Upon this, indeed, the so-called heresy of the Nicolaitans also arose, and lasted for a very short time; of it the Revelation of John too makes mention. These men boasted of Nicolaus as one of the deacons who, together with Stephen, had been appointed by the apostles for the service of the needy. Clement of Alexandria, in the third book of his Miscellanies, records the following about him word for word.
'This man, they say, had a beautiful wife; and after the ascension of the Saviour, being reproached by the apostles for jealousy, he led his wife into the midst and gave leave to whoever wished to marry her. For they say that this action accorded with that saying, namely, that one must abuse the flesh. And so, following both what was done and what was said, plainly and without examination, those who pursue his heresy fornicate shamelessly.'
'But I have learned that Nicolaus had to do with no other woman than the one he had married, and that of his children the daughters grew old in virginity, and his son remained undefiled. Such being the case, the leading of the wife about whom he was jealous into the midst of the apostles was a casting away of passion, and the self-control over those much-coveted pleasures taught how one must abuse the flesh. For I do not think that, in accordance with the Saviour's commandment, he wished to serve two masters, pleasure and the Lord.'
They say, then, that Matthias also taught thus: to contend with the flesh and to abuse it, yielding nothing to it for pleasure, but to make the soul grow through faith and knowledge. Let this, then, be said concerning those who in the times indicated attempted to corrupt the truth, but who, sooner than the telling of it, were utterly extinguished.