Nicetas the Confessor

Venerable Nicetas the Confessor, Abbot of Medikion.

St. Nicetas the Confessor was abbot of the monastery of Medikion in Bithynia in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. A gentle father to his monks, he guided his community in prayer and asceticism until the renewal of iconoclasm, when he refused to reject the holy icons and was imprisoned and exiled by the emperor.

He endured his sufferings with patience and reposed a confessor, honored throughout the Church for his steadfastness in the Orthodox faith. He is commemorated on April 3.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Nicetas the Confessor is commemorated on April 3. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on April 16 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Nikitas, Nicetas

Also commemorated on April 3

• Joseph the Hymnographer

  Venerable, Ιωσήφ ο Υμνογράφος

  Venerable Joseph the Hymnographer, composer of many canons of the Church and confessor for the holy icons.

• Elpidephoros, Dius, Bithonius and Galycus

  Martyr, Ελπιδηφόρος, Δίος, Βυθόνιος και Γάλυκος

  Holy Martyrs Elpidephoros, Dius, Bithonius and Galycus, who suffered different deaths for Christ.

  Name days: Elpidoforos, Elpidophoros, Elpidiforos

• Illyrios of Mount Myrsinon

  Venerable, Ιλλύριος

  Venerable Illyrios the Wonderworker, ascetic of Mount Myrsinon in the Peloponnese.

• Paul the Russian

  Martyr, Παύλος ο Ρώσος

  Holy New Martyr Paul the Russian, a freed captive who was martyred in Constantinople.

• Agape the Virgin Martyr

  Holy Woman, Αγάπη η Παρθενομάρτυς

  Holy Virgin Martyr Agape, commemorated on this day in the Greek synaxaria.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.