Nicolaism

Uncommon card · No. 141872

Nicolaism, also called Nicolaitism, Nicolationism, and Nicolaitanism, was an early Christian sect mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. The adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or Nicolaites (Koine Greek Νικολαϊτῶν, Nikolaïtō̂n, "those of Nicholas"). According to the Book of Revelation, they were known in the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum in western Anatolia and the church at Ephesus was endorsed for "[hating] the works of the Nicolaites, which I also hate" and the church in Pergamos was rebuked: "So thou hast also some [worshiping in their midst] who hold the teaching of the Nicolaites". Several of the early Church Fathers mentioned this group as heretical, including Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret. Their common view was that the sect had begun under Nicholas of Antioch, one of the Seven Deacons of the Book of Acts, but other scholars, both ancient and modern, have questioned this connection and...

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