St. Nicetas

Abbot From Caesarea, Bithynia, modern Turkey, he was raised in a monastery after his mother died and his father entered the religious life. Eventually becoming a monk in the monastery of Medikion, at the base of Mount Olympus in Bithynia, he received ordination in 790 and was elected abbot. When he and other abbots opposed the Iconoclast policies of Emperor Leo V the Armenian and the appointment of Theodotus as patriarch to replace the deposed St. Nicephorus, Nicetas was exiled to Anatolia where he suffered torments from his captors. Brought to Constantinople, he finally recog nized Theodotus as patriarch and was restored to his monastery. However, within a short time he recanted his acceptance, and in 813 was exiled to the island of Glyceria. Upon Leo’s death in 820, Nicetas was returned and lived as a hermit near Constantinople until his death.