Styled Niketas of Heliopolis (Νικήτας ὁ Ἡλιουπόλεως; perhaps the bishop of Heliopolis), Niketas 9 was anathematised in 755 by "the whole church" (ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πάσης) (and cf. Konstantinos 4): Theoph. AM 6247. Possibly an iconophile anathematised by the iconoclasts in the aftermath of the Council of Hieria; however the use of the expression "the whole church" suggests that this was not a matter relating to iconoclasm but to some other heresy that all parties could condemn. Theophanes goes on in AM 6247 to refer to the Paulicians and this may have been the reason for Niketas 9's condemnation. The emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) transferred many persons from Theodosiopolis and Melitene to Thrace, where the Paulician heresy then began to spread. Heliopolis (Baalbek) is not however near any known centre of Paulicianism.

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