Hierarch Nikephoros the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople

St. Nikephoros was born around 758 in Constantinople to a family close to the imperial court; his father had suffered for icon veneration under the iconoclast emperor Constantine V. Nikephoros served as an imperial secretary (asekretis) and took part as an imperial envoy in the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787, which restored icon veneration. Leaving state service, he retired to a monastery he founded on the shore of the Bosphorus. In 806, while still a layman, he was rapidly advanced through all clerical ranks and elevated to the patriarchal throne. He composed the extensive "Apologeticus Major" in defense of icon veneration, as well as important historical works, the "Breviarium" and a chronography. In 815, under the new iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian, he refused to sign the condemnation of icon veneration and was deposed and exiled to a monastery he had founded on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, where he spent the last 13 years of his life in exile, continuing to write against the heresy. He died in exile on June 2, 828. In 847, after the final restoration of icon veneration, his relics were solemnly translated to Constantinople. He is venerated as a hierarch and confessor for his steadfastness in upholding Orthodox teaching on icons.