Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople — August 11 / August 24 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 11 according to the Julian Calendar (August 24 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople, was a Greek by origin. He was tonsured a monk at Epidaurus. After the repose of his elder Anthony, the blessed one struggled on Mount Athos and occupied himself with the copying of books.

At various times he held the sees of Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Patriarch of Constantinople, and hierarch of Wallachia. Driven from his diocese for denouncing lawlessness, the holy father returned once more to Athos: first he laboured in the Vatopedi Monastery, and afterward in the monastery of the Nativity of John the Baptist, that is, the Monastery of Dionysiou.

He concealed his rank and always performed the humblest tasks of obedience, but the Lord made his identity known to the brethren by a divine revelation. Once, as the saint was returning to the monastery from the forest where he had gone to gather firewood, the brethren came out to meet him and received him with festal honour as a patriarch. Even so, the hierarch Niphon continued afterward to be in no way distinguished from the other monks, sharing equally the burden of their labour.

The holy father reposed on August 11, 1460, at the age of ninety.