St. Nikita the Confessor, abbot of the monastery of Midikia, was born in Caesarea of Bithynia (northwest Asia Minor) into a pious family. His mother died on the 8th day after his birth, and his father, named Filaret, became a monk. The child was left in the care of his grandmother, who raised him in a truly Christian spirit. Since his youth, Saint Nikita served in the church and was in obedience to the hermit Stephen. With his blessing, Saint Nikita went to the Midikian monastery, where Saint Nikephoros was abbot (commemorated on March 13).
After seven years of virtuous life in a monastery renowned for its strict rules, the Monk Nikita was ordained a presbyter. The Monk Nikephoros, knowing the holy life of the young monk, entrusted him with the management of the monastery, since he himself was seriously ill.
Sparing no effort, the Monk Nikita began to take care of the prosperity and improvement of the monastery. By his personal example of strict monastic life, he instructed the brethren. Soon, the fame of the high life of the monastery's inhabitants attracted many seeking salvation there. A few years later, the number of monks increased to 100 people.
When St. Nikephoros retired to the Lord in old age, the brethren unanimously elected St. Nikita as abbot.
The Lord honored Saint Nikita with the gift of miracle-working. Through his prayer, the deaf-mute boy regained the power of speech; two possessed women were cured; the insane man regained his reason, and many other patients were cured of their ailments.
In those years, under Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820), the iconoclastic heresy resumed and the persecution of holy icons intensified. Orthodox bishops were expelled and exiled. A council of heretics was convened in Constantinople in 815, at which they deposed the holy Patriarch Nikephoros (806-815; + 828), and a heretic from the laity, Theodotus, was elected in his place. Heretics were also put in place of the exiled and imprisoned Orthodox bishops. The emperor summoned the hegumens of all the monasteries and tried to attract them to the iconoclastic heresy. Among those called was St. Nikita, who firmly stood for the Orthodox confession. Following his example, all the hegumens remained faithful to the veneration of holy icons. They were imprisoned for this. St. Nikita bravely endured all the trials and maintained the fortitude of the other prisoners.
Then the emperor and the false patriarch Theodotus decided to trick the stubborn ones. They were told that the emperor would grant everyone freedom and allow the worship of icons on one condition: if they accepted Communion from the false patriarch Theodotus. For a long time the monk doubted whether he could enter into church communion with a heretic, but the other prisoners begged him to take communion with them. Yielding to their entreaties, the Monk Nikita went to the temple, where icons were displayed to deceive the confessors, and received Communion. But when he returned to his monastery and saw that the persecution of icons continued, he repented of his deed, returned to Constantinople and began to fearlessly denounce the iconoclastic heresy. All the emperor's persuasions were rejected by him.
St. Nikita was again imprisoned, where he remained for six years, until the death of Emperor Leo the Armenian. There, enduring hunger and tribulation, the Monk Nikita performed miracles by the power of his prayers: at his prayer, the Phrygian king released two captives without ransom; three shipwrecked people, for whom the Monk Nikita prayed, were washed ashore by the waves.
In 824, under the new Emperor Michael (820-829), St. Nikita departed to the Lord. His body was transported by ship to the Midikian Monastery by Bishop Theophilus of Ephesus and Archbishop Joseph of Thessalonica. On the way to the monastery, the funeral procession was met by Bishop Paul of Plusiada with many monks and laity. Many healings were performed from the tomb of St. Nikita. He was buried in the tomb of his mentor, St. Nikephoros. After the burial, miracles were also performed at the tomb of the saint.