A Pharisee and ruler of the Jews who came to the Lord by night, defended Him before the council, and with Joseph of Arimathea took down His body and buried it with myrrh and aloes.
Feast Day
August 2
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Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jewish leadership, who became a disciple of Jesus Christ. He is known principally from three episodes in the Gospel of John, and he is venerated in the Orthodox Church as one of the Righteous and counted among the Holy Myrrhbearers.
According to the Gospel account, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night to hear his teaching, defended him before the council, and after the crucifixion joined Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Christ for burial. Little is recorded of his later life outside the Gospel; church tradition holds that he was expelled from the synagogue for his faith and that his relics were discovered in the early fifth century.
Timeline 5 moments
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1st centuryNight visit to JesusNicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus by night to listen to his teaching, addressing him as a teacher come from God. In the discourse recorded in John 3, Jesus taught that a person must be born again, or born from above, to enter the Kingdom of God; Nicodemus did not at first understand how a man could be born again.
1st centuryDefense before the SanhedrinIn the episode of John 7, Nicodemus defended Jesus before the chief priests and Pharisees, reminding them that the law required a person to be heard before being judged. His colleagues dismissed him, responding that no prophet comes from Galilee.
1st centuryBurial of ChristAfter the crucifixion, Nicodemus assisted Joseph of Arimathea in taking down the body of Jesus and preparing it for burial, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes. The Gospel of John records the quantity as about a hundred Roman pounds. For his part in the burial he is numbered among the Holy Myrrhbearers.
AD 415Discovery of the relicsBy pious tradition the relics of Nicodemus were uncovered near Jerusalem together with those of Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, and Gamaliel's son Abibas.
AD 428Translation to ConstantinopleThe relics of Stephen, Gamaliel, Abibas, and Nicodemus were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople and placed in the church of the holy deacon Laurence.
Contributions & Legacy
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Gospel accounts
Nicodemus appears three times in the Gospel of John. He is first introduced as a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night, an approach which tradition understands as a means of avoiding persecution by the Sanhedrin of which he was a member. In their conversation Jesus spoke of being born again of water and the Spirit; the synaxarion relates that the Savior taught him of spiritual rebirth through baptism, and that when Nicodemus was reproved for his lack of understanding he accepted the reproof with humility.
He appears a second time defending Jesus before the council, citing the principle that no one should be condemned without a hearing. His third appearance comes after the crucifixion, when he joined Joseph of Arimathea in the burial of Christ, contributing a costly quantity of spices. The commentary tradition has read the lavishness of this offering as befitting a royal burial.
Later life and veneration
Little is known of Nicodemus beyond the Gospel of John. Church tradition holds that after the Resurrection he was cast out of the synagogue for his belief in Christ and went to live with Gamaliel at his country house, remaining there until his death; some accounts hold that he was martyred during the first century.
Nicodemus is venerated as one of the Righteous. In the Orthodox calendar he is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, the second Sunday after Pascha, while the finding and translation of his relics is marked on August 2.
Relics & Shrines
By tradition the relics of Nicodemus were discovered in the year 415 near Jerusalem, together with those of Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, and Abibas. In 428 these relics were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople and enshrined in the church of the holy deacon Laurence.
The Gospel of Nicodemus
An apocryphal work known as the Gospel of Nicodemus bears his name. It is dated to about the middle of the fourth century and is largely a reworking of the earlier Acts of Pilate, recounting among other matters the descent of Christ into Hades.
His companions & kin
Joined Nicodemus in taking down and burying the body of Christ; likewise numbered among the Myrrhbearers.
Joseph of Arimathea
His relics were discovered together with those of Nicodemus in 415.
Stephen the Protomartyr
By tradition Nicodemus lived at his country house after being expelled from the synagogue; their relics were found together.
Gamaliel
Notes
His relics were found in 415 together with those of Stephen, Gamaliel, and Abibas.
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
