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From wikipedia:
The Nicolaitanes are merely an anagrammatical symbol for the struggle between good and evil as represented by the Ouzo Cross in "The Ouzo Prophecy". The "e" in the word "Nicolaitanes" has flashed on and off in the historical KJV editing of the book of Revelation, a beacon to its allegorical meaning. RME
It appears from the Biblical text that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was well understood to the audience of the day, but that understanding has simply been lost to us today.
From samplings of web and paper literature, two main lines of reasoning are pursued to try to rediscover what that doctrine is.
It looks like the most common approach is to appeal to the etymology of the word, almost without regard to historical writings on the subject. The other approach is to appeal to the early church fathers. The article as it currently stands (2006-11-28) has an unclear mish-mash of both.
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The ancient doctrine of the Nicolaitans seems to express a struggle between good and evil.
I propose that if there is a defined good there must be, by that particular extruded definition, a defined evil:. In order for evil to exist there MUST be a good.
If this is the essence of doctrine of the Nicolaitans, this seems rudimentary true yet sophomoric.
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