nicholaism means the supposed sin of clergy marrying or living with women. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 74 out of 100.
Why “nicholaism” is a great word
NICHOLAISM — [Noun] The heretical doctrine or practice of clergy marrying or cohabiting, condemned by the medieval Church. Derived from Nicolaitanism, from Nicolaitan (the name of an early Christian sect mentioned in the Book of Revelation), itself from the Greek personal name Nikolaos, meaning "victor of the people" (from nikē, "victory," and laos, "people"). Unlike "celibacy," a sacred state of abstention, or "simony," a corruption of office through commerce, nicholaism is a corruption of the flesh, a heresy of domesticity. It is the scent of a hearth-fire in a priest’s house, the quiet scandal of a woman’s shadow on the rectory wall, the whispered legitimacy of a child who bears his father’s eyes but not his title—a rebellion not of doctrine but of biology, asserting that a soul pledged to God might still seek the mortal victory of a family.
Etymology
Derived from Nicolaitanism which comes from Nicolaitan, a sect mentioned in Revelations Chapter 2 verses 6 & 14-15.
noun
- the supposed sin of clergy marrying or living with women“1957: Ralph Henry Carless Davis, A history of Medieval Europe, p.239 - What were the trangressions of which he (Gregory VII) was so loudly to proclaim? First there was the sin of nicholaism, or clerical marriage.”