Venerable Father & Theologian

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite

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The Athonite monk, theologian and spiritual writer whose labors nourished the renewal of Orthodox life.

Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — Repose of Venerable Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Orthodox Synaxarion — Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.

Life and Witness

Life and Historical Setting

Saint Nikodemos was born on Naxos in 1748 and received the name Nicholas in Baptism. He became a monk on Mount Athos and devoted his gifts to prayer, spiritual study and the service of the Church. He collaborated in the preparation of the Philokalia and labored on important Orthodox spiritual and liturgical works. He reposed in 1809 and is commemorated on July 14.

Miracles, Relics and Places of Veneration

Mount Athos preserves the places of his monastic labor and his holy relics. His enduring monuments are the Philokalia, the Synaxarion, canonical and devotional works he edited or composed, each of which must be identified accurately rather than attributed to him in a vague collective way.

Iconography and Spiritual Meaning

The saint's icon presents a transfigured human person whose holiness is the gift of God. The spiritual lesson is drawn from the received life and worship of the Church, not from invented moral anecdotes.

Feast Day

July 14 — Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite.

From the Orthodox Synaxarion

The Orthodox Synaxarion also records Saint Nikodemos's patient literary labor on Mount Athos. During a period in the cell of Saint George at Karyes, he spent a year copying the Alphabetikon, an ascetical collection associated with the sayings and wisdom of the desert fathers.