Nikephoros II Phokas
General who reconquered Crete and became emperor in 963. A patron of monks who had himself hoped to become one, he paid for the Great Lavra on Athos and gave it a charter of independence.
Athanasius the Athonite remembers Nikephoros as a soldier who lived like a monk, fasting, keeping vigil and sleeping on the ground, who founded monasteries and wished to retire to one. He describes how the general summoned him to Crete during the campaign there, sent gold for the building on Mount Athos, and, once emperor, swore that he still meant to come. Athanasius writes that Nikephoros would have kept his promise had he not died a martyr’s death (Athanasius, Typikon 2–8). The emperor’s charter for the Lavra survives only in the passages Athanasius quotes (Athanasius, Typikon 12). See the Great Lavra and the Monastic Republic of Athos.
In the timeline
- AD 963 to AD 972, estimated dateThe Great Lavra and the Monastic Republic of Athos
With the backing of the general and emperor Nikephoros Phokas, the monk Athanasius builds the Great Lavra on Mount Athos as a self-governing monastery. A few years later an imperial charter gives all the monks of the Mountain a common rule.
Primary sources
Typikon for the Great Lavra
- Athanasius, Typikon 2–8archive.org
- Athanasius, Typikon 12archive.org