Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople, born Constantinople, c.799;died 877. He was the son of Emperor Michael I and was called Nicetas. Leo the Armenian imprisoned him in a monastery in 813, and while there he embraced the religious life, adopting the name Ignatius. In 847 he was made Patriarch of Constantinople. For rebuking the profligacy of Michael III and his uncle Bardas, he was exiled and deposed about 858. Ignatius appealed to Pope Nicholas I and despite much duplicity on the part of his enemies was finally upheld by him. It was not, however, until the assassination of Michael II in 867 that he obtained possession of his see. His relics were preserved in the church of Saint Michael, Constantinople. Feast, October 23,.