Ηegumen / Abbot
He was born on the island of Crete in the village of Chania to Christian parents. At the age of ten, he was sent to Constantinople to his uncle Theophanes, a monk of the Studite monastery. Abbot Theodore, seeing his virtue, tonsured him as a monk and later as a priest. His brother Titus came with the sad news of their parents' captivity, but Nicholas comforted him, urging him not to grieve.
The Church was at peace until the persecutions of the iconoclast heretics began under the reign of Emperor Leo the Armenian. Nicholas and Theodore the Studite were imprisoned for defending the veneration of icons, where they suffered severe tortures. They preached from their confinement, sending letters to the faithful. After three years of suffering, Leo was killed, and his successor Michael freed them.
Nicholas continued to serve God, becoming the abbot of the Studite monastery, but after Michael's death, the new emperor Theophilus began persecutions. Nicholas wandered until the pious empress Theodora came, restoring peace in the Church. He became abbot again but soon withdrew into solitude.
At the end of his life, Nicholas healed the sick, including Empress Eudocia and the patrician Manuel. He died on February 4, leaving a prophecy about the wheat for the brethren, which indeed arrived on the third day after his death. His relics are venerated, and he became an example of faithfulness and steadfastness in faith.
