RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nicholas V. Nicholas of Myra
the archbishop of Canterbury in a series of hearings at a provincial synod held at London, and, his answer being unsatisfactory, was excommunicated July 1, 1382. He went to Rome and appealed to the pope, stating there his conclusions; but he was condemned by pope and cardinals and sentenced to life imprisonment. It is thought that only the favor of the pope for English scholars prevented the sentence of Nicholas to the stake. Nicholas escaped from imprisonment during a popular uprising, probably in June, 1385, and returned to England. In 1386 a writ was issued for his apprehension, but he was still at liberty Aug. 10, 1387. Later he was captured and imprisoned, and finally recanted. He was taken under royal protection Dec. 12, 1391, when he was made chancellor of Hereford Cathedral. This post he gave up between 1394 and 1399. In 1397 he became treasurer of Hereford, after 1410 also prebend of Pratum Minus, resigning both offices and retiring to the cloister at Coventry probably in 1417.
To Nicholas of Hereford is due the honor of being a collaborator with Wyclif in the work of translating the Bible into English, the Old Testament being the part assigned to him. The original manuscript, with the first hand corrections interlined, is fortunately preserved in the Bodleian Library (no. 959 [3093]), and there is also a very early copy of this in the same place (MS. Douci, 369), made before the corrections were inserted in the original, in which appear the words " explicit translacion Nicholay Herford." Both manuscripts break off in the middle of Baruch iii. 20. This break is usually (and without doubt correctly) explained as resulting from the judicial process against Nicholas and the summons to appear before the synod at London which condemned him. The rest of the Old Testament was by another hand, whose style differs from that of Nicholas. The latter's translation is scholarly, so far as his basal text permitted, but stiffly literal and somewhat stilted, and therefore not so well adapted for popular use as the work of Wyclif on the New Testament. It was worked over and improved in the edition of John Purvey (q.v.). Besides this work there are extant his Conclusiones and his Responsio at the synod (both in the Fasciculi zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif, ed. W. W. Shirley, in Rolls Series, pp. 303 sqq., 319 sqq., London, 1858). Other works ascribed to him have perished, there having been numerous orders from the king that his writings be seized together with those of Wyclif.
Bibliography: Fasciculi zizaniorum, ed. Shirley, pp. xliv., 274, 289-329, 515, 517; J. Fox, Acts and Monuments, iii. 24^17, 187-189, 279-285, 809, ed. of London, 1855; G. Lechler, John Wycliffe and his English Precursors, passim, ib. 1884; G. M. Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe, passim, ib. 1900; J. Gairdner, Lollardy and the Reformation in England, i. 21, 22, 24-27, 59, ib. 1908; DNB, xl. 418-420; and the literature under Bible Versions, B, IV., Lollards, and Wyclif, John.
NICHOLAS OF METHONE: Bishop of that city (the modern Modon) in Messenia during the reign of Emperor Manuel I. Comnenus (1143-80). There are no trustworthy data concerning his life, and he seems to have died before the synod of 1166. He developed a very extensive literary activity, but
only one of his writings was printed before the nineteenth century, and some still await publication. They furnish an insight into the Greek theology of the twelfth century, chiefly polemic writings against the Latins, or dealing with subtle theological questions and apologetics. To the latter he devoted his Anaptuxis against Proclus, which, in spite of Draseke's objection, is almost certainly genuine. Polemical works against the Latins deal largely with the procession of the Holy Spirit. Of treatises against the Latins still unpublished are to be mentioned those on the wafer, the Sabbath fasts, and the primacy of the pope. One treatise, addressed to the Emperor Manuel, treats of the defense of the deposition of Patriarch Kosmas. During the last years of his life Nicholas discusses whether the Trinity or the Son only is the object to whom the sacrifice of the Eucharist is made. He also wrote against the Bogomiles (see New Manicheans) and on the problem of predestination. His theology is not original, leaning principally upon Gregory Nazianzen and Pseudo-Dionysius. God is for him the absolute and unconditioned cause, and in his doctrine of the Trinity and his Christology he follows closely the church doctrine, as he does in his treatment of salvation, not transgressing the limitations of Greek theology. A thoroughgoing investigation of the theology of Nicholas is yet to be undertaken.
(N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography: His tract on the Eucharist is printed in MPL, cxxxv. 509-514; two other tracts, ed. J. T. Boemel, were issued at Frankfort, 1825-26; another on the procession of the Holy Spirit appeared London, 1859; A. Demetrakopulos edited two tracts, Leipsic, 1865-66; and still another, ed. V. Vasiljevskij, appeared St. Petersburg, 1886. Consult: Ullmann, in TSK, 1833, pp. 701-743; J. Draseke, in ZKG, ix (1888), 405^31, 565-590, xviii (1897), 546-571; idem, in TSK, lxviii (1895), 589-616; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 85-87, 126 (where further literature is given).
NICHOLAS OF MYRA: Bishop, confessor, and saint; b. perhaps at Patara in Lycia; d. between 345 and 352. There is extant little authentic information concerning him, though the extent to which he is venerated in both orient and Occident and the abundance of legends glorifying his memory, rivaling those which circle about St. George, make him one of the favorite saints of the populace. Legend declares that from infancy he fasted twice a week and worked miracles; that after a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine he became bishop of Myra in Lycia and as such continued to perform miracles of mercy of various kinds, which persisted even after his death — healing balsam is said to have flowed from his grave, not only soon after his death, but also again after his body had been removed from the orient to Bari in Apulia under Pope Victor III. in 1087. [St. Nicholas was, so to speak, the saint of the people — of citizens, laborers, merchants; he was the protector of the weak, the poor, the captive, of the young, especially of poor orphans. His kindness to children is supposed to be especially manifested at Christmas, when he rewards with gifts those whose conduct has been exemplary. He is most lavishly honored by the dedication to him of churches, those of St. Nicholas being far more numerous than of any other minor saint.] Hence,
Nioholas of Straaburg Nicolai