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Nicodemus

From Catholicism Wiki
Saint
Nicodemus
Nicodemus by James Tissot, c. 1886 – c. 1894
Nicodemus by James Tissot, c. 1886 – c. 1894
Defender of Jesus
Born Galilee
Died Judea
Venerated in Anglicanism
Catholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Lutheranism
Oriental Orthodoxy
Canonized Pre-Congregation
Feast Various (see § Veneration): 3rd Sunday of Pascha, 2 August, 3 August, 31 August
Attributes Pharisee
Patronage Curiosity[1]
Undertakers and pallbearers[2]

Nicodemus[3] /nɪkəˈdiːməs/ is a New Testament figure venerated as a saint in a number of Christian traditions. He is depicted as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin who is drawn to hear Jesus's teachings. Like Lazarus, Nicodemus is not mentioned in the synoptic Gospels, but only by John,[4] who devotes more than half of Chapter 3 of his gospel and a few verses of Chapter 7 to Nicodemus; and, lastly, mentions him in Chapter 19.

Nicodemus is considered in both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions to have secretly been a disciple of Jesus on the basis of the narrative in John 19; there is no explicit mention of his discipleship in the Gospel of John. Owing to his insistence on a hearing for Jesus according to Jewish law, Nicodemus is sometimes called "defender of Jesus".[5]

Some scholars have identified the Nicodemus of the New Testament with a 1st-century historic Nicodemus ben Gurion, while others consider the dates and apparent age discrepancy between the two make this unlikely. An apocryphal work under his name, the Gospel of Nicodemus, was produced in the mid-4th century, and is mostly a reworking of the earlier Acts of Pilate, which recounts the Harrowing of Hell.[6]

Gospel narrative

Nicodemus is mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John:

The first time Nicodemus is mentioned, he is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus at night. According to the scripture, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. While in Jerusalem he chased the moneychangers from the temple and overturned their tables. His disciples remembered then the words of Psalm 69: "Zeal for your house will consume me." After these events "many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing".[10] When Nicodemus visits Jesus he makes reference to these events: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him".[11]

Jesus replies: "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then follows a conversation with Nicodemus about the meaning of being "born again" or "born from above" (Greek: ἄνωθεν): Nicodemus explores the notion of being literally born again from one's mother's womb, but most theologians recognise that Nicodemus knew Jesus was not speaking of literal rebirth. Theologian Charles Ellicott wrote that "after the method of Rabbinic dialogue, [Nicodemus] presses the impossible meaning of the words in order to exclude it, and to draw forth the true meaning. 'You cannot mean that a man is to enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born. What is it, then, that you do mean?’" In this instance, Nicodemus chooses to first question with the literal (rather than the figurative) meaning of anōthen; this literal sense of the word can then be firmly set aside to allow the real significance of the term to emerge.[12]

Jesus expresses surprise, perhaps ironically, that "a teacher of Israel" does not understand the concept of spiritual rebirth:[13]

Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony."

— John 3:10–11

In Chapter 7, Nicodemus advises his colleagues among "the chief priests and the Pharisees", to hear and investigate before making a judgment concerning Jesus, reminding them that Jewish law requires that a person must be heard before they can be condemned. Their mocking response argues that no prophet comes from Galilee. Nonetheless, it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrin.[4]

Finally, when Jesus is buried, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes—about 100 Roman pounds (33 kilograms, or 73 lb).[14] Nicodemus must have been a man of means; in his book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Pope Benedict XVI observes that, "The quantity of the balm is extraordinary and exceeds all normal proportions. This is a royal burial."[15]

Interpretation

Coming by night

D. A. Carson observes that John gives no reason why Nicodemus came νυκτός (nyktos, "by night"), and that the suggestions offered have ranged from a simple biographical reminiscence, to the practice of rabbis studying and debating late into the night, to a wish for the cover of darkness. Carson argues that the best clue lies in John's use of "night" elsewhere in the Gospel (John 9:4; John 11:10; John 13:30), where the word either stands for moral and spiritual darkness or, where it does refer to the hours of night, carries the same symbolism.[16]

Craig S. Keener takes the detail on two levels. Within the story, Nicodemus comes at night to avoid being seen, remaining in solidarity with those who feared to confess Jesus so as not to be expelled from the synagogue (John 12:42). For John's audience the reference also works symbolically, bracketing the narrative between Nicodemus coming "by night" (John 3:2) and those who leave the darkness for the light (John 3:21), and so anticipating his part in the burial.[17]

Kenneth E. Bailey compares the episode to the account of the Samaritan woman at the well that follows it, noting that in John the night scenes are the dark ones, with Nicodemus wavering, Judas going out into the night (John 13:30), and the arrest, the hearing before Annas and Peter's denial all taking place after dark, whereas the Samaritan woman comes at noon, hears, and believes.[18]

Historicity

Although there is no clear source of information about Nicodemus outside the Gospel of John,[12] Ochser and Kohler, writing in The Jewish Encyclopedia in 1905,[19] identify him with Nicodemus ben Gurion, mentioned in the Talmud as a wealthy and popular holy man reputed to have had miraculous powers. Some later 20th- and 21st-century historians make the same connection.[20] Other scholars reject this identification, arguing that the biblical Nicodemus is likely an older man at the time of his conversation with Jesus, while Nicodemus ben Gurion was on the scene forty years later, at the time of the First Jewish-Roman War.[21][22]

Veneration

Nicodemus is venerated as a saint in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and in Catholicism. The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches commemorate him on the Sunday of the Holy Myrrhbearers, which is celebrated on the Third Sunday of Pascha (i.e., the second Sunday after Easter).[23] Pious tradition holds that his relics were found on 2 August, along with those of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr; Gamaliel; and Gamaliel's second son, Abibon (also, "Abibas"; "Abibo"). This event is commemorated on that date in the Eastern churches,[24] while the Catholic General Roman Calendar marks the anniversary of the translation of Nicodemus' remains, rather than their discovery, which by the same tradition occurred the following day, 3 August.[25] In the Roman Martyrology, Nicodemus' feast day is 31 August, celebrated jointly with Saint Joseph of Arimathea, and generally followed in the Roman Rite tradition.[4][26]

This does not preclude local preferences and traditions from being applied, as dioceses, national churches and religious institutes may have their own days of observance approved.[27] For example, at the St. Nicodemus and St. Joseph of Arimathea Church, which the Franciscan Order established in Ramla in the 19th century, permission from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was obtained to celebrate the feast day of the two saints on the Saturday of the third week of Easter, so that the link between their role in the burial of Jesus and Easter solemnities would be highlighted in the Holy Land.[28] The church has a painting above its altar, attributed to Titian, The Deposition from the Cross, which shows the two saints.[29]

Days of observance

Legacy

Art

Nicodemus figures prominently in medieval depictions of the Deposition or Descent from the Cross in which he and Joseph of Arimathea are shown removing the dead Christ from the cross, often with the aid of a ladder.[30]

Like Joseph, Nicodemus became the object of various pious legends during the Middle Ages, particularly in connection with monumental crosses. He was reputed to have carved both the Holy Face of Lucca and the Batlló Crucifix, receiving angelic assistance with the face in particular and thus rendering the works instances of acheiropoieta.[30]

Both of these sculptures date from at least a millennium after Nicodemus's life, but the ascriptions attest to the contemporary interest in Nicodemus as a character in medieval Europe.[30]

Literature

In Henry Vaughan's "The Night", Nicodemus is significant to the 17th-century poem's theme: He serves as the departure point and illustration of its meditation on night's relationship with experience of God.[31]

Persuaded: The Story of Nicodemus by David Harder is a fictionalized account of the life of Nicodemus. According to the author, he used episodes and timetables sourced from all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles to develop his novel's timeline of events. Scripture quoted within the novel is taken from the Passion Translation[32] version of the Bible.[33]

Music

In 18th-century Lutheranism, prescribed readings were assigned throughout the year; the gospel text of the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus at night was assigned to Trinity Sunday. Johann Sebastian Bach composed several cantatas for the occasion, of which O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165, composed in 1715, stays close to the gospel based on a libretto by the court poet in Weimar, Salomo Franck.[34]

In popular music, Nicodemus's name was used figuratively in Henry Clay Work's 1864 American Civil War-era piece "Wake Nicodemus!", an abolitionist song hailing the end of slavery,[35] which at that time was popular in minstrel shows. In 1978 Tim Curry covered the song on his debut album Read My Lips. The song's layered connotations, its anti-slavery sentiment—gave it a connection with "rebirths", and to John's "born again" Nicodemus.[36] By extension, it became associated with the civil rights movement in the § United States.[37]

Ernst Pepping composed an Evangelienmotette (motet on gospel text) Jesus und Nikodemus in 1937. In 1941, The Golden Gate Quartet, sang the Gospel "God Told Nicodemus", in the African-American Jubilee style. The Bob Dylan song "In The Garden", released on the 1980 album Saved, contains the lines "Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn't be seen by men / Saying, 'Master, tell me why a man must be born again'".[38] The song "Help Yourself" by The Devil Makes Three, from their 2009 Do Wrong Right album, contains a very informal retelling of the relationship between Nicodemus and Jesus.[39]

Film and television

Nicodemus is portrayed by Diego Matamoros in the 2003 film The Gospel of John.[40] In the 2025 animated film, Light of the World, Michael Benyaer voices Nicodemus.[41]

The figure of Nicodemus appears in several television productions:

Social influence

The Reformation and religious conflict

During the struggle between Protestants and Catholics in Europe, from the 16th century to the 18th, a person professing a creed different from the locally approved one often risked severe penalties—in many cases, capital punishment. There developed the use of "Nicodemite", usually a term of disparagement, referring to a person who is suspected of public misrepresentation of their actual religious beliefs.[46]: 117–118[47] The term is recorded from at least 1529, in relation to religious concealment or reticence. It is a reference to the clandestine night visit of Nicodemus to Jesus, suggesting an analogy between the undeclared belief of Nicodemus and the reluctance of some dissenters from (at first) Catholicism to risk being open about their true creed. To John Calvin, who opposed all veneration of saints, the fact of Nicodemus being a Catholic saint in no way exonerated this "duplicity". Calvin used the word in his 1544 Excuse à messieurs les Nicodemites referring to religious dissemblers in France—outwardly, conforming Catholics; inwardly, adherents of Protestantism. He was apparently not completely comfortable with the term's allusion to Nicodemus, however; subsequent editions of the work reduced the label's use and later French editions replaced the word with "faux ('false') Nicodemus" instead.[48] While the epithet initially applied to crypto-Protestants, it later came to be used broadly for anyone suspected of exhibiting a false appearance of their religious adherence and concealing their genuine beliefs.[47]

United States

The discussion with Jesus is the source of several common expressions of contemporary American Christianity, specifically, the descriptive phrase "born again" used to describe salvation or baptism by some groups, and John 3:16, a commonly quoted verse used to describe God's plan of salvation.

The Nicodemus National Historic Site, commemorating the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Period following the American Civil War, is in Kansas. The National Park Service indicates the town's name came from the 1864 piece, "Wake Nicodemus" by Henry Clay Work.[49] Some point to the lyrics' use of the name Nicodemus as a figurative reference to the biblical figure.[50][51] In the case of the song, Nicodemus is an enslaved African, long deceased, but acknowledged in the lyrics as both prophet and herald of freedom. The contrast in the lyrics between night and morning, and the enslaved Nicodemus' certainty in what the metaphorical "morning" would bring, have been seen as drawing a parallel to, and being inspired by, the story of the biblical figure. In one story, emancipation, and in the other, salvation, is to come "in the morning"; each Nicodemus has faith in their eventual advent. The lyrics say, in part:[52]

First verse:
Nicodemus, the slave, was of African birth,
And was bought for a bagful of gold; [...]
But he died years ago, very old. [...]
"Wake me up!" was his charge,
at the first break of day–
Wake me up for the great Jubilee!

Chorus:
The "Good Coming" is almost here!
It was long, long, long on the way!
Now run and tell Elijah to hurry up, Pomp
And meet up at the gum tree down in the swamp,
To wake Nicodemus today.

Fourth verse:
'Twas a long weary night – we were almost in fear
That the future was more than he knew;
'Twas a long weary night – but the morning is near,
And the words of our prophet are true....

— Extract from "Wake Nicodemus" by Henry Clay Work (1864)

Rosamund Rodman, a researcher and scholar of placenames, noted in a 2008 article that slaves who learnt to read generally did so in secret and at night, due to risks of punishment for this forbidden activity. The gospel's Nicodemus came to Jesus to learn from him, also in secret and at night, for fear of repercussions. Such connections and allusions lead Rodman to conclude that the town's name has its ultimate origin with the biblical figure.[50] Religious affairs journalist Daniel Burke notes that, "To blacks after the Civil War, he was a model of rebirth as they sought to cast off their old identity as slaves".[15]

On 16 August 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. invoked Nicodemus as a metaphor concerning the need for the United States to be "born again" in order to effectively address social and economic inequality. The speech, called "Where Do We Go From Here?", was delivered at the 11th Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.[53]

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

A prominent Jew of the time of Christ, mentioned only in the Fourth Gospel. The name is of Greek origin, but at that epoch such names were occasionally borrowed by the Jews, and according to Josephus (Ant. of the Jews, XIV, iii, 2) Nicodemus was the name of one of the ambassadors sent by Aristobulus to Pompey. A Hebrew form of the name (Naqdimon) is found in the Talmud. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and in his capacity of sanhedrist, (John, vii, 50) was a leader of the Jews. Christ, in the interview when Nicodemus came to him by night, calls him a master in Israel. Judging from John xix, 39, Nicodemus must have been a man of means, and it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrim. Some writers conjecture from his question: "How can a man be born when he is old?", that he was already advanced in years, but the words are too general to warrant such a conclusion. He appears in this interview as a learned and intelligent believer, but timid and not easily initiated into the mysteries of the new faith. He next appears (John, vii, 50, 51) in the Sanhedrim offering a word in defence of the accused Galilean; and we may infer from this passage that he embraced the truth as soon as it was fully made known to him. He is mentioned finally in John, xix, 39, where he is shown co-operating with Joseph of Arimathea in the embalming and burial of Jesus. His name occurs later in some of the apocryphal writings, e.g. in the so-called "Acta Pilati", heterogeneous document which in the sixteen century was published under the title "Evangelium Nicodemi" (Gospel of Nicodemus). The time of his death is unknown. The Roman Martyrology commemorates the finding of his relics, together with those of Sts. Stephen, Gamaliel, and Abibo, on 3 August.

Conybeare, Studia Biblica, IV (Oxford, 1896), 59-132; Le Camus, La vie de N.-S. Jesus-Christ (Paris, 1883), I, 251 sqq.; II, 24 sqq., 577 sqq., tr. Hickey (3 vols., New York, 1906-08).

References

  1. Back to citation Moore, Russell (3 January 2023). "Read Like Nicodemus". Christianity Today. "A Curious Man (John 3:1-17)". Christian Century. 14 May 1997. p. 475 – via Religion Online.
  2. Back to citation "Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus". Franciscan Media. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023.
  3. Back to citation Imperial Aramaic: 𐡍𐡒𐡃𐡉𐡌𐡅𐡍, romanized: Naqdīmūn; Hebrew: נַקְדִּימוֹן, romanized: Naqdīmōn; Ancient Greek: Νικόδημος, romanized: Nikódēmos; Ge'ez: ኒቆዲሞስ, romanized: Niqodimos
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Driscoll, James F. (1911). "Nicodemus". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  5. Back to citation Pancaro, Severino (1972). "The Metamorphosis of a Legal Principle in the Fourth Gospel. A Closer Look at Jn 7,51". Biblica. 53 (3): 340–361. ISSN 0006-0887. JSTOR 42610052. Pilch, John J. (14 March 2021). "The world's darkness — Historical Cultural Context: Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B". Sunday SLU Liturgy. Saint Louis University.
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  7. Back to citation John 3:1–21
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  17. Back to citation Keener, Craig S. (2012) [2003]. The Gospel of John: A Commentary. Vol. 1. Baker Academic. on John 3:1–21. ISBN 978-1-4412-3705-7.
  18. Back to citation Bailey, Kenneth E. (2008). Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. IVP Academic. on John 4:1–42. ISBN 978-0-8308-2568-4.
  19. Back to citation Ochser, Schulim; Kohler, Kaufmann (1905). "Nicodemus". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 299–300.
  20. Back to citation See, for instance: Flusser, David (16 December 2013). "Character Profiles: Gamaliel and Nicodemus". Jerusalem Perspective. Flusser, David (1997). Jesus. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 148. ISBN 965-223-978-X; ISBN 978-965-223-978-5; Safrai, Zeev (2005). "Nakdimon b. Guryon: A Galilean Aristocrat in Jerusalem". In Jack Pastor; Menachem Mor (eds.). The Beginnings of Christianity. Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Press. pp. 297–314. ISBN 978-9652171511.
  21. Back to citation Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John. Leicester: InterVarsity. p. 186.
  22. Back to citation Bauckham, Richard (1996). "Nicodemus and the Gurion Family". The Journal of Theological Studies. 47 (1): 1–37. doi:10.1093/jts/47.1.1. ISSN 0022-5185. JSTOR 23966458.
  23. Back to citation "Saint Nicodemus the Disciple by Night & Holy Myrrh-Bearer". Holy Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Paraskevi, Saint Barbara, Saint John the Merciful & Our Mother of Consolation. St Albans, Melbourne: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023.
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  26. Back to citation Doyle-Nelson, Theresa (6 September 2020). "St. Nicodemus ― A Pharisee Who Risked His Reputation for Jesus". NCR. Archived from the original on 18 June 2023. “St. Nicodemus shares an Aug. 31 feast day with another religious leader who helped to bury Jesus — St. Joseph of Arimathea”; "Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus". Franciscan Media. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023.
  27. Back to citation "Sacrosanctum concilium, solemnly promulgated by his holiness Pope Paul VI". Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy. 4 December 1963. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023.
  28. Back to citation Guarrera, Beatrice (28 April 2021). "The parish of Ramle, dedicated to St Joseph Arimathea and St Nicodemus". Franciscani de Custodia Terrae Sanctae. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022.
  29. Back to citation "Church of St Nicodemus & St Joseph of Arimathea: Israel, Middle East". Lonely Planet. n.d. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
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  31. Back to citation Durr, R. A. (1960). "Vaughan's 'The Night'". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 59 (1): 34–40. ISSN 0363-6941. JSTOR 27707404. For the text of the poem, see: "'The Night' by Henry Vaughan". Poetry Foundation. 14 May 2023.
  32. Back to citation Passion Translation
  33. Back to citation Harder, David (2020). Persuaded: The Story of Nicodemus, a Novel. Emerald House Group, Incorporated. Front matter; preface. ISBN 978-1-62020-710-9. "Historical Q&A: David Harder (Persuaded: The Story of Nicodemus)". Family Fiction. 29 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022.
  34. Back to citation Dürr, Alfred (2006). The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Translated by Richard D. P. Jones. Oxford University Press. p. 371. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4. Werthemann, Helene (2015). "Einführung: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165; Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176; Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest, BWV 194". Bachkantaten in der Predigerkirche (in German). Archived from the original on 3 March 2021.
  35. Back to citation "Henry Clay Work Biography". notablebiographies.com.
  36. Back to citation Pramaggiore, Maria (2007). "Chapter Five – 'Both Sides of the Epic': Identification and the nonessentialist Western". Irish and African American cinema: Identifying others and performing identities, 1980–2000. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 151–190. ISBN 978-0-7914-7095-4. p. 171: “The name has complex resonances, but clearly signifies new beginnings: the Biblical Nicodemus was a follower of Christ... also a legendary slave... who later purchased his freedom. The 1864 song 'Wake Nicodemus'... recounts another story of Nicodemus, a slave who prophesied a Black Exodus out of slavery. Nicodemus, Kansas, was a town founded in 1877 by former slaves from Kentucky called Exodusters.”
  37. Back to citation Adams, Ashley A. (2016). Examining the Cultural and Historical Impact of the National Historic Site Designation in Nicodemus, Kansas (PhD thesis). Walden University.
  38. Back to citation "'In the Garden'". The Official Bob Dylan Site. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
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  43. Back to citation Ostling, Richard N. (4 April 1977). "Franco Zeffirelli's Classical Christ for Prime Time". Time. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023.
  44. Back to citation Ng, Alan (11 April 2020). "Reviews: The Chosen". Film Threat. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023.
  45. Back to citation Xavier, Nilson (2021). "Jesus: Sinopse, elenco, bastidores". Teledramaturgia (in Brazilian Portuguese). Observatório da TV.
  46. Back to citation Overell, M. Anne (2004). "A Nicodemite in England and Italy: Edward Courtenay, 1548–56". In David M. Loades (ed.). John Foxe at Home and Abroad. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate. pp. 117–135. ISBN 978-0-7546-3239-9.
  47. Back to citation occurrence 47.0 Back to citation occurrence 47.1 Livingstone, Elizabeth A., ed. (2006). "Nicodemism". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian church. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-19-861442-5. “Calvin applied it to those converts to Protestantism in Catholic France who outwardly continued RC practices. In modern times Nicodemism covers all forms of religious simulation.”
  48. Back to citation Eire, Carlos M. N. (1986). "Calvin against the Nicodemites". War against the idols: The reformation of worship from Erasmus to Calvin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 234–275. ISBN 978-0-521-30685-0. p. 243: “Calvin argues that since the cowardly Nicodemus changed into an honorable and courageous Christian, it is not right to use his name as a defense for timid simulation.”
  49. Back to citation "Nicodemus National Historic Site", National Park Service.
  50. Back to citation occurrence 50.0 Back to citation occurrence 50.1 Rodman, Rosamond C. (2008). "Naming a Place Nicodemus". Great Plains Quarterly. 28 (1): 49–62. ISSN 0275-7664. JSTOR 23534184. "Profile: Rosamund Rodman (also, Rosamond C.)". UVA Religion, Race & Democracy Lab. University of Virginia. 2024. Archived from the original on 20 July 2024.
  51. Back to citation Phillips, Kynala (3 February 2023). "Do you know the story of the first and last all-Black town in the West?". KC Black History. The Kansas City Star.
  52. Back to citation Work, Henry Clay (1864). "Wake Nicodemus". Historic Sheet Music Collection. Connecticut College Digital Commons. [1545].
  53. Back to citation King, Martin Luther Jr. "'Where Do We Go From Here?', Address Delivered 16 August 1967 at the Eleventh Annual SCLC Convention". The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (Speech transcript). Stanford University. Archived from the original on 3 February 2026. Retrieved 30 November 2018. Earlier version of transcript: Archived 12 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

  • "St. Nicodemus" in Butler's Lives of the Saints
  • Cornel Heinsdorff: Christus, Nikodemus und die Samaritanerin bei Juvencus. Mit einem Anhang zur lateinischen Evangelienvorlage (Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte, Bd. 67), Berlin/New York, 2003.
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