 According to Irenaeus' "Adversus Haereses", the Nicolaitanes, a heretical sect condemned as early as the Book of Revelation, took their name from the deacon.In "Philosophumena", Hippolytus writes he inspired the sect through his indifference to life and the pleasures of the flesh; his followers took this as a licence to give in to lust.The "Catholic Encyclopedia" records a story that after the Apostles reproached Nicholas for mistreating his beautiful wife on account of his jealousy, he left her and consented to anyone else marrying her, saying the flesh should be maltreated.