantine historians, in 1729. Also a short history from the reign of Mauritius to that of Constantine and Irene, published at Paris, in 1616, by F. Petau; and reprinted among the Byzantine historians, at Paris, in 1649, and again at Venice, in 1729. The style is justly commended by Photius. (cod. 66.) The seventeen canons of St. Nicephorus are extant in the collection of the councils, t. 7. p. 1297, &c. In the second he declares it unlawful to travel on Sundays without necessity. Cotelier has published four others of this saint, with five of the foregoing, and his letter to Hilarion and Eustrasius, containing learned resolutions of several cases. (Monum. Græc. t. 3. p. 451.) St. Nicephorus wrote several learned tracts against the Iconoclasts, as three Antirrhetics or Confutations, &c. Some of these are printed in the Library of the Fathers, and F. Combefis’s Supplement or Auctuarium, t. 1. in Canisius’s Lectiones Antiquæ, republished by Basnage, part 2, &c. But a great number are only found in MSS. in the libraries of England, Paris, and Rome. The saint often urges that the Iconoclasts condemned themselves by allowing veneration to the cross; for the image of Christ upon the cross is more than the bare cross. In the second Antirrhetic he most evidently establishes the real presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist; which passage is quoted by Leo Allatius. (l. 3. de Consens. Ecclesiæ Occident. et Grient. c. 15. p. 1223.) He does the same almost in the same words, l. de Cherubinis a Moyse Factis, c. 7. apud Canis. t. 2. ed. Basm. part 2. p. 13. & t. 9. Bibl. Patr. Three Antirrhetics are entitled, Against Mamonas (i. e. Constantine Copronymus) and the Iconoclasts. A fourth was written by him against Eusebius and Epiphanides, to prove that Eusebius of Cæsarea was an obstinate Arian, and Epiphanides a favourer of Manicheism, and a very different person from St. Epiphanius of Salamine. F. Anselm Banduri, a Benedictin monk of Ragusa, undertook at Paris a complete edition of the works of St. Nicephorus, in two volumes in folio; but his death prevented the publication. His learned Prospectus, dated in the monastery of Saint Germain-des-Prez, in 1705, is inserted by Fabricius in Biblioth. Gr. t. 6. p. 640. and in part by Oudin, de Scrip. t. 2. p. 13. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume III: March. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/131.html
San Niceforo
Patriarca di Costantinopoli
Costantinopoli, 758 circa -
829 - Costantinopoli, 2 giugno 828
Nell’avviversario della morte, il Martyrologium Romanum ricorda oggi San
Niceforo, patriarca di Costantinopoli. Accanito difensore delle tradizioni dei
padri, si oppose fortemente all’imperatore iconoclasta Leone Armeno. Fu allora
allontanato dalla sua sede episcopale e rinchiuso a lungo in un monastero, ove
morì.
Martirologio Romano: Presso il Bosforo nella Propontide, oggi in
Turchia, transito di san Niceforo, vescovo di Costantinopoli, che, tenace
difensore delle tradizioni avite, si oppose con fermezza all’imperatore
iconoclasta Leone l’Armeno sostenendo il culto delle sacre immagini; espulso
dalla sua sede, fu relegato per lungo tempo in un monastero, dove migrò
serenamente al Signore.
Niceforo è un santo che fu patriarca di Costantinopoli nell’epoca di
quel rigurgito di iconoclastia che si ripresentò nel IX secolo, benché la
questione fosse stata dogmaticamente risolta già nel II Concilio Ecumenico di
Nicea del 787.
Niceforo nacque intorno al 758 da una famiglia agiata. Partecipò come segretario al secondo concilio di Nicea del 787. Dopo la caduta dell’imperatrice Irene (802), Niceforo ritornò nella capitale gestendo una casa per i poveri.
Alla morte del patriarca Tarasio (806), l'Imperatore Niceforo I decise di nominare patriarca Niceforo, benché fosse un semplice laico.
Non sappiamo molto dei primi anni del ministero episcopale di Nioceforo. Le notizie aumentano con il sorgere dei problemi, allorquando il patriarca si oppose alla politica religiosa imperiale. Sotto l’impero di Leone V l’Armeno (813-820), infatti, esattamente nel dicembre 814, ci fu uno scontro tra l’imperatore e il patriarca, dovuto al fatto Leone aveva ripreso la tendeza iconoclasta. San Niceforo, sostenuto da un’ampia schiera di vescovi e teologi iconòduli (tra cui san Teodoro Studita), invece, si poneva sulla linea della tradizione che non solo promuoveva la venerazione delle immagini sacre, ma ne affermava anche la liceità dogmatica. Per il suo strenuo coraggio di non sottomettersi ai compromessi imperiali, san Niceforo fu deposto e costretto all’esilio.
Niceforo dovette ritirarsi nel monastero di San Teodoro, a nord di Crisopoli (località poi distrutta, attualmente corrispondente al quartiere Üsküdar di Istanbul). Tra l’814 e l’820 ebbe modo di comporre, tra le sue opere religiose e storiche, scritti che riguardano la controversia iconoclastica.
Sotto Michele II ricevette la proposta di tornare patriarca a condizione che non si immischiasse nella controversia iconoclastica, ma il santo vescovo rifiutò. Rimase in quel monastero fino alla sua morte, che avvenne nell’828.
Morto in esilio, il suo corpo fu solennemente riportato a Costantinopoli dall’imperatrice Teodora, il 13 marzo 846.
E' venerato sia dalla Chiesa Cattolica che dalle Chiese Ortodosse il giorno 2 giugno. Gli ortodossi ricordano anche la traslazione del suo corpo il 13 marzo.
Autore: Ruggiero Lattanzio
Venance Grumel. Les « douze chapitres contre les iconomaques » de saint Nicéphore de
Constantinople », Revue
des études byzantines Année 1959 Volume 17 Numéro 1 pp. 127-135 : http://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1959_num_17_1_1201
Voir aussi : http://orthodoxievco.net/ecrits/vies/nicephore.pdf
