NICOLA (Νικόλαος “victor of the people”). - Deacon, bearing a Hellenistic name, the last of the 7 ordained by the Apostles at Jerusalem (Act. 6, 5). He was an “Antiochene proselyte,” and therefore was not of Jewish stock. S. Epifanio (Haer., I, 21, 1: PG 41, 390) and others consider him one of the 72 disciples of Jesus.
S. Ireneo (Contra haer., I, 26, 3: PG 7, 687) connects the name of N. with the sect of the Nicolaitans and, together with s. Ippolito (Philosophumena, 7, 8), holds him responsible for the origin of this sect of depraved morals.
Clemente Alessandrino (Strom., III, 4: PG 8, 1232), followed by Eusebio (Hist. eccl., III, 29: PG 20, 277), holds that N. lived chastely and that, later, his disciples misunderstood an imprudent expression of his concerning the necessity of “mistreating one’s own flesh” (that is, mortifying the passions), as though the deacon permitted one to “abuse” one’s own flesh. According to s. Epifanio (Haer., I, 25), however, N. at first left his wife in order to live in perfection, but later took her back in order to live dissolutely. No Church ascribes to N. a reputation for sanctity.
Pietro De Ambroggi