Novatian

Novatian (c. 200–258) was a scholar, priest, theologian and antipope between 251 and 258. Some Greek authors, give his name as Novatianus.

He was a noted theologian and writer, the first Roman theologian who used the Latin language, at a time when there was much debate about how to deal with Christians who had lapsed and wished to return, and the issue of penance. Consecrated as pope by three bishops in 251, he adopted a more rigorous position than the established Pope Cornelius. Novatian was shortly afterwards excommunicated: the schismatic church which he established persisted for several centuries (see Novatianism). Novatian fled during a period of persecutions, and may have been a martyr.

Life

Few details are known as to his life. He was a man of learning and had been trained in literary composition.

Pope Cornelius, in a letter to Fabius of Antioch, states that a catechumen called Novatian was possessed by Satan for a whole season. He was exorcised but became so ill after the rite that he expected to soon die and so his baptism was brought forward. When he recovered, he was not given the rest of the sacraments, and the bishop would not confirm him. He thus asked Cornelian, "How, then, can I receive the Holy Spirit?"

For his profound learning, Cornelius sarcastically defined him as "that creator of dogmas, that champion of ecclesiastical culture", but his eloquence impressed Saint Cyprian of Carthage and a pope, probably Pope Fabian, made him a priest despite the protests of the clergy that one who had been baptised only and had not been confirmed could not become a priest. The story told by Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, that Novatian was an archdeacon of Rome consecrated a priest by the pope in order to prevent his succeeding to the papacy, is contradicted by Cornelius and is based on a later state of affairs in which Roman deacons were statesmen rather than religious ministers.

On 20 January 250, during the Decian persecution, Pope Fabian was martyred and the persecution was so fierce that it proved impossible to elect a successor, with the papal seat remaining vacant for a year. During this period the church was governed by several priests, including Novatian. In a letter the following year, Cornelius speaks of his rival whose cowardice and love of his own life made him deny to the persecutors that he was a priest and refuse to comfort his brothers in danger. The deacons urged him to come out of hiding, but he told them that he was in love with another philosophy and thus did not want to be a priest any longer. The story's significance is unclear; Novatian may have been avoiding being an active priest to dedicate himself to an ascetic lifestyle. In any case, it must be borne in mind that the main source for Novatian is Pope Cornelius, who had reasons to attack his enemy and antagonist. The anonymous work Ad Novatianum (XIII) states that Novatian, "so long as he was in the one house, that is in Christ's Church, bewailed the sins of his neighbours as if they were his own, bore the burdens of the brethren, as the Apostle exhorts, and strengthened with consolation the backsliding in heavenly faith."

Novatian wrote two letters during the persecution in the name of the Roman clergy to Saint Cyprian. These letters look at the question of those who had lapsed from the faith and the Carthaginians' demands for them all to be allowed back into the church without penance. The Roman clergy agreed with Cyprian that the question had to be treated with moderation and balance by a council at the earliest possible opportunity, after the election of a new bishop. In any case, they held that that they had to maintain the just church discipline that had marked the Roman church since the time of Saint Paul, without being cruel to those who were penitent. These letters use strong expressions but show that the Roman clergy did not think the readmission of lapsed Christians to communion was entirely impossible.

Novation disagreed with this viewpoint and believed that reconciling those who had lapsed would compromise the integrity of the Church. Arguing that idolatry was an unforgivable sin and that the church had no right to readmit lapsed members to communion, Novation argued that the church could admit to the penitent to penitence-for-life, but only God could grant forgiveness. Such a position was not completely new, as Tertullian had criticised Pope Callixtus I's introduction of pardons for adultery. Even Saint Hippolytus was inclined towards severity, and laws were promulgated in many places and at various times to punish determined sinners with excommunication ending at the hour of death or even refusing them communion in the hour of death.

According to Cyprian, the gravity of this position was not in its cruelty or injustice but in the negation of the church's power in such cases to give absolution. Cyprian (Letter LXXV) conceded that Novatian affirmed the baptismal question: "Do you believe in the remission of sins and in the life eternal, through the Holy Church?" However, because Novatian refused to recognize Cornelius as the rightful successor to Peter's throne, Cyprian argued that Novatian was a schismatic.

In March 251, with the emperor Decius's death, the persecution began to subside and the Roman community seized the opportunity to nominate a successor to Fabian. Although Novation was the pre-eminent theologian in Rome, and had a hand in running the Church after the death of Fabian, the moderate Roman aristocrat Cornelius was elected. Those who supported athe more rigorist position had Novatian consecrated bishop and refused to recognize Cornelius as Bishop of Rome.

Cornelius and Novatian rushed their messengers out to the churches to announce their elections. Saint Cyprian's correspondence tells of an accurate investigation carried out at the end of the Council of Carthage, which resulted in the whole African episcopate backing Cornelius. Even Saint Dionysius of Alexandria sided with Cornelius and with this influential support, he soon consolidated his position. However, for some time the church was divided between the two competing popes. Saint Cyprian writes that Novatian "took over" (Letter LXIX, 8) and sent new apostles to many cities to get them to accept his election. Although all the provinces and all the cities held bishops of venerable age, pure faith and proven virtue, who had been proscribed during the persecution, Cyprian writes (Letter LV, 24) that Novatian dared to replace them with new bishops he had created himself.

Meanwhile, in October 251, Cornelius had called a council of 60 bishops (probably all those from Italy and the neighbouring territories) in which Novatian was excommunicated. The bishops unable to attend added their signatures to the council's closing document, which was sent to Antioch and all the other main churches. However, Novatian was aware of his intellectual superiority to Cornelius and still found supporters among Christians still in prison, such as Maximus, Urbanus and Nicostratus. Dionysius and Cyprian, however, wrote to them and convinced them to support Cornelius. At the beginning of the dispute between Novatian and Cornelius, it took the form of a simple question of a schism, the argument of Cyprian's first letters about Novatian (XLIV-XLVIII, 1) centring on who was the legitimate occupant of St. Peter's throne. After a couple of months, this changed, with Cyprian (Letter LIV) finding it necessary to send his book De lapsis and letter LV to Rome, with the latter being the first document to speak of the "heresy of Novatian".

Novatian died in 258, probably during Valerian's persecutions, in the same year as his great opponent Cyprian.

Works

• The Trinity, The Spectacle, Jewish Foods, In Praise of Purity, Letters, (translated by Russell J. DeSimone) Catholic University of America Press (1974).
• Novatian of Rome and the Culmination of Pre-Nicene Orthodoxy (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications/Princeton Monograph Series, 2011) by James L. Papandrea.
• “Novatian” in Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) article written by James L. Papandrea.
• Novatian of Rome: On the Trinity, Letters to Cyprian of Carthage, Ethical Treatises (English Translations with Introduction, Brepols, 2015) by James L. Papandrea

The treatise on Jewish foods tells Christians they are not bound by Jewish dietary laws but cautions them against eating meat from animals slaughtered during religious rituals and later sold in butcher shops.

See also

• Novatianism

Further reading

• Papandrea, James L., The Trinitarian Theology of Novatian of Rome: A Study in Third Century Orthodoxy, (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008).
• Papandrea, James L. (October 8, 2012). Rome: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Eternal City. Cascade Books. ISBN 978-1-61097-268-0.
• Papandrea, James L. (December 31, 2015). Novatian of Rome: On the Trinity, Letters to Cyprian of Carthage, Ethical Treatises. Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-2503544915. (English Translations with Introduction)
• Papandrea, James L., “Between Two Thieves: Novatian of Rome and Kenosis Christology”, If These Stones Could Speak… Studies on Patristic Texts and Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Dennis E. Groh (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009).

External links

• Novatian, de Trinitate in Latin
• Multilanguage Opera Omnia