Память преподобного Никифора

Our great father, Blessed Nikephoros, was from the city of Constantinople. His parents, Andrei and Theodora, were noble and very rich people. They taught their son the fear of God. After their death, Nikifor, having experienced the vanity of the world, felt a desire to devote himself to serving God. Therefore, having distributed all his inheritance to the poor, he retired from Constantinople to Chalcedon in 2653. Then he entered the monastery of St. Andrew and, seeing the perfect life of the ascetics, decided to stay with them. Soon after this, the abbot of the monastery sent him to the Phoenician island, where the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos was located, so that he could be abbot there and shepherd the flock of Christ. Arriving on the island, the monk converted the pagans living there to faith in Christ with many miracles, destroyed their temples and built churches in their place. With his fasting life he surpassed everyone. Having lived in the monastery for thirty-three years and feeling the closeness of his departure to the Lord, he informed the brethren about this and appointed a pious monk, Joseph, as abbot, and he himself hastened to go to Chalcedon. Having boarded the ship, he fell ill and said to the shipmen: - Be courageous and calm, for I am going to the Lord. Take my body to Chalcedon. With these words the saint died. With a fair wind, the ship soon sailed to Chalcedon, and the shipmen placed the body of the saint in a coffin and buried him with honor. The city of Chalcedon is located opposite Constantinople on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, in the Roman province of Bithynia, of which it was the main city. You might be interested in: