Saint Niketas the Confessor

Niketas the Confessor was a bishop of Apollonias (also called Apolloniada), a city in Bithynia in Asia Minor, who is venerated for his defense of the veneration of the holy icons during the Byzantine iconoclast controversy. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on March 20. His diocese was, according to the tradition, subject to the metropolitan see of Nicomedia.

The sources describe Niketas as a man of deep learning in the Holy Scripture and of gentle character. The Orthodox Church in America records that he was noted for his profound knowledge of Holy Scripture and was a pious and kindly man, while the synaxarion tradition calls him faithful, pious and Orthodox, merciful and compassionate, and very learned in his study of Scripture. He is further remembered as a capable preacher and shepherd of his flock.

When iconoclasm prevailed, Niketas upheld the Orthodox teaching that the icons of Christ, the Theotokos, the angels, and the saints are venerated rather than worshiped, and he refused pressure to abandon their veneration. For this confession he was exiled and subjected to hardships. The accounts of his death differ in emphasis: the OCA states that he was exiled and died in prison, while the synaxarion relates that the hardships of his suffering brought him to sickness, and that he gave up his soul to God, receiving the crown of confession.