Nicholas the Monk

Saint Nicholas the Monk, also called Nicholas the Voivode or Nicholas the Slav, was a Byzantine officer of Slavic origin from the Balkans, who became a monk and died in peace in the ninth century.

In the time of the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I, Nicholas was a voivode in the Byzantine army, with several regiments under his command, and he led part of the force with which Nikephoros attacked the Bulgarians. During the campaign he spent a night at an inn, where the innkeeper's daughter approached him three times in the night, wishing to lie with him; each time he refused. According to Christian belief, the next day he had a strange dream in which he saw that he would be spared death in the war against the Bulgarians. The dream was fulfilled, and Nicholas returned to Byzantium, gave up his military rank and became a monk.

He struggled for a long time and advanced so far in the ascetic life that he became a great clairvoyant and a well-⁠known monk. He passed to the Lord in peace in the ninth century.

The Serbian Church commemorates him on 24 December by the old calendar (6 January by the new).