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Nikephoros also disagreed with the church on theological grounds. He wished the church to elevate those soldiers who died in battle against the Saracens to the positions of martyrs in the church, a highly controversial and unpopular demand.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|p=52}}
In 967, he sparked a controversy in the capital by making a display of his military maneuvers in the [[Hippodrome]] similar in style to those displayed by the emperor [[Justinian]] centuries earlier preceding the [[Nika Revolt]] and its violent suppression within the stadium itself. The crowd within the Hippodrome panicked and began a stampede to retreat from the stadium, resulting in numerous deaths.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Nikephoros was the author of extant treatises on military tactics, most famously the ''[[Praecepta Militaria]]'', which contains valuable information concerning the art of war in his time, and the less-known ''On Skirmishing'' (Περὶ Παραδρομῆς Πολέμου in the original Greek), which concerned guerrilla-like tactics for defense against a superior enemy invasion force — though it is likely that this latter work, at least, was not composed by the Emperor but rather for him: translator and editor George T. Dennis suggests that it was perhaps written by his brother Leo Phokas, then Domestic of the West.<ref>George T. Dennis, ''Three Byzantine Military Treatises'', (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2008), p. 139.</ref> Nikephoros was a very devout man, and he helped his friend, the [[Athanasius the Athonite|monk Athanasios]], found the monastery of [[Great Lavra (Athos)|Great Lavra]] on [[Mount Athos]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
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