English
Alternative spellings
Nicholaitan
Etymology
See definition below.
Noun
Nicolaitan
- From Revelations Chapter 2 verses 6 & 15. An early Christian sect, the nature of which is uncertain. Quaere: Possibly a belief in clerical marriage and clerical concubinage? See nicholaism and the discussion there.
1611 St James Bible: Revelations Ch 2: verses 6 & 15. 'But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which also I hate....So hast thou also them that hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
1604 Reverend Cawdrey Table Aleph: held that a 'Nicholaitan is an heretike, like Nicholas, who held that wiues should bee commmon to all alike.'
References
Oxford Dictionary.
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