Nikon, of
Greek origin, was born in
Pontus (modern north-eastern
Turkey) or in
Argos. When he was young, Nikon went to a
monastery known as Khrysopetro ("Golden Stone") located on the borders of Pontus and
Paphlagonia. He spent twelve years there, living an
ascetic life of prayer and
penance so extreme that his brothers tried to persuade him to lessen his regimen. His abbot, impressed by his spiritual discipline and worried that his newly-returned father would draw take from the ascetic life, sent Nikon out into the world to
proselytize. Nikon traveled into
Asia Minor and preached
repentance there for three years. Following the expulsion of the
Arabs from the island of
Crete in 961 following the
Siege of Chandax, Nikon began his mission on the island, seeking to persuade
converts to Islam to revert to
Christianity. The area had been a
Muslim emirate since the 820s, and in that time Christianity there had declined. Many of the island's Christians were forcibly converted to Islam, and even after the Arab expulsions they feared execution at the hands of extremists or returning Arab soldiers—the punishment prescribed by the
hudud for the crime of
apostasy against Islam. Even those who remained faithful to Christianity had lost contact with the living tradition, as churches and monasteries had fallen into decay. According to Nikon's
Life, he viewed the forced converts not as Muslims but rather as Christians who had been corrupted "by time and long fellowship with the
Saracens." Nikon was forced to change his tactics on Crete, now having to use his wit to lead his listeners to repentance, rather than just preaching the message of repentance. It was there that he acquired the nickname
metanoite (Greek for "penitent/repent") for his habit of using it as a preface to all his sermons. After five years on Crete—no earlier than 966—Nikon visited
Epidauros,
Athens, and Euboea. He then travelled to
Thebes and
Corinth, and finally down into the
Peloponnese. Tradition credits him with saving the region of
Laconia from a
plague. While in
Sparta, Nikon had three churches and a monastery built as he pursued his mission; according to Life his work was accompanied by
miracles. In his
Life, the Peloponnese is represented as a land full of
demons which Nikon is constantly struggling against. The isolated
Mani Peninsula in particular—the southernmost part of the Peloponnese—had resisted the spread of Christianity even as it had taken firm hold on the mainland. In Laconia Nikon exerted considerable influence on both clergy and
laity, founding a large number of churches. He is credited with finally introducing
Christianity to Mani and its inhabitants, traditionally known as the
Maniots. The Maniots began to convert to Christianity in the 9th century AD, but it wasn't until 200 years later that the Mani was said to be Christian. After thirty years of preaching in the Peloponnese, he died in a monastery on the peninsula on November 26, 998. ==Legacy==