and almighty, hence from God himself, and at the same time could only be accomplished in human form, and by the undergoing of human sufferings and death." From these principles results the necessity of the com- ing of a God-man, when it is admitted, moreover, that divine mercy wishes not the eternal death of the sinner. This forms a simplified counterpart of Anselm's theory, and similar views are expressed by subseciucnt Greek writers, for instance, very explicitly by Niclmlas Caba- silas. Ullmann on this account believes that Nicholas made use of Latin sources. His criticisms on Proclus present also several interesting points. He states in the first place that in the Greek Church of that time there were persons who in their attachment to the later Platonism deduced from it antichristian and anti-eccle- siastical consequences, while otherwise the polemics on the question had no practical result. The assertion of some of the earlier Greek theologians that the ■•l^vxh, as such, is not immortal, but obtains immortality only from its connection with the TrviVfia, was repeated by our Nicholas in the Greek Church (comp. liis Rfut. p. 207, 208). A work by Nicholas on the eucharist was published: Greece cum liturgiis Jacobi, etc. (Paris, 1560, et in Auctario Ducceano, ii, 372). His other works re- mained in MSS. until 1866, when a Eussian priest at Leip- sic brought out the Bibliotheca Eccles. continens Graco- rum theologoruvi opera, the large bulk of which in vol. i is devoted to Nicholas of Methone. There are eight of his productions inserted there, but his personal history is cautiously approached, as but little is known of it. Gass, the soundest modern critic of Middle-Age Greek theology, pronounces these writings of Nicholas of Me- thone as among the best products of that epoch of By- zantine theology. As to the time of Nicholas's activity, Gass holds that it is well-nigh impossible to speak with certainty until more of his writings are made accessible to modern critics. He refuses to reject or accept either Cave's or Ullmann's opinion on this point. See Fabri- cius, Bill. Gr. (ed. Harl.) xi, 290 ; Ullmann, Doc/matik d. griecli. K. im 12 Julirh. in Stud. u. Krit. of 1833, p. 647 sq. ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, i, 385 ; ii, 16, 36, 41 ; Ceillier, Hist, des Aiiteurs Sacres, xiii, 555, 658, 571 sq. ; Migne, Patrolof/ie Grecque,\o\. xxv. (J. H.W.)
Nicholas of Modon (Peloponnesus), an Eastern ecclesiastic, flourished as bishop of Modon towards the close of the 11th century. Little is known of his life, but in the opinion of Ullmann he was, if estimated by his writings, one of the most distinguished men of his time. His theology is strongly impregnated with Neo- platonism. Thus, while pretending, like the pseudo- Denis the Areopagite, that we can give ourselves an idea of God only by analogy, and that we have no terms sufficient to express the divine, he enters into the greatest details upon the Trinitj', upon the relation of the three persons who compose it, etc. We have of liis works, Libellus de corpore et sanguine Christi, Greelv and Latin, in vol. ii of the Bibliotheca Patrum of Du Due {Auctarium Ducaanum) (1624, folio). Among those of his works which remain unpublished we note, Tracta- tiis tres de jn'ocessione Spiritus Sancti: — De primatu papa, etc. See Ullmann, Nikolaus von Methone, in Theolog. Studien und Kritiken of 1833; Seisen, Nico- laus Methonensis, Anselmus Cantur-iensis, Hugo Grotius, quoad satisfactionis doctrinam (Heidelberg, 1838, 4to).
Nicholas of Munster. See Familists.
Nicholas (St.) of Myra (hat. Sanctus Nicholnvs ; Ital. San Niccolo, or Nicola di Bari ; Ger. Der Jhiltge Nikolaus, or Niklas), a highly popular saint of tlie Roman Catholic Church, especially in Italy, and rev- erenced still with greater devotion by the Eastern Church, and particularly the Eussian Church, which regards him as a special patron, is generally supposed to have been one of the early bishops of ]Myra. in Lycia. Very few historical data are accessible regarding the personal history of this saint. There was a bislioji of the name of Nicholas much venerated in the East as early
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