Category: Teaching

Drawn to the study of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers from an early age, and raised with a monastic bearing at the feet of a local hermit whose way of life he admired, Saint Niphon was a bright light of the Church as well as a rod of correction for the erring during the aftermath of the false union that emerged from the Council of Florence. Though he longed for hesychia, he and his elder were frequently sent out to teach and confirm the people in the Faith that had been handed down to them. The combination of his personal piety and his ability to rightly divide the truth, Saint Niphon was eventually consecrated a Bishop. Despite his commitments he saw prayer for the world as his first responsibility and the firm foundation on which the rest of his ministry would be built, so he withdrew to the Holy Mountain, eventually settling in the Monastery of Dionysiou. Because of his reputation as the teacher of Athos, he was summoned to the imperial city to take part in a meeting of the Holy Synod. When the Patriarch died near the start of the meeting, Saint Niphon was unanimously elected to succeed him. Jealous that he had no claim to the holy Hierarch and seeing this as his chance to topple a a strong adversary, Satan sent envious men to oppose and impede the work of the new Ecumenical Patriarch. But despite slavery to the Turks and the word of the evil one, the Church flowered as in the springtime of a new martyrdom, guided along by the steady hand, clear teaching, and patient endurance of the Saint. Suffering repeated humiliations, depositions, and exiles at the hands of both political supporters and adversaries, the Saint turned everything to prayer and even hid himself by entering his former Monastery again as a simple novice. But such a light cannot be hidden under a bushel, and by the grace of God he was revealed so that he could continue profiting the Church with his God-inspired teachings until his blessed falling asleep.