 29).The description of Nicolas as celibate was used by 16th century Protestant apologists to argue against the practice of mandatory clerical celibacy by suggesting it originated within Nicolaism first before spreading into Christianity.Epiphanius relates some details of the life of Nicolas the deacon, and describes him as gradually sinking into the grossest impurity, and becoming the originator of the Nicolaitans and other libertine Gnostic sects