Nicolas the Deacon

Saint Nicholas the Deacon was one of the seven deacons chosen by the Church in Jerusalem in apostolic times, a proselyte from Antioch, that is, a Gentile who had turned to the Jewish faith and then to Christ. The Acts of the Apostles (6:5) names him among the seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. The Church remembers him on 28 July, in the synaxis of the seven deacons. About his life after ordination our sources say nothing certain.

Chosen as deacon

While the Church was still gathered at Jerusalem, the whole multitude of the disciples chose him, with Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon and Parmenas, to serve at the tables and care for the widows. The apostles prayed and laid their hands upon them. The ordination is usually placed around the year 33. The dates of birth and death in our calendar, about 50 and 100, are only approximate and rest on no firm source.

The question of the Nicolaitans

The Revelation of John (2:6 and 15) speaks of the deeds and teaching of the Nicolaitans, condemned in the churches of Ephesus and Pergamum. Several early writers, among them Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Epiphanius and Theodoret, counted Nicholas the deacon as the founder of this group. Irenaeus says that they lived without any restraint and taught that fornication and eating food sacrificed to idols did no harm. Epiphanius relates that Nicholas, having an attractive wife, first tried to abstain from her like those dedicated to God, but could not hold out, and came to teach that no one can have eternal life unless he unites with his wife every day. Justin Martyr also writes of people who call themselves Christians yet eat food offered to idols.

Other scholars have judged differently. The theologian Edward Burton held that the origin of the name Nicolaitans is uncertain and that the evidence against the deacon himself is too slight to condemn him. Some believe it was another Nicholas, others that it was someone close to the deacon, for instance a son of his who became bishop in Samaria. Our sources do not decide between these views.

The Orthodox Church honours Saint Nicholas as one of the seven deacons ordained by the apostles, on 28 July, on the strength of the testimony of the Acts of the Apostles.