Nicolaitans (gr. nikolaítes, “followers of Nicholas”). Heretical sect in the apostolic church. It is mentioned only in the letters of John the revelator to the “seven churches that are in Asia.” Christ praised the church at Ephesus for “hating” the works of the Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6), and censured the church at Pergamum for accepting some of their teachings (v 15). The earliest extra-biblical Christian author to mention them is Irenaeus (c AD 185), who identifies them as a Gnostic sect: “John, the Lord’s disciple, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the gospel, to remove that error which Cerinthus has spread among men, and long before the so-called Nicolaitans, which are a branch of falsely called ‘knowledge’, to confuse them, and persuade them that there is only one God who made all things by his Word”. There is also evidence of a Gnostic sect in the 3rd century AD bearing the same name. But Irenaeus -followed by Hippolytus and others-, presents the theory that this sect originated in the teachings of Nicholas, one of the first 7 deacons ordained by the apostles, a “proselyte from Antioch” (Acts 6:1-3, 5). There is no evidence that this tradition is trustworthy. The theory has been posited, based in part on the supposed similarity in meaning of the names Nicholas (“conqueror of the people”) and Balaam (probably “devourer”), that the “doctrine of Balaam” (Rev 2:14) is identical to that of the Nicolaitans (v 15; however, the structure of the passages opposes this idea). Their teaching appears to have been a form of antinomianism (see CBA 7:968). The Nicolaitans of the 2nd century AD apparently continued and extended the concepts of their 1st century adherents: clinging to the freedom of the flesh and teaching that the works of it have no effect on the health of the soul and, consequently, no relation to the flesh. salvation. Bib.: I-AH iii.11.1; ANF 1:426; I-AH i.26.3; Hippolytus, The Refutation of All Heresies, vii.24.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
followers of Nicholas, who professed a false doctrine. They are mentioned in the letter addressed to Ephesus, Rev 2, 6, and to Pergamos, Rev 2, 14-15.
Jezebel, the prophetess of the Church of Thyatira, also held the same thesis of nos. by telling the other Christians of Thyatira that they did not know the depths of Satan, Ap 2, 24, implying the existence of Gnostic influences; for which he is harshly attacked in the letter addressed to said Church.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
A group of people whose works were hated by both the Lord and the church at Ephesus (Rev 2:6), and whose doctrine was defended by some within the church at Pergamos (Rev 2:15).
His doctrine was similar to that of Balaam, through whose influence the Israelites ate things sacrificed to idols and committed fornication (Rev 2:14-15). In the third century, a sect of the Nicolaitans existed among the Gnostics.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(They are also linked with the Gnostics.)
sect of antiquity. Group of the first century of the Christian era mentioned in the book of Revelation. The most orthodox Christians accused their members of promiscuity and orgies. Others understand that it was probably fornication in the sense of idolatry. They are identified with a “Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch” mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.
Source: Dictionary of Religions Denominations and Sects
Members of a sect of alleged Christians mentioned in Rev 2:6, Rev 2:15. God says that he hates †œthe works of the n.†, not people. It is not known for sure what his religious practices were. Irenaeus says that they were followers of † ¢ Nicholas, one of the seven deacons, but Clement of Alexandria defends Nicholas by saying that his followers misunderstood him. In the oldest known commentary on the Apocalypse, written by Victorinus of Pettau in the second century, he speaks of nos. as “false and disturbing men who, ministering under the name of Nicholas, created for themselves a heresy by saying that food offered to idols could be exorcised and then eaten, and that anyone who committed fornication could receive peace on the eighth day.” This description is possibly another speculation. The most convenient thing seems to be that they take the n. in conjunction with the other false doctrines denounced in Rev., such as that of the followers of Jezebel and Balaam, as representative of the bad influences that arose within the church itself at the beginning of its history.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, RELI
vet, Adepts of pernicious doctrines that were introduced in the churches of Ephesus and Pergamum. Following the doctrine of Balaam, they taught Christians that because of the principle of freedom they could consume meats offered to idols, and indulge in immoral acts like the pagans (Rev. 2:6, 14, 15). Thus, the Nicolaitans instigated the Christians not to observe the prescriptions of the council of Jerusalem, which had met in the year 50 AD (Acts 15:29). It is assumed that they were disciples of a heretic named Nicholas, but there is no basis for asserting that he was the deacon of this name (Acts 6: 5). The first allusion to this hypothesis is found in the writings of Irenaeus, around AD 175 (Against Heresies, 1:26, 3). Among the Gnostics of the third century there was a sect of Nicolaitans who also taught “the freedom of the flesh”; it is possible that they were the inheritors of the corrupt doctrine of the early Nicolaitans.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Very primitive group of Christian heretics, who are already mentioned in the Apocalypse (Ap. 2. 6 and 15). It seems that they were Gnostics from Ephesus and Pergamon, who defended a certain mysticism in the doctrines. They attributed to the main biblical characters, including Christ, a character of spiritual beings (aeons) embodied in human figures.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
Followers of a possible Nicholas (= victorious people in Greek), supporters of the doctrine of Balaam (= victorious people, or also non-people, in Hebrew), which perhaps alludes to a specific person (Nicolas-Balaam), initiator of the doctrine condemned by the Apocalypse. But that word (Nicolaitans) may refer, perhaps more likely, to a Christian movement, with no known personal leader or founder. It seems that its members belong, with Jezebel*, to the Gnostic branch of Christianity: they allow idolocytes* and prostitution*. They are therefore enemies of the prophet John* of the Apocalypse (cf. Ap 2,6.14-15.20).
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
Heretical, pre-gnostic sect, indicated in the Apocalypse as active in some Churches of Asia Minor: Pergamon, Ephesus and Thyatira. Nothing concrete is known about the name of the heresy and its founder. The Fathers of the Church who speak of the sect (Irenaeus, Tertullian and others) attribute their paternity to the Hellenistic deacon Nicholas, who is mentioned in Acts 6,5. Accused of being too jealous of his wife, to justify or humiliate himself (2). He would have taken her to the assembly of believers saying: “Whoever wants her can marry her, because parachrésthai te sarki dei”, a Greek expression that means: one must abuse the flesh, or rather: one must mistreat or despise the flesh.
This, which was perhaps an act of renunciation of the conjugal state, was rather interpreted as a principle of licentiousness: using one’s own body as one wants and even another’s wife; indeed, fornication and adultery must be considered as realities of little importance. This hypothesis about the identity of the founder of the sect, which Clement of Alexandria and other Fathers no longer shared, has no probative value.
A different explanation is the one that sees in the name Nikólaos (Greek = winner or ruler of the people) the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bala’am (ruler of the people), of the name of the prophet-fortune teller who caused, according to some Jewish interpretations, the Israel’s moral and religious deviation, which ate of the idols and sinned of fornication (Nm 25,1-9; 3l,~.16; Jos 13,22). In this sense, Nicolaitane would be synonymous with a person who perverts moral and religious customs. The ecclesial environment of John’s community combats this heresy due to its peculiar characteristics: tendency to gnosis, lack of moral values, free expression of passions, sexual disorders, etc. The letters of Rev 2 (Rev 2, 6.14-15.20-24) present heresy as a host of horrors and define the Nicolaitan doctrines as the depths of Satan (Rev 2,24). Despite this strong controversy, the heresy survived until the end of the 11th century, when it was absorbed by the primitive Gnostic heresy, the Ophite, a name that alludes to the cult of the serpent (in Greek ophis).
Many centuries later, during the Middle Ages and beyond, the term Nicolaitan was used to indicate those who opposed ecclesiastical celibacy.
T. stagnati
Bib.: Nicolaitans, in ERC, and 809-810: E, Peretto, Nicolaitans, in DPAC, 11, 15345: Nicolaites, in DTC, 11, 499-506; EB, Y, 514-515.
PACOMIO, Luciano, Encyclopedic Theological Dictionary, Divine Word, Navarra, 1995
Source: Encyclopedic Theological Dictionary
(Also called Nicolaitans). Sect mentioned in the Apocalypse (2,6.15) that existed in Ephesus, Pergamon and other cities of Asia Minor, about whose character and existence there is little certainty. Saint Irenaeus (Contra Her. I.26.3 and III.11.1) talks about them but adds nothing to the Apocalypse except that “they led lives of unrestrained gratification of the passions.” Tertullian refers to them, but apparently only knows what is found in San Juan (On Prescription against Heretics 33; Against Marcion I.29; On Modesty 17). St. Hippolytus based his narrative on that of Irenaeus although he asserts that the deacon Nicholas was the author of the heresy and the sect (Philosph., VII, XXVI).
Clement of Alexandria (Stromata III.4) exonerates Nicholas, and attributes the doctrine of promiscuity, which the sect claims to have derived from him, to a malicious distortion of words harmless in themselves. With the exception of the statement in Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. III.29) that the sect was of short duration, none of the references in Epiphanius, Theodoret etc. deserve mention, for they were taken from Irenaeus. The common assertion that the Nicolaitans held the antinomian heresy of Corinth has not been proved. Another opinion, favored by a number of authors, is that, due to the allegorical character of the Apocalypse, the reference to the Nicolaitans is merely a symbolic form of reference, based on the identical meaning of the names, to the…