Nikephoros Theotokis

Nikephoros Theotokis or Nikiforos Theotokis (Greek: Νικηφόρος Θεοτόκης; Russian: Никифор Феотоки or Никифор Феотокис; 1731–1800) was a Greek scholar and theologian, who became an archbishop in the southern provinces of the Russian Empire. A polymath, he is respected in Greece as one of the "teachers of the nation".

Born in the Greek Island of Corfu (then a possession of Republic of Venice), Nikephoros studied in Italian universities of Bologna and Padua.

In 1748, he returned to Corfu to join the Church as a monk, reaching the rank of hieromonk in 1754. However, he was more interested in educating the youth of his country than in church services, and by 1758 he was able to set up his own school in Corfu, the first school on the island where a range of subjects were taught: Greek and Italian literature, grammar, geography, rhetorics, physics and mathematics, philosophy. He acquired some renown as a preacher at the local church of John the Baptist and an author of textbooks on physics and mathematics.

Nikephoros' achievements were noticed by Ecumenical Patriarch Samuel I Chatzeres, who appointed him as the preacher at Constantinople's main church in 1765. However, Nikephoros did not stay very long in Constantinople; he divided much of his time over the next decade between Leipzig, where he published his Physics, and Jassy.

During the reign of the Russian Empress Catherine II, a significant number of Greek professionals were invited to come to her empire to help in the administration of the recently conquered lands of Novorossiya ("New Russia") on the north shore of the Black Sea (today's southern Ukraine). In 1776, Nikephoros came to the Russian Empire as well, invited by a fellow Corfiot, Eugenios Voulgaris, who had recently been appointed the Archbishop of Slaviansk and Kherson.

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