Nicolaism

been given at birth.[9]

Nicolaism (also Nicholaism, Nicolationism, or Nicolaitanism) is a Christian heresy, rst mentioned (twice)
in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, whose
adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or
Nicolaites. 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 also
them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

The name Balaam is perhaps capable of being interpreted

as a Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Nicolas. Some
commentators[10] think that this is alluded to by John in
Revelation 2:14;[11] and C. Vitringa[12] argues forcibly in
support of this opinion. However, Albert Barnes notes:
Vitringa supposes that the word is derived
from , victory, and , people, and
that thus it corresponds with the name Balaam, as meaning either lord of the people, or
he destroyed the people; and that, as the same
eect was produced by their doctrines as by
those of Balaam, that the people were led to
commit fornication and to join in idolatrous
worship, they might be called Balaamites or
Nicolaitanes--that is, corrupters of the people.
But to this it may be replied,
(a) that it is far-fetched, and is adopted only
to remove a diculty;
(b) that there is every reason to suppose that
the word here used refers to a class of people
who bore that name, and who were well known
in the two churches specied;
(c) that, in Rev 2:15 , they are expressly distinguished from those who held the doctrine of
Balaam, Rev 2:14 --"So hast thou also ()
those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.
Albert Barnes, New Testament Notes[13]

Several of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus,

Hippolytus,[2] Epiphanius, and Theodoret mentioned this
group, and stated that the deacon Nicolas was the author
of the heresy and the sect.

Interpretations

The common statement is that the Nicolaitans held the

antinomian heresy of 1 Corinthians 6, although this has
not been proved.[3] Victorinus of Pettau states that they
ate things oered to idols.[4] Bede states that Nicolas allowed other men to marry his wife.[5] Thomas Aquinas
believed that Nicholas supported either polygamy or the
holding of wives in common.[6] Eusebius claimed that the
sect was short-lived.[7]
Another opinion, favoured by a number of authors, is that,
because of the allegorical character of the Apocalypse,
the reference to the Nicolaitans is merely a symbolic
manner of reference.[3] As a symbolic reference, the
teaching of the Nicolaitans refers to dominating the
people, compared to the teaching of Balaam" which
refers to seducing the people. John, the author of
Revelation, discusses domination within the church in 3
John 9-11.[8] Such a teaching would contradict " whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
Matthew 20:26.

1.1

Cyrus Scoeld, in his Notes on the Bible, following

dispensationalist thought, suggests that the Seven Letters
in Revelation foretell the various eras of Christian history, and that Nicolaitans refers to the earliest form
of the notion of a priestly order, or 'clergy,' which later
divided an equal brotherhood into 'priests and 'laity.'"[14]

2 Nicolas

Etymology

The Nicolas of Acts 6:5 was a native of Antioch and a

proselyte (convert to Judaism) and then a follower of the
way of Christ. When the Church was still conned to
Jerusalem, he was chosen by the whole multitude of the
disciples to be one of the rst seven deacons, and he was
ordained by the apostles, c. AD 33. It has been questioned whether this Nicolas was connected with the Nicolaitans mentioned in Revelation, and if so, how closely.

Nico-, combinatory form of nko, 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, Nicolaitan (Greek: ; ) is the name ostensibly given to followers of the heretic Nicolas (Greek:
)the name itself meaning victorious over
people, or victory of the people, which he would have
1

REFERENCES

The Nicolaitans themselves, at least as early as the time to ght against the esh and to abuse () it.
of Irenaeus, claimed him as their founder.
His words were perversely interpreted by the Nicolaitans
as authority for their immoral practices.[21] Theodoret, in
his account of the sect, repeats the foregoing statement of
The Nicolaitanes are the followers of
Clement, and charges the Nicolaitans with false dealing in
that Nicolas who was one of the seven rst
borrowing the name of the deacon.[22]
ordained to the diaconate by the apostles.
They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence.
The character of these men is very plainly
2.3 In modern criticism
pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when
they are represented] as teaching that it is a
Among later critics, Cotelerius in a note on Constit. Apost.
matter of indierence to practice adultery,
vi. 8, after reciting the various authorities, seems to lean
and to eat things sacriced to idols.
towards the favourable view of the character of Nicolas.
Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, i. 26, 3[15]
Professor Burton[23] was of opinion that the origin of the
term Nicolaitans is uncertain; and that, though Nicolas
the deacon has been mentioned as their founder, the evIt is noticeable (though the documents themselves sit idence is extremely slight which would convict that pernot of much weight as evidence) that in multiple in- son himself of any immoralities. Tillemont,[24] possibly
stances the Nicolaitans are said to be falsely so called inuenced by the fact that no honour is paid to the mem().[16]
ory of Nicolas by any branch of the Church, allows more
weight to the testimony against him; rejects peremptorily Cassians statementto which Neander[25] gives his
2.1 In Epiphanius
adhesionthat some other Nicolas was the founder of the
Epiphanius relates some details of the life of Nicolas the sect; and concludes that if not the actual founder, he was
deacon, and describes him as gradually sinking into the so unfortunate as to give occasion to the formation of the
Grotius' view as given in
grossest impurity, and becoming the originator of the sect, by his indiscreet speaking.
[26]
a
note
on
Revelation
2:6,
is
substantially
the same as
Nicolaitans and other libertine Gnostic sects:
that of Tillemont.
[Nicolas] had an attractive wife, and
had refrained from intercourse as though
in imitation of those whom he saw to be
devoted to God. He endured this for a while
but in the end could not bear to control his
incontinence.... But because he was ashamed
of his defeat and suspected that he had been
found out, he ventured to say, Unless one
copulates every day, he cannot have eternal
life.[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, by

Jerome[19] and other writers in the 4th century; but it is irreconcilable with the traditional account of the character
of Nicolas given by Clement of Alexandria,[20] an earlier
writer than Epiphanius. He states that Nicolas led a chaste
life, and brought up his children in purity; that on a certain
occasion, having been sharply reproved by the apostles as
a jealous husband, he repelled the charge by oering to
allow his wife to become the wife of any other person;
and that he was in the habit of repeating a saying which is
ascribed to the apostle Matthias also,that it is our duty

2.4 Other views

Rather than Nicolas the Deacon himself becoming an
apostate, some believe it was actually his one son who
became bishop of Samaria, where Gnosticism originated
before spreading to the cities of Pergamum and Ephesus
in the Roman province of Asia (minor), also known as
proconsular Asia:
Nicolas had lived chastely under the conjugal roof, having no relations with other than
his legitimate wife, who gave him a son and a
number 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.

4.1

Attribution

[2] Philosophumena, vii. 26.

[3] Healy, Patrick Joseph (1913). "Nicolaites". Catholic Encyclopedia. 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.

[20] Such also are those (who say that they follow Nicolaus,
quoting an adage of the man, which they pervert, 'that
the esh must be abused.' But the worthy man showed
that it was necessary to check pleasures and lusts, and by
such training to waste away the impulses and propensities of the esh. But they, abandoning themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of selfindulgence; not knowing that the body is wasted, being by
nature subject to dissolution; while their soul is buried in
the mire of vice; following as they do the teaching of pleasure itself, not of the apostolic man (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, ii. 20).

[7] H. E. iii. 29.

[11] Revelation 2:14.

[21] But when we spoke about the saying of Nicolaus we omitted to say this. Nicolaus, they say, had a lovely wife.
When after the Saviours ascension he was accused before the apostles of jealousy, he brought his wife into the
concourse and allowed anyone who so desired to marry
her. For, they say, this action was appropriate to the saying: 'One must abuse the esh.' ... I am informed, however, that Nicolaus never had relations with any woman
other than the wife he married, and that of his children
his daughters remained virgins to their old age, and his
son remained uncorrupted. In view of this it was an act of
suppression of passion when he brought before the apostles the wife on whose account he was jealous. He taught
what it meant to 'abuse the esh' by restraining the distracting passions. For, as the Lord commanded, he did
not wish to serve two masters, pleasure and God. It is said
that Matthias also taught that one should ght the esh and
abuse it, never allowing it to give way to licentious pleasure, so that the soul might grow by faith and knowledge
(Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, iii. 4, 25-26; and
apud Euseb. H. E. iii. 29; see also footnote 31 in Chapter
25 of NPNF).

[12] Obs. Sacr. iv. 9.

[22] Haeret. Fab. iii. 1.

[13] Barnes New Testament Notes.

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

1833.

[8] Hayden, D. (2006).

awordfromtheword.org

Mindgames.

http://www.

[9] Etymology of the name Nicholas: masc. proper name,

from Gk. Nikolaos, lit. 'victory-people,' from nike 'victory' + 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 of being the
rst to suggest this identication of the Nicolaitans with
the followers of Balaam. He has been followed by the elder Vitringa (Dissert. de Argum. Epist. Petri poster. in
Hases Thesaurus, ii. 987), Hengstenberg (in loc.), Stier
(Words of the Risen Lord, p. 125 Eng. transl.), and others. Lightfoot (Hor. Heb., in Act. Apost. vi. 5) suggests
another and more startling paronomasia. The word, in
his view, was chosen, as identical in sound with ,
Nicolah, let us eat, and as thus marking out the special
characteristic of the sect.

[14] Nicolaitanes.
[24] H. E. ii. 47.
[15] Adversus haereses, i. 26, 3; iii. 11, 1.
[25] Planting of the Church, bk. v. p. 390, ed. Bonn.
[16] Ignat. ad Trall. xi. (longer version): Flee also the impure Nicolaitanes, falsely so called, who are lovers of
pleasure, and given to calumnious speeches. Cf. ad Phil.
vi. (longer version): If any one ... arms that unlawful unions are a good thing, and places the highest happiness in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called a
Nicolaitan, this person can neither be a lover of God, nor
a lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own esh, and
therefore void of the Holy Spirit, and a 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; Kbenhavn; Kln: 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.

[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 publication
now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles,
ed. (1913). "Nicolaites". Catholic Encyclopedia.
Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Bullock, William Thomas
(1863). Nicolas. In Smith, William. A Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. II. Boston: Little, Brown,
and Company. pp. 536537.

5
This article incorporates text from a publication
now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George
(1897). "Nicolaitanes". Eastons Bible Dictionary
(New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.

External links
Ancient & Medieval References To The Nicolaitanes An extensive listing of references by 25 ancient and medieval writers to the Nicolaitanes.

EXTERNAL LINKS

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Nicolaism Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaism?oldid=675327011 Contributors: Olivier, Tgeorgescu, JASpencer, Charles

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