Hierarch4th century

Saint Nikon the Great Bishop of Arsinoe

4th century

Also known as Nikon of Arsinoe · Nikon the Great

A bishop of Arsinoe in Cyprus, surnamed 'the Great,' who drew the young Saint Arkadios into the clergy and whom Arkadios succeeded on the episcopal throne.

August 29New Calendar

Feast Day

September 11Old Calendar

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Commemorated as

Our Father among the Saints Nikon the Great, Bishop of Arsinoe

Life

Saint Nikon the Great was a bishop of Arsinoe in Cyprus, remembered by the epithet "the Great." His life is preserved almost entirely through the hagiography of his successor, Saint Arkadios of Arsinoe, within which he appears as the hierarch who drew the young Arkadios into the clergy and whom Arkadios succeeded on the episcopal throne.

According to that tradition, when the reputation of Arkadios reached Nikon, the bishop asked to meet him; having learned of his manner of thinking and his sanctity of life, Nikon pressed him to accept the priesthood so that he might serve the people of God more fully, and personally ordained him. After Nikon's death the people of Arsinoe unanimously elected Arkadios to succeed him on the bishop's throne.

Nikon is commemorated among the saints of Arsinoe on August 29. He is a genuinely obscure figure whose historical record is bound to that of Arkadios, and the surviving sources place him in the 4th century.

Contributions & Legacy

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Bishop of Arsinoe

Nikon held the episcopal see of Arsinoe, one of the ancient bishoprics of Cyprus. The sources that survive characterize him chiefly through a single episode: his recognition and ordination of Arkadios, a native of the village of Melandra in the Paphos region who had studied at Constantinople and, on returning to Cyprus, pursued an ascetic life in the island's mountains and caves.

The tradition relates that Arkadios's fame reached Nikon, who summoned him; after examining his thought and way of life, Nikon urged him to become a priest and ordained him. This ordination set Arkadios on the path he would later follow as Nikon's successor, when he was elected by the people to the throne of Arsinoe and went on to contend against Arianism and Gnosticism.

Sources and Commemoration

Nikon does not appear as an independent commemoration in the OCA calendar for August 29, which lists his successor Arkadios among the day's saints; his veneration is tied to the shared August 29 feast of the saints of Arsinoe. No dedicated reference article for Nikon exists on OrthodoxWiki or Wikipedia, and searches of other hagiographical resources return no separate life.

The account drawn from the Greek synaxarion tradition, transmitted through the vita of Arkadios, is effectively the sole factual spine for Nikon. Because the record is so slight, most of what is known of him is stated only as it bears on his successor.

Companions1 figureShowHide

His successor on the episcopal throne of Arsinoe, whom he first drew to the ascetic life.

Saint Arkadios the WonderworkerBishop of Arsinoe

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Sources: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/08/saint-arkadios-bishop-of-arsinoe-and.html; OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Aug 29