Nikephoros Paraschis-⁠Kantakouzenos

Holy Hieromartyr Nikephoros Paraschis-⁠Kantakouzenos was a Greek scholar, born in 1537 at Constantinople, who became archdeacon and exarch of the ecumenical patriarch in Moldavia and in the Polish Commonwealth, and died in 1599 in the prison at Marienburg (Malbork). He was a great fighter against the union of Brest. One source remembers him on 6 October and in the synaxes of the saints of Belarus and Galicia. Our sources do not show who canonized him or when.

The scholar

Nikephoros was from a noble family of Greek origin. He was a graduate of the University of Padua, a supporter of the school at Ostrog and of the spread of Orthodoxy in Europe. He was representative of the Greek church of Saint George in Venice, exarch of the ecumenical patriarch in Moldavia and in Poland and locum tenens of the patriarch of Constantinople. He took part in the council of Brest and was against the conclusion of the "Union of Brest". In the early 1580s he was at Constantinople and soon came to a prominent position in the Patriarchate. No source says whether he was a monk, but the course of his life shows that he had no family. From the beginning of his work at Constantinople he showed himself a defender of Orthodoxy. A journey to Iași, in Moldavia, to collect money for the patriarchal treasury led him to the struggle for keeping the old calendar. At the same time he met Konstantin Ostrogski, who invited him to Ostrog. About 1596 he came there and taught at the local academy. As locum tenens of the patriarch he received the nickname "the most wise", for his gifts and the scope of his church and political work. He enjoyed the love and full trust of Patriarch Jeremias of Constantinople.

The struggle against the union

In the struggle against the union, exarch Nikephoros first came out in Moldavia, organizing the condemnation of the union at the council of Iași in the summer of 1595. On his initiative Bishop George Movilă, who pursued a Uniate policy, was removed. The decisions of the council of Iași, in which the union was harshly condemned, were a help in the struggle of the Orthodox in the Commonwealth who resisted the introduction of the union and the taking of lands from the Orthodox nobles. Nikephoros's arrival at Brest, at the council, where he came under the protection of Prince Konstantin Ostrogski, was decisive for the course of events. Archdeacon Nikephoros managed to obtain the condemnation of the Uniates by the Orthodox delegation. He also wrote polemical works.

Capture and death

Soon he was falsely accused of spying for Turkey, in a trial of 1597 stirred up, according to one source, by Catholic circles, and sent to Marienburg, where he was kept under guard. Two years after the trial he died in prison of hunger.