RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nikon Nimbus
The collection of his letters edited by P. Poussin (Paris, 1657) contains 355, that published by Leo Allatius (Rome, 1668) contains 1,061, including brief notes or scraps, but probably not many of them are authentic in their present form. Two series of short ethical and ascetic sentences (MPG, lxxix. 1239-62) are also probably not of his immediate composition. The writings of Nilus in general give an edifying picture of the monasticism of his day. But with all his veneration for the monastic life, he recognized its dangers, warning his disciples against pride and idleness and against the injurious consequences of exaggerated asceticism. He puts his wisdom very frequently in the form of proverbs whose rhythm and epigrammatic form are reminiscent of those of the Old Testament. Their content is a remarkable combination of echoes from classical literature and philosophy with Christian ideas and ascetic principles. The latter he does not hesitate to refer directly to the institution of Christ. The Christian " philosopher " must be free from the ties of affection, earthly cares, and the hindrances of the body. The renunciation of worldly goods and sensual desires sets the soul free for direct communion with God and mystical incorporation with Christ. The very height of these ideals makes the contrast all the more striking when he descends to actual conditions, admitting in practise the power of nature, repelling those who are not called to the ascetic life, rebuking the idle vagabonds who wander from place to place, alleviating extreme rigors by salutary counsels, and calling to his aid the force of habit which will ultimately supply a new nature in the place of the old. The letters, assuming that the greater part of them are genuine, show by the variety of the unknown persons to whom they are addressed (men and women, clergy and laity, abbots and monks) how many links still bound a venerated anchorite to the world he had quitted.
2. Nilus of Rossano: A monk of the tenth century; b. (of Greek parents) at Rossano in Calabria, 910. He is also known as Nilus of Gaeta or of Grottaf errata from his later residences. He is said to have lived under the rule of St. Basil in various monasteries of central and southern Italy — for a time in that of St. Alexius at Rome and at Monte Cassino, then principally in the hermitage of Valleluce near Gaeta and near Frascati, where he founded and became the first abbot of the monastery of Grottaferrata. He died Dec. 27, 1005, after a long life of strenuous protest against the corruptions of the time. He was much sought for as a spiritual adviser, and enjoyed the reputation of marked sanctity, attested by the gift of miracles and of prophecy. His name is held in special honor by the monks of St. Basil who still inhabit the same spot; the chapel dedicated to him contains frescoes by Domenichino of scenes in his life, and a representation of him in an altar-piece by Annibale Carracci.
3. Nilus the Archimandrite (surnamed Doxopatrius): Notary to the patriarch of Constantinople, protoproedrus syncellorum, and nomophylax of the Eastern Empire; lived about the middle of the twelfth century. He spent some time in Sicily during the reign of Roger, at whose request he wrote (c. 1143) his Syntagma de quinque patriarchalibus
thronis (ed. S. le Moyne, in Varia Sacra, vol. i., Leyden, 1685; also in MPG, cxxxii.), a remarkable historical treatment of the origin and development of the five patriarchates, entirely in the Eastern or anti-Roman interest.
4. Nilus Damylas: An abbot in Crete at the beginning of the fifteenth century and one of the later Byzantine controversialists against Rome. He left a Typike paradosis (not yet published), a rule for a convent of nuns founded by him; and a testament dated 1417 (ed. S. P. Lambros, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1895, pp. 585 sqq.), which contains an interesting list of Byzantine writings.
Mention may be made of Nilus, archbishop of Rhodes (d. after 1379), a dogmatic and hagiographic author, and of Nilus, patriarch of Constantinople 1379-87 (cf. Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 109, 174). For Nilus Kabasilas see Kabasilas, Nilus.