Niketas 8 was the author of the Life of St Philaretos (Philaretos 1). He was a grandson of Philaretos 1, the third son of Ioannes 12 and Eirene 2, and the brother of Bardas 1, Eustathios 1, Philaretos 3, Helene 1, Euphemia 1 and Hypatia 3: Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 141, line 28, p.155, line 32 (third son of Ioannes) (ὁ τρίτος παῖς Νικήτας). He describes himself as the favourite of his grandfather, who prayed for his future, and as his spiritual son: Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 157, lines 11-12 (τὸν τρίτον καὶ πνευματικὸν αὐτοῦ υἱὸν τὸν Νικήταν), p. 161, line 29 (ὁ δὲ τούτου ἔγγων καὶ πνευματικὸς υἱὸς Νικήτας), p. 165, lines 19-20 (Νικήτας ὁ ἔγγονος καὶ υἱος πνευματικὸς τοῦ ἁγίου μου πάππου). He was seven years old when his grandfather died (in 792): Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 161, line 31. The date of his birth was the feast of St Theodoros (i.e. 17 February): Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 159, lines 3-5. He was therefore born on 17 February 785. He was probably born at Amnia, at the family home in Paphlagonia. When he was about eighteen years old he became a monk: Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 165, line 22 (μοναχὸς χρόνων ὢν ὀκτὼ καὶ δέκα γενόμενος). At the time when he wrote the Life of Philaretos he had been a monk for twenty years; he wrote it in the Year of the World 6330, when he was living in exile (ἐν ἐξορίᾳ) at Karioupolis in the Peloponnesos: Nicetas, Vita Philareti, p. 165. The work was therefore written in 821/822 and he became a monk in c. 802. No explanation is given by the author of the reasons for his exile. For the suggestion that it was connected with the revolt of Thomas the Slav (Thomas 7), see the introduction by Fourmy and Leroy to their edition of the Vita Philareti.

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