Saint Nephon II of Constantinople

Nephon II of Constantinople (Nifon II (Greek: Νήφων; Albanian: Nifoni; died 11 August 1508), born Nicholas (Νικόλαος), was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople three times: from 1486 to 1488, from 1497 to 1498 and for a short time in 1502. He is honored as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is 11 August. He was born in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece to an Albanian father and a Greek mother. He was tonsured a monk at Epidaurus, taking the religious name of Nephon. He was involved in calligraphy and copying manuscripts. He then followed a monk named Zacharias and settled in the Monastery of the Theotokos in Ohrid. When Zacharias was elected Archbishop of Ohrid, Nephon went to Mount Athos and there he was ordained a hieromonk. In 1482 he was elected Metropolis of Thessaloniki and at the end of 1486 he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, supported by the wealthy Prince of Wallachia, Vlad Călugărul, who thus inaugurated Wallachian participation in the history of external influences on the Patriarchate's election process.: 195  After eighteen months a scandal arose, which led to Nephon II's removal. Specifically, the previous patriarch, Symeon I of Constantinople, died without making his will. İşkender Bey, one of the sons of Symeon's main sponsor, George Amiroutzes, had converted to Islam and was at the time the treasurer of the Sultan. He requested that all the inheritance of Symeon I, which included also ecclesiastic items, should pass to the Sultan's treasury. To avoid this, Nephon II pretended that a nephew of the deceased patriarch was the legitimate heir, finding three monks that bore false witness. After discovering the truth, Sultan Bayezid II confiscated the property of Symeon I, punished the clergy involved in the scandal, and exiled Nephon II. Nephon II was exiled to some island in the Black Sea off Sozopol and was deposed in the first months of 1488.