Venerable Nicephorus the Abbot

The Venerable Nicephorus the Abbot was born in Constantinople into a rich and well-known family. His parents, Andrew and Theodora, brought up their son as a Christian. After their death Nicephorus gave away all his property to the poor and set out for Chalcedon. The strict rule of life of the monastery of Saint Andrew appealed to the Venerable Nicephorus, and he stayed there to labour.

He showed such extraordinary zeal in prayer and labour, and such diligence in patience and ascetic struggle, that soon the abbot sent him to preach on an island of Phoenicia and made him abbot of the monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God.

The Venerable Nicephorus spent thirty-three years on the island and converted many pagans to the true faith.

When he felt that his death was approaching, the venerable abbot asked the brethren to take him on board a ship, and he himself said to the ship’s owner: “Be at peace; my soul is going to the Lord, but take my body to Chalcedon, to the lavra of Saint Andrew.” The ship reached Chalcedon safely. The fathers of the monastery of Saint Andrew buried the holy ascetic’s body with honour.