Nicodemite

A Nicodemite is a person suspected of publicly misrepresenting their religious faith to conceal their true beliefs. The term is sometimes defined as referring to a Protestant Christian who lived in a Roman Catholic country and escaped persecution by concealing their Protestantism.

The word is normally a term of disparagement. Introduced into 16th-century religious discourse, it persisted in use into the 18th century and beyond. Originally employed mostly by Protestants, it was usually applied to persons of publicly conservative religious position and practice who were thought to be secretly humanistic or reformed.

In England during the 17th and 18th centuries the term was often applied to those suspected of secret Socinian, Arian, or Deist beliefs.

Origin
The term was apparently introduced by John Calvin (1509–1564) in 1544 in his Excuse à messieurs les Nicodemites. Since the French monarchy had increased its prosecution of heresy with the Edict of Fontainebleau (1540), it had become more dangerous to profess dissident beliefs publicly, so refuge was sought in emulating the disciple Nicodemus.

According to the Gospel of John (John 3, John 3:1-2), Nicodemus was a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. Although outwardly remaining a pious Jew, he came to Jesus secretly by night to receive instruction.

"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

Notable suspected Nicodemites

 * Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (c.1527–1556), courtier of Mary I of England
 * Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556), first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII of England
 * Michelangelo (1475–1564), who sculpted a portrait of himself as Nicodemus in his Florentine Pietà
 * Isaac Newton (1643–1727), eminent scientist and theologian
 * Reginald Cardinal Pole (1500–1558), last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury