Nikon the Metanoeite
Nikon the "Metanoite" (c. 930 – 26 November 998) was a Byzantine monk, itinerant preacher, and saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to historian Andrew Louth, Nikon is best understood as the heroic subject of his Life, a hagiography of the saint written after his death by a successor abbot of his monastery.
The Life focuses on Nikon's mission to re-Christianize sections of the Byzantine Empire that had been lost during the early Muslim conquests, particularly the Emirate of Crete, which existed from the late 820s until the Byzantine reconquest in 961. The Life describes Nikon's work on Crete and the central Greek mainland, recounting miracles he performed during and after his life. Nikon himself is represented as a missionary monk in the biography, one who was constantly preaching rather than constantly praying.
Patron saint of Sparta; Laconia
In the Martyrology
- November 26 Saint Nikon the Metanoeite, monk