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Nicolaism

Nicolaism (also Nicholaism , Nicolationism , or Nico-laitanism ) is a Christian heresy, rst mentioned (twice)in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, whoseadherents were called Nicolaitans , Nicolaitanes , orNicolaites . According to Revelation 2, vv. 6 and 15,[1]

they were known in the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum.In this chapter, the church at Ephesus is commended for“hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate”and the church in Pergamos is blamed “So hast thou alsothem that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans”.

Several of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus,Hippolytus,[2] Epiphanius, and Theodoret mentioned thisgroup, and stated that the deacon Nicolas was the authorof the heresy and the sect.

1 Interpretations

The common statement is that the Nicolaitans held theantinomian heresy of 1 Corinthians 6, although this hasnot been proved.[3] Victorinus of Pettau states that theyate things offered to idols.[4] Bede states that Nicolas al-lowed other men to marry his wife.[5] Thomas Aquinasbelieved that Nicholas supported either polygamy or theholding of wives in common.[6] Eusebius claimed that thesect was short-lived.[7]

Another opinion, favoured bya number of authors, is that,because of the allegorical character of the Apocalypse,the reference to the Nicolaitans is merely a symbolicmanner of reference.[3] As a symbolic reference, the“teaching of the Nicolaitans” refers to dominating thepeople, compared to the “teaching of Balaam" whichrefers to seducing the people. John, the author ofRevelation, discusses domination within the church in 3John 9-11.[8] Such a teaching would contradict "… who-ever would be great among you must be your servant,”Matthew 20:26.

1.1 Etymology

Nico- , combinatory form of nīko, “victory” in Greek,and laos means people, or more specically, the laity;hence, the word may be taken to mean “lay conquerors”or “conquerors of the lay people”. However, “Nicolai-tan” (Greek: Νικολαϊτῶν; Νικολαΐτης) is the name os-

tensibly given to followers of the heretic Nicolas (Greek:Νικόλαος)—the name itself meaning “victorious overpeople,” or “victory of the people,” which he would have

been given at birth.[9]

Thename Balaamis perhaps capable of being interpretedas a Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Nicolas. Somecommentators[10] think that this is alluded to by John inRevelation 2:14;[11] and C. Vitringa[12] argues forcibly insupport of this opinion. However, Albert Barnes notes:

Vitringa supposes that the word is derivedfrom νικος, victory, and λαος, people, andthat thus it corresponds with the name Bal-

aam, as meaning either lord of the people , orhe destroyed the people ; and that, as the sameeffect was produced by their doctrines as bythose of Balaam, that the people were led tocommit fornication and to join in idolatrousworship, they might be called Balaamites orNicolaitanes--that is, corrupters of the people.But to this it may be replied,

(a) that it is far-fetched, and is adopted onlyto remove a difficulty;

(b) that there is everyreason to suppose thatthe word here used refers to a class of people

who bore that name, and who were well knownin the two churches specied;(c) that, inRev 2:15 , they are expressly dis-

tinguished from those who held the doctrine ofBalaam, Rev 2:14 --"So hast thou also (και)those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolai-tanes.”

—Albert Barnes, New Testament Notes [13]

Cyrus Scoeld, in his Notes on the Bible, followingdispensationalist thought, suggests that the Seven Lettersin Revelation foretell the various eras of Christian his-

tory, and that “Nicolaitans” “refers to the earliest formof the notion of a priestly order, or 'clergy,' which laterdivided an equal brotherhood into 'priests’ and 'laity.'"[14]

2 Nicolas

The Nicolas of Acts 6:5 was a native of Antioch and aproselyte (convert to Judaism) and then a follower of theway of Christ. When the Church was still conned toJerusalem, he was chosen by the whole multitude of thedisciples to be one of the rst seven deacons, and he was

ordained by the apostles, c. AD 33. It has been ques-tionedwhether this Nicolas was connected with the Nico-laitans mentioned in Revelation, and if so, how closely.

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2 4 REFERENCES

The Nicolaitans themselves, at least as early as the timeof Irenaeus, claimed him as their founder.

The Nicolaitanes are the followers ofthat Nicolas who was one of the seven rstordained to the diaconate by the apostles.They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence.The character of these men is very plainlypointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [whenthey are represented] as teaching that it is amatter of indifference to practice adultery,and to eat things sacriced to idols.—Irenaeus, Adversus haereses , i. 26, §3[15]

It is noticeable (though the documents themselves sitnot of much weight as evidence) that in multiple in-stances the Nicolaitans are said to be “falsely so called”(ψευδώνυμοι). [16]

2.1 In Epiphanius

Epiphanius relates some details of the life of Nicolas thedeacon, and describes him as gradually sinking into thegrossest impurity, and becoming the originator of theNicolaitans and other libertine Gnostic sects:

[Nicolas] had an attractive wife, andhad refrained from intercourse as though

in imitation of those whom he saw to bedevoted to God. He endured this for a whilebut in the end could not bear to control hisincontinence.... But because he was ashamedof his defeat and suspected that he had beenfound out, he ventured to say, “Unless onecopulates every day, he cannot have eternallife.”[17]

—Epiphanius, Panarion , 25, 1

Hippolytus agreed with Epiphanius in his unfavourable

view of Nicolas.[18]

2.2 In Clement of Alexandria

The same account is believed, at least to some extent, byJerome[19] and other writers in the 4th century; but it is ir-reconcilable with the traditional account of the characterof Nicolas given by Clement of Alexandria,[20] an earlierwriter than Epiphanius. He statesthat Nicolas leda chastelife, andbroughtup his children in purity; that on a certainoccasion, having been sharply reproved by the apostles asa jealous husband, he repelled the charge by offering to

allow his wife to become the wife of any other person;and that he was in the habit of repeating a saying which isascribed to the apostle Matthias also,—that it is our duty

to ght against the esh and to abuse (παραχρῆσθαι) it .His words were perversely interpreted by the Nicolaitansas authority for their immoral practices.[21] Theodoret, inhis account of the sect, repeats the foregoing statement ofClement, andcharges theNicolaitans with false dealing inborrowing the name of the deacon.[22]

2.3 In modern criticism

Amonglatercritics, Cotelerius inanoteonConstit. Apost .vi. 8, after reciting the various authorities, seems to leantowards the favourable view of the character of Nicolas.Professor Burton[23] was of opinion that the origin of theterm Nicolaitans is uncertain; and that, “though Nicolasthe deacon has been mentioned as their founder, the ev-idence is extremely slight which would convict that per-son himself of any immoralities.” Tillemont,[24] possibly

inuenced by the fact that no honour is paid to the mem-ory of Nicolas by any branch of the Church, allows moreweight to the testimony against him; rejects perempto-rily Cassian’s statement—to which Neander[25] gives hisadhesion—that some other Nicolaswas thefounder of thesect; and concludes that if not the actual founder, he wasso unfortunate as to give occasion to the formation of thesect, by his indiscreet speaking. Grotius' view as given ina note on Revelation 2:6,[26] is substantially the same asthat of Tillemont.

2.4 Other views

Rather than Nicolas the Deacon himself becoming anapostate, some believe it was actually his one son whobecame bishop of Samaria, where Gnosticism originatedbefore spreading to the cities of Pergamum and Ephesusin the Roman province of Asia (minor), also known asproconsular Asia:

Nicolas had lived chastely under the con-jugal roof, having no relations with other thanhis legitimate wife, who gave him a son and anumber of daughters. The son became Bishop

of Samaria and the daughters died virgins.[27]

3 See also

• Borborites

• Didache

• Seven Deacons

4 References[1] Revelation 2.

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4.1 Attribution 3

[2] Philosophumena , vii. 26.

[3] Healy, Patrick Joseph (1913). "Nicolaites". Catholic En-cyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.

[4] St. Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse ,

2.1[5] Bede, Explanation of the Apocalypse , 2.16

[6] S. C. G. iii. 124.

[7] H. E . iii. 29.

[8] Hayden, D. (2006). Mindgames. http://www.awordfromtheword.org

[9] Etymology of the name Nicholas: “masc. proper name,from Gk. Nikolaos , lit. 'victory-people,' from nike 'vic-tory' + laic 'people.'" For the (non-etymological) intrusive

“h” in the English spelling of it, cf Ant(h)ony.

[10] Cocceius (Cogitat. in Rev . ii. 6) has the credit ofbeing therst to suggest this identication of the Nicolaitans withthe followers of Balaam. He has been followed by the el-der Vitringa (Dissert. de Argum. Epist. Petri poster. inHase’s Thesaurus, ii. 987), Hengstenberg (in loc .), Stier(Words of the Risen Lord , p. 125 Eng. transl.), and oth-ers. Lightfoot (Hor. Heb. , in Act. Apost. vi. 5) suggestsanother and more startling paronomasia . The word, inhis view, was chosen, as identical in sound with ל כ י ,נNicolah , “let us eat,” and as thus marking out the specialcharacteristic of the sect.

[11] Revelation 2:14.

[12] Obs. Sacr. iv. 9.

[13] Barnes’ New Testament Notes.

[14] “Nicolaitanes”.

[15] Adversus haereses , i. 26, §3; iii. 11, §1.

[16] Ignat. ad Trall . xi. (longer version): “Flee also the im-pure Nicolaitanes, falsely so called , who are lovers ofpleasure, and given to calumnious speeches.” Cf. ad Phil .

vi. (longer version): “If any one ... affirms that unlaw-ful unions are a good thing, and places the highest happi-ness in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called aNicolaitan , this person can neither be a lover of God, nora lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own esh, andtherefore void of theHoly Spirit, anda stranger to Christ.”Const. Apost. vi.: "... some are impudent in uncleanness,such as those who are falsely called Nicolaitans .”

[17] Williams, Frank (1987). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis . Book I (Sects 1-46). Leiden; New York; Køben-havn; Köln: E.J. Brill. p. 77.

[18] Stephen Gobar, Photii Biblioth. §232, p. 291, ed. 1824;Philosophumena , bk. vii. §36.

[19] Ep. 147, t. i. p. 1082, ed. Vallars. &c.

[20] “Such also are those (who say that they follow Nicolaus,quoting an adage of the man, which they pervert, 'thatthe esh must be abused.' But the worthy man showedthat it was necessary to check pleasures and lusts, and bysuch training to waste away the impulses and propensi-ties of the esh. But they, abandoning themselves to plea-

sure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of self-indulgence; not knowing that the body is wasted, being bynature subject to dissolution; while their soul is buried inthe mire of vice; following as they do the teaching of plea-sure itself, not of the apostolic man” (Clement of Alexan-dria, Stromata , ii. 20).

[21] “But when wespokeabout thesaying ofNicolaus weomit-ted to say this. Nicolaus, they say, had a lovely wife.When after the Saviour’s ascension he was accused be-fore the apostles of jealousy, he brought his wife into theconcourse and allowed anyone who so desired to marryher. For, they say, this action was appropriate to the say-ing: 'One must abuse the esh.' ... I am informed, how-

ever, that Nicolaus never had relations with any womanother than the wife he married, and that of his childrenhis daughters remained virgins to their old age, and hisson remained uncorrupted. In view of this it was an act ofsuppression of passion when he brought before the apos-tles the wife on whose account he was jealous. He taughtwhat it meant to 'abuse the esh' by restraining the dis-tracting passions. For, as the Lord commanded, he didnot wish to serve two masters, pleasure and God. It is saidthat Matthias also taught that one should ght the esh andabuse it, never allowing it to give way to licentious plea-sure, so that the soul might grow by faith and knowledge”(Clement of Alexandria, Stromata , iii. 4, §§25-26; andapud Euseb. H. E . iii. 29; see also footnote 31 in Chapter25 of NPNF ).

[22] Haeret. Fab. iii. 1.

[23] Lectures on Ecclesiastical History , Lect. xii. p. 364, ed.1833.

[24] H. E. ii. 47.

[25] Planting of the Church , bk. v. p. 390, ed. Bonn.

[26] Revelation 2:6.

[27] P. L. Jacob “Antiquity, Rome and Christian era” (1926)Page 103.

4.1 Attribution

• This article incorporates text from a publicationnow in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles,ed. (1913). "Nicolaites". Catholic Encyclopedia .Robert Appleton Company.

• This article incorporates text froma publication nowin the public domain: Bullock, William Thomas

(1863). “Nicolas”. In Smith, William. A Dictio-nary of the Bible . Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown,and Company. pp. 536–537.

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4 5 EXTERNAL LINKS

• This article incorporates text from a publicationnow in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George(1897). "Nicolaitanes". Easton’s Bible Dictionary(New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.

5 External links

• Ancient & Medieval References To The Nicolai-tanes An extensive listing of references by 25 an-cient and medieval writers to the Nicolaitanes.

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