Nicolas

Nicolas (meaning same as Nicodemus, i.e., victory of the people) was a proselyte from Antioch — a Gentile who had converted to Judaism before becoming a Christian — and one of the seven men chosen by the Jerusalem church to assist the apostles in the fair distribution of food to widows (Acts 6:5). As a proselyte of Antioch, he was among the most diaspora-connected of the seven. Ancient tradition (Irenaeus, Epiphanius) later associated him with the founding of the Nicolaitan sect condemned in Revelation 2, though Clement of Alexandria disputed this, arguing that Nicolas himself was orthodox and that followers misused his teaching.