Venerable Niphon of Kausokalyvia, of Mount Athos

IMPORTANT IDENTITY CLARIFICATION: the name "Niphon of Athos" is consistently associated with this 14th-century ascetic — a disciple of St. Maximus Kausokalyvites — rather than St. Niphon II, Patriarch of Constantinople (1435/40–1508), who was also closely connected to Athos (having thrice retired there as a former Patriarch, dying at Dionysiou) but is usually named separately with his full title. The existence of a separate "Niphon I" Patriarch was also not confirmed — the full list of Patriarchs of Constantinople was checked, and no such name appears before Niphon II. The previously listed category "righteous" has been corrected to "venerable."

Venerable Niphon was born around 1315 in Lukovo (Epirus), to a priest's family. He took tonsure early, withdrew to Athos seeking solitude, studying first under the hermit Theognostus, then became the closest disciple of St. Maximus Kausokalyvites, living in a cave near Christophorus Island. He wrote his teacher's Life. He became renowned for gifts of prophecy, clairvoyance, and healing.

He died at the age of 96 in 1411.

His feast is kept on June 1/14; also in the movable Synaxis of All the Venerable Fathers of Athos (2nd Sunday after Pentecost).