Venerable Nicetas the Confessor, Bishop of Chalcedon

Nicetas was a bishop of Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. His Life describes him as a man who fed the hungry, clothed the poor, took in strangers and defended widows and orphans.

When Emperor Leo the Armenian renewed the ban on holy images (815), Nicetas spoke against it and refused to give up the veneration of icons. For this he was sent into exile and suffered other hardships. The Church remembers him as a confessor, one who suffered for his faith without being put to death. His Life says that healings were reported at his tomb.