Metaphrasis after the second iconoclasm Nicephorus Skeuophylax and his Encomia of Theophanes Confessor ( BHG 1790), Theodore of Sykeon ( BHG 1749), and George the Martyr ( BHG 682)

This article discusses the Constantinopolitan author Nicephorus "Skeuophylax" and his m uvre. In addition to his two known encomia , a third text, an Encomium of George the Martyr, is attributed to him. Dating between the mid-ninth and the mid-tenth centuries, Nicephorus was a sacristan of the church of Mary at the Blachernae and a monk, possibly of St George in the Deuteron. His speeches, all of them metaphraseis of older texts, are concise narratives with encomiastic elements. He used one of his texts to intervene in a contemporary debate on fasting. Nicephorus must be seen as one of the participants in the movement to create new settings for the commemorations of saints.