Nephon Kausokalybites

Nephon Kausokalybites ( Greek Νήφων Καυσοκαλυβίτης ; † 1411) was a Greek Orthodox monk and ascetic . He was Protos on Mount Athos in 1345. Nephon is venerated as a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church . The day of remembrance is June 14th.

Life

Nephon was born in Lukovë , in the Sarandë region in the Despotate of Epirus (now Albania). At a young age he entered the Geromerion Monastery at Filiates . There he became hesychast . Soon afterwards he moved to the nearby Nikolaos monastery in Mesopotamon . There he became a monk.

Later (after 1335?) He went to the monastic republic of Athos. There he devoted himself to a life as an ascetic. In 1345 he was accused of the heresy of Bogomilism as head of the Mount Athos ( Protos ) . The background was obviously a power struggle for rule on Athos. The Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan ruled the area at this time. Gregory Palamas stood up for Nephon. Nevertheless, he was removed from his office as Protos in 1347/48. He was succeeded by the Serbian monk Antonius.

Between 1355 and 1363 he was again accused of heresy. Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople defended him. Nephon lived as hesychast again since then. He died in 1411.

Works

Nephon was the author of the first biography of Maximos Kausokalybites , his spiritual teacher.

literature

• François Halkin: La vie de Saint Niphon ermite au Mont Athos, (XIV ^e S.). In: Analecta Bollandiana . Vol. 58, 1940, pp. 5-27, doi : 10.1484 / J.ABOL.4.00837 .
• Dušan Korać: Mount Athos under the rule of Stephen Dušan. (AD 1345-1355). In: Serbian Studies. Vol. 8, No. 1/2, 1994, ISSN  0742-3330 , pp. 71-86, here p. 81, ( digitized version (PDF; 10.71 MB) ).