A Life of Nicolas the Stoudite (Nikolaos 26) was written in the early tenth century by one of the Stoudite monks (Anonymus 276). Native of Kydonia in Crete: Vita Nic. Stud. 868B-C, cf. 865B (from Crete), Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. His parents were of humble origins (Anonymus 272 and Anonyma 41): Vita Nic. Stud. 868C. He was the brother of Titos 1: Vita Nic. Stud. 876B. There were also apparently other brothers or sisters: Vita Nic. Stud. 868D - 869A (σὺν τοῖς λοιποῖς αὐτοῦ εὐκλεεστάτοις ὁμαίμοσι). He was born between February 793 and February 794 (see below). He learnt grammar and was instructed in Christian piety: Vita Nic. Stud. 869A. At the age of ten (in 803), when he was judged ready for further studies, he was sent to Constantinople, to his uncle Theophanes 21 who was a monk in the Stoudite monastery under Theodoros 15: Vita Nic. Stud. 869A-B, cf. Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. He was placed in a school close to the monastery, to continue his study of letters together with boys of his own age: Vita Nic. Stud. 869C. A clever and quiet boy, who did not join in the sports of his contemporaries, he made quick progress: Vita Nic. Stud. 872A. He became proficient in the studies which prepared him for more advanced work (τὰς εἰσαγωγικὰς μαθήσεις) and in particular in shorthand for which his natural quickness made him apt (ταχυγράφος ἀποφανθεὶς χρησιμώτατος); he advanced in spiritual studies and outstripped his contemporaries in his devotions and in his study of the Scriptures and the Lives of Saints: Vita Nic. Stud. 872A-C, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. On arriving at manhood he was tonsured by Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite) and became a monk: Vita Nic. Stud. 874C. Later, since he was judged eminently suitable, he became a priest: Vita Nic. Stud. 873C-D, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. He continued to work as a scribe and his work was attested by many copies of books (καὶ μαρτυροῦσιν αἵ τε βίβλοι καὶ τὰ ἐκείνου πονήματα): Vita Nic. Stud. 876A-B. Mentioned in a letter of Theodoros 15 written in 809/811 to the monks Silouanos 2 and Euprepianos 1; Nikolaos 26 was one of many about whom Theodoros 15 (who was then in exile) wanted news: Theod. Stud., Ep. 41. When Crete fell to the Arabs Nikolaos 26's brother Titos 1 came to him at Constantinople and he made him a monk also in the same monastery: Vita Nic. Stud. 876B - 877A. The date of this was presumably around 828; it is therefore out of sequence in the narrative of the Life of Nicholas. Under Leo V (Leo 15) Nikolaos 26 was exiled as an iconophile together with Theodoros 15, Nikephoros 2 (the patriarch Nikephoros) and other venerators of icons: Vita Nic. Stud. 880C-881A, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. The date was spring 815 (see below). He and Theodoros 15 were exiled together to the fort of Metopa close to lake Apollonias (in Bithynia), where they remained for a year during which they were covertly visited by disciples from the monastery and others, whom they encouraged to support the veneration of icons; eventually the emperor (Leo V) found out and they were then exiled to another fortress in the Anatolikon thema called Bonita and forbidden all visitors: Vita Nic. Stud. 881C-884A. However a letter from Theodoros 15 fell into the hands of the emperor; Leo 15 thereupon sent an agent (Anonymus 273) who had Nikolaos 26 and then Theodoros 15 given a hundred lashes each and then shut them both up and ordered them to be starved: Vita Nic. Stud. 884B-C, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. They were kept with hardly any food or water for days at a time and suffered greatly: Vita Nic. Stud. 884C-885A. Then yet another document fell into the emperor's hands and another agent (Anonymus 274) was sent out and he had both men severely beaten again and tortured; they both nearly died from the effects: Vita Nic. Stud. 885A-888B, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. They were held in close confinement here for three years in all and suffered mistreatment and hardship: Vita Nic. Stud. 888C, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. They were then transferred to Smyrna, to suffer further imprisonment and beatings; there they remained for twenty more months, fettered with wooden blocks, until the death of the emperor Leo V (Leo 15): Vita Nic. Stud. 888C-889A, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. This implies that they were transferred to Smyrna perhaps in May 819 and had therefore been sent to Bonita around May 816 after a year at Metopa from spring 815 to spring 816. Nikolaos 26 is frequently mentioned in the letters of Theodoros 15 from this period. He and Hypatios 7 accompanied Theodoros 15 from Metopa to Boneta: Theod. Stud., Ep. 81 (written in spring 816). He was Theodoros 15's companion, often his only companion, during his exile under Leo 15, and in many letters Theodoros 15 added his greetings to his own; in winter 815/816, Theod. Stud., Ep. 111 (to Theodoros 15's brother, Ioseph 3; προσκύνει δουλικῶς ὁ ἀδελφὸς Νικόλαος, μόνος ἐγκαταλειφθείς μοι); in early summer 816, Theod. Stud., Ep. 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 151; in summer 816, Ep. 150 (alone at Bonita with Theodoros 15; they were under constant guard), Ep. 152 (alone with Theodoros 15); in winter 817/818, Ep. 288 (he and Theodoros 15 had both received a flogging); in winter 817/818 or spring 818, Ep. 344, 349; in 818, Ep. 252 (imprisoned with Theodoros 15), 290 (flogged and imprisoned with Theodoros), 368, 384, 388 (imprisoned with Theodoros 15), 392, 405; in late 818/early 819, Ep. 402; in early 819, Ep. 381; in spring 819, Ep. 382 (suffered in exile with Theodoros 15, but was not beaten with Theodoros 15 after an earlier sermon fell into the emperor's hands; he is described, line 63, as ὁ συγκλειστὸς καὶ σύμπονος καὶ συστρατιώτης μου); in May/June 819, Ep. 406, 410 (both had been beaten again). He was still with Theodoros 15 in early 821: Theod. Stud., Ep. 417 (in January 821), Ep. 421 (early 821). One letter, perhaps written in 821, records the help that Theodoros 15 and Nikolaos 26 had received from Eudoko 1 when they had been imprisoned and forbidden to have visitors: Theod. Stud., Ep. 436. Soon after Michael II (Michael 10) became emperor (December 820) the persecution of iconophiles was relaxed and among others Theodoros 15 and Nikolaos 26 were freed: Vita Nic. Stud. 889B-C. They left Smyrna and made their way on foot to the district of Prousa and then to Chalcedon where they met and spent some time in the company of the exiled patriarch Nikephoros (Nikephoros 2), winning his admiration when he saw the visible marks of their suffering: Vita Nic. Stud. 889C-892A, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. Nikolaos 26 probably accompanied Nikephoros 2 and Theodoros 15 and others when they had an audience with the emperor Michael 10 and tried in vain to convince him of the correctness of the veneration of icons: Vita Nic. Stud. 892A-893A. Afterwards, since they were all forbidden to remain in Constantinople, Nikolaos 26 and Theodoros 15 left to live in Prousa; they remained there until the rebellion of Thomas the Slav (Thomas 7), when they were ordered unwillingly back to Constantinople by the emperor; they soon left there to live on the peninsular of St Tryphon near Cape Akritas: Vita Nic. Stud. 900A, Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. This is presumably the occasion referred to by Theodoros 15 in a letter written in c. 823 to Petros 49, bishop of Nikaia, in which Theodoros 15 describes "our" flight from Arab invaders to the island of Prinkipo: Theod. Stud., Ep. 475. It was at St Tryphon that Theodoros 15 died (in 826); his body was taken for burial to the nearby island of Prinkipos; Nikolaos 26 took up residence near the tomb and devoted himself to a life of asceticism; his fame spread and he received many visitors, including high ranking persons from Constantinople who came to him for spiritual guidance: Vita Nic. Stud. 900A-C. It was presumably during this period that he made his brother Titos 1 a monk (see above). When the persecution resumed under the emperor Theophilos (Theophilos 5), Nikolaos 26 escaped by travelling from place to place; eventually he met Eirene 8, a pious lady, who gave him a secluded property in Thrace not far from Constantinople where he was able to live in peace; he later gave the property, called Phirmoupolis, to his monastery (the Stoudios monastery): Vita Nic. Stud. 901A-B. He chose to remain on this property after the restoration of the Stoudios monastery in Constantinople following the triumph of the iconophile cause under the empress Theodora 2 (in 843), visiting his fellow-monks infrequently, as he preferred to follow a quiet life of contemplation and asceticism: Vita Nic. Stud. 904A. After the death of Naukratios 1 (in 846) Nikolaos 26 was unanimously elected hegoumenos of the Stoudios monastery at Constantinople: Vita Nic. Stud. 904C, Vita S. Evaristi 12 (p. 306), Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444. He is described as in every way comparable to his excellent and virtuous predecessors: Vita S. Evaristi 12 (p. 306). He appointed Evarestos 1 to be second oikonomos of the monastery: Vita S. Evaristi 12 (p. 306). Nikolaos 26 governed the monastery for three years and then chose to retire (in 849) to the quietness of Phirmoupolis, leaving Sophronios 1 as his successor: Vita Nic. Stud. 904C-905A. Sophronios 1 died after four years, on 3 November, and the monks insisted that Nikolaos 26 return as their hegoumenos (in late 853): Vita Nic. Stud. 905A-B. After the expulsion of the patriarch Ignatios 1 from his see by the kaisar Bardas 5 in late 858, Nikolaos 26 withdrew from the monastery and accompanied by his brother (Titos 1) went to live on Prainetos in one of the properties belonging to the Stoudios monastery; he rejected attempts by the kaisar to persuade him to return, including, according to the Vita, a personal visit from the emperor and the kaisar, and finally was expelled from all properties owned by the monastery and replaced as hegoumenos by Achillas 1: Vita Nic. Stud. 908B-909B, cf. Vita S. Evaristi 13 (pp. 306-307) (as a consequence of dissension in the Church (unspecified, but presumably the removal of the patriarch Ignatios 1) and also, it is suggested, because the burdens of administration were proving too heavy, Nikolaos 26 left the monastery after delivering a strong exhortation to the monks on their conduct; many of the monks also left the monastery with him and dispersed to various places).

Nikolaos 26 was hegoumenos of the Stoudite monastery; he is named by pope Nicholas I (Nikolaos 28) in a letter to the emperor Michael III (Michael 11) in 865 as one of the supporters of the patriarch Ignatios (Ignatios 1): Nicolaus I, Ep. 86 (PL 119, 956B).

Nikolaos 26 now travelled from place to place; after a while he fell ill and refused to let anyone care for him except Evarestos 1, who hurried to his side as soon as he heard; then, while still a sick man, Nikolaos 26 was summoned to an interview with the emperor (Michael III, Michael 11); he made a good impression and was allowed to go: Vita S. Evaristi 14 (pp. 307-308). He suffered much through poverty and old age while travelling from place to place and was eventually given a place to live in at Constantinople, in the district of Liba, formerly known as the district of Kokkorobion, by Samuel 1; this place, situated in a peaceful and quiet spot, became a small monastery, thanks in part to the efforts of Nikolaos 26's disciple, Evarestos 1, whom Nikolaos 26 summoned there: Vita Nic. Stud. 909B-912A. While staying there he received approaches from the new patriarch Photios 1, who wanted to win his support; he eventually fled, going first to Prokonnesos and then to Mitylene and then, after some time there, went accompanied by his brother Titos 1 to Xamelion in the Chersonesos: Vita Nic. Stud. 912A-B. He remained there for seven years, suffering partly from old age and partly from shortages of essentials, before he was taken back to the Stoudios monastery on orders from the Kaisar Bardas 5 and was held in custody there for two years, while Sabas 6 was hegoumenos; only after the deaths of Bardas 5 and the emperor Michael III (Michael 11) and the accession of Basil I (Basilios 7) (in 867) was he released; he was then persuaded, in spite of his age, to resume his position as hegoumenos of the Stoudios monastery, supposedly by the emperor (Basilios 7) himself; thereafter he was a frequent visitor to the palace: Vita Nic. Stud. 912C-913C. If he really spent seven years at Xamelion and two as prisoner in the Stoudios monastery, then his whole period of exile from 858 to 867 was spent in those two places; the period of seven years is more likely to refer to the whole period of his wanderings before he was taken back to his monastery, where he then remained from, presumably, 865 to 867. The story of his exile told in the Life of St Evarestos differs from this in certain details which are not entirely reconcilable. According to this, after his visit to Michael III (Michael 11) he is said to have accompanied Evarestos 1 to the house of Samuel 1, who had given shelter to some of the Stoudite monks; he told them about his travels and the defence he had presented to the emperor, and became their acting head; more of the scattered monks now began to join him, so many in fact that their dwelling was soon too small, and Samuel 1 therefore bought a new site in the district of Kokkorobion at Constantinople and gave it to Nikolaos 26; Nikolaos 26 established the monks there and put them under the charge of Paphnoutios 1: Vita S. Evaristi 15 (p. 308). The emperor (Michael 11) heard that Nikolaos 26 was in Constantinople and ordered him to be returned to the Stoudios monastery and there to remain quietly in his own cell; later, after the death of Michael III (Michael 11) and the accession of the emperor Basil I (Basilios 7), Basilios 7 and the patriarch (Ignatios 1) summoned Nikolaos 26 and asked him to resume his position as hegoumenos of the monastery; at first he pleaded age and ill-health as reasons for refusing, preferring the life of a recluse, but finally agreed and returned to the monastery as its head; he wanted, however, when his time came, to be buried in the monastery at Kokkorobion: Vita S. Evaristi 16 (pp. 308-309). During a visit to Kokkorobion he fell ill and expressed a wish to be buried there, but was persuaded to change his mind and return to the Stoudios monastery by the pleas of the monks: Vita S. Evaristi 17 (pp. 309-310). He appointed Evarestos 1 as hegoumenos of the monastery of Kokkorobion, with Paphnoutios 1 as oikonomos, and then was carried back to the Stoudios monastery where, a few days later, feeling the approach of death, he summoned the monks together, appointed Klemens 4 as his successor and, after some words of exhortation, died; he was buried beside his predecessors at the monastery: Vita S. Evaristi 18 (p. 310), cf. Vita Nic. Stud. 921B (he named Klemens 4 as his successor on his death-bed). He was buried in the Church of the Prodromos at the Stoudios monastery: Vita Nic. Stud. 921C-D. He died on 4 February 868, during his seventy fifth year: Vita Nic. Stud. 921C (year of the world 6376, during a first indiction, on 4 February), cf. Synax. Eccl. Const. 443-444 (he died aged seventy five). He was therefore born between February 793 and February 794. His last return as hegoumenos of the Stoudion was evidently brief, from late 867 to February 868. The story in the Vita S. Evaristi omits the visits to Prokonnesos, Mitylene and Xamelion in the Chersonese and implies that it was from the Kokkorobion monastery that he was ordered back into the Stoudios monastery. The omitted travels and the journey with Titos 1 to Xamelion fit chronologically between the events told in Vita S. Evaristi 15 and Vita S. Evaristi 16; there is however no sign of a lacuna and possibly they were simply omitted from this narrative as not relevant to the Evaristos story.

Kyprianos 5 was a disciple of Nikolaos 26: Vita Nic. Stud. 893B. Early in the reign of Basil I (Basilios 7) the empress Eudokia 2, who was gravely ill, saw Nikolaos 26 in a dream promising that she would live; not knowing him, she had all the likely persons living in Constantinople summoned before her, and identified Nikolaos 26 as the man; he was then treated with honour by the emperor and all present: Vita Nic. Stud. 913D-916B. In the Synaxarion of Constantinople he is styled Confessor and Stoudite (μνήμη ... Νικολάου τοῦ ὁμολογητοῦ καὶ Στουδιτοῦ): Synax. Eccl. Const. 443. On his manuscript activity, see F.- J. Leroy, in: La paléographie grecque et byzantine, Paris 1977, 181ff. (also referring to Cod.Petrograd. publ. lib. gr. 219 and Paris. gr. 494). For a new edition of the Life of Nicolas the Stoudite, by Hans Malmström, see BIC 16 (1991) 101, and cf. also PmbZ, Prolegomena, pp. 96-97.

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