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by _Paidion » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:04 pm
From Eusebius' Church History:
CHAPTER 29.
NICOLAUS AND THE SECT NAMED AFTER HIM.
AT this time the so-called sect of the Nicolaitans made its appearance and lasted for a very short time. Mention is made of it in the Apocalypse of John. They boasted that the author of their sect was Nicolaus, one of the deacons who, with Stephen, were appointed by the apostles for the
purpose of ministering to the poor. Clement of Alexandria, in the third book of his Stromata, relates the following things concerning him. “They say that he had a beautiful wife, and after the ascension of the Savior, being accused by the apostles of jealousy, he led her into their midst and gave permission to any one that wished to marry her. For they say that this was in accord with that saying of his, that one ought to abuse the flesh. And those that have followed his heresy, imitating blindly and foolishly that which was done and said, commit fornication without shame. But I understand that Nicolaus had to do with no other woman than her to whom he was married, and that, so far as his children are concerned, his daughters continued in a state of virginity until old age, and his son remained uncorrupt. If this is so, when he brought his wife, whom he
jealously loved, into the midst of the apostles, he was evidently renouncing his passion; and when he used the expression, ‘to abuse the flesh,’ he was inculcating self-control in the face of those pleasures that are eagerly pursued. For I suppose that, in accordance with the command of the Savior, he did not wish to serve two masters, pleasure and the Lord. But they say that Matthias also taught in the same manner that we ought to fight against and abuse the flesh, and not give way to it for the sake of pleasure, but strengthen the soul by faith and knowledge.” So much concerning those who then attempted to pervert the truth, but in less time than it has taken to tell it became entirely extinct.
From Irenaeus "Against Heresies"
CHAPTER 11
PROOFS IN CONTINUATION, EXTRACTED FROM ST. JOHN’S
GOSPEL. THE GOSPELS ARE FOUR IN NUMBER, NEITHER MORE
NOR LESS. MYSTIC REASONS FOR THIS
1. John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the
proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had
been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that “knowledge” falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one God,who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another, who also continued impassible, descending upon Jesus, the Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation to which we belong was not made by the primary God, but by some power lying far below Him, and shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable. The disciple of the Lord therefore desiring to put an end to all such doctrines, and to establish the rule of truth in the Church, that there is
one Almighty God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and
invisible; showing at the same time, that by the Word, through whom God
made the creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the
creation; thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel: “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and
without Him was nothing made. What was made was life in Him, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehended it not.” “All things,” he says, “were made by
Him;” therefore in “all things” this creation of ours is [included], for we
cannot concede to these men that [the words] “all things” are spoken in
reference to those within their Pleroma. For if their Pleroma do indeed
contain these, this creation, as being such, is not outside, as I have
demonstrated in the preceding book; but if they are outside the Pleroma,
which indeed appeared impossible, it follows, in that case, that their
Pleroma cannot be “all things:” therefore this vast creation is not outside
[the Pleroma].
2. John, however, does himself put this matter beyond all controversy on
our part, when he says, “He was in this world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own [things], and
His own [people] received Him not.” But according to Marcion, and those
like him, neither was the world made by Him; nor did He come to His own
things, but to those of another. And, according to certain of the Gnostics,
this world was made by angels, and not by the Word of God. But
according to the followers of Valentinus, the world was not made by Him,
but by the Demiurge. For he (Soter) caused such similitudes to be made,
after the pattern of things above, as they allege; but the Demiurge
accomplished the work of creation. For they say that he, the Lord and
Creator of the plan of creation, by whom they hold that this world was
made, was produced from the Mother; while the Gospel affirms plainly,
that by the Word, which was in the beginning with God, all things were
made, which Word, he says, “was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
3. But, according to these men, neither was the Word made flesh, nor
Christ, nor the Savior (Soter), who was produced from [the joint
contributions of] all [the Aeons]. For they will have it, that the Word and
Christ never came into this world; that the Savior, too, never became
incarnate, nor suffered, but that He descended like a dove upon the
dispensational Jesus; and that, as soon as He had declared the unknown
Father, He did again ascend into the Pleroma. Some, however, make the
assertion, that this dispensational Jesus did become incarnate, and
suffered, whom they represent as having passed through Mary just as
water through a tube; but others allege him to be the Son of the Demiurge,
upon whom the dispensational Jesus descended; while others, again, say
that Jesus was born from Joseph and Mary, and that the Christ from
above descended upon him, being without flesh, and impassible. But
according to the opinion of no one of the heretics was the Word of God
made flesh. For if any one carefully examines the systems of them all, he
will find that the Word of God is brought in by all of them as not having
become incarnate (sine carne) and impassible, as is also the Christ from
above. Others consider Him to have been manifested as a transfigured man;
but they maintain Him to have been neither born nor to have become
incarnate; whilst others [hold] that He did not assume a human form at all,
but that, as a dove, He did descend upon that Jesus who was born from
Mary. Therefore the Lord’s disciple, pointing them all out as false
witnesses, says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
4. And that we may not have to ask, Of what God was the Word made
flesh? he does himself previously teach us, saying, “There was a man sent
from God, whose name was John. The same came as a witness, that he
might bear witness of that Light. He was not that Light, but [came] that he
might testify of the Light.” By what God, then, was John, the forerunner,
who testifies of the Light, sent [into the world]? Truly it was by Him, of
whom Gabriel is the angel, who also announced the glad tidings of his
birth: [that God] who also had promised by the prophets that He would
send His messenger before the face of His Son, who should prepare His
way, that is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and
power of Elias. But, again, of what God was Elias the servant and the
prophet? Of Him who made heaven and earth, as he does himself confess.
John, therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this world,
how could he testify of that Light, which came down from things
unspeakable and invisible? For all the heretics have decided that the
Demiurge was ignorant of that Power above him, whose witness and herald
John is found to be. Wherefore the Lord said that He deemed him “more
than a prophet.” For all the other prophets preached the advent of the
paternal Light, and desired to be worthy of seeing Him whom they
preached; but John did both announce [the advent] beforehand, in a like
manner as did the others, and actually saw Him when He came, and
pointed Him out, and persuaded many to believe on Him, so that he did
himself hold the place of both prophet and apostle. For this is to be more
than a prophet, because, “first apostles, secondarily prophets; “ but all
things from one and the same God Himself.
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Avatar --- Age 45
"Not one soul will ever be redeemed from hell but by being saved from his sins, from the evil in him." --- George MacDonald
