The formal actions of the Church of Rome against the Novatians were as follows: Immediately upon the consecration (Blunt, p. 388) of Novatian a council was called at Rome by Cornelius in A.D. 251. Sixty bish- ops and as many presbyters assembled. Novatian and his followers were declared to be separated from the Church, and it was decreed that the brethren who had fallen were to be admitted to the remedies of repent- ance (Euseb. Ili.if. Eccles. vi, 43). Eiiseliius states that the epistles of Cornelius show not only the transactions of the Council of Rome, but the opinions of those in Italy and Africa. The opinions of the Africans were delivered in a council, A.D. 251, mentioned b}' Cj'prian, Epist. Iviii ; and Jerome speaks of three councils, supposing that the opinions of the Italians were formally delivered also in an Italian council. At Antioch likewise a council was held, A.D. 253, which came to the same determination. It was summoned by Fabius, but he died before it met ; and it was held by his successor, Demetrianus (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. V, 46). The Council of Nicea assigned to the Cathari their place in the Church upon reconcilia- tion. Canon eighth decreed that those already ordained should continue to rank among the clergj' upon written promise that they would adhere to the decrees of the Catholic Church ; that is, that they would communicate •with those who had married a second time, and those who had lapsed under persecution, to whom a term of penance had been assigned. lu places where there were no clergy, they were to remain in their order; where there was a bishop or jiriest of the Catholic Church, that bishop was to retain his dignity, the No-
vatian bishop having the honor of a priest, unless the bishop should think fit to allow him the nominal honor of episcopate ; otherwise the bishop was to provide for him the place of a chorepiscopus, or of a priest, so that there should not be two bishops in one city. The Council of Laodicoa, A.D. 367, directs that Novatians are not to be received until they have anathematized all heresy, especially that in which they have been en- gaged. Their communicants having learned the creeds, and having been anointed with the chrism, may then partake of the holy mysteries (can. 7). The Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, receives "the Sabbatians and Novatians, who call themselves Cathari, if they give in a written renunciation of their errors and anathematize heresy, by sealing them with the holy chrism on the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, with the words, llie seal of the gift of the Holy Sjnrit" (can. 7). The Council of Telepte (Thala, in Numidia), A.D. 418, de- creed: "Ut venientes a Novatianis vel Montensibus per impositionem suscepiantur, ex eo quod rebaptizant" (Brun's Canones Apost, et ConciL i, 154). The sixth of Carthage (A.D. 419) enforced and explained the Ni- cene decisions (canons 1-8) ; the second of Aries (A.D. 432) directs that a Novatiau shall not be received into communion without undergoing penance for his disbe- lief and condemning his error (can. 9). Of these the Constantinopolitan canon is to be noticed as determining against St. Basil the validity of Novatian baptism. In Basil's first canonical epistle to Amphilochius, canons 1 and 47 involve this point. There are several difficulties regarding their interpretation; but thus much seems to be clear, that Basil proceeded on the general principle of the invalidity of lay baptism, and argued that the Cathari had no longer the communication of the Holy Ghost, having broken the succession ; that, being schis- matics, they were laymen ; he ordered them (at least such as had received only Novatian baptism) to be re- ceived into the Church by baptism. The first Council of Aries (A.D. 314) had laid down the principle that those baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity should be received by the imposition of hands (can. 8).
See Walch, Hist, der Ketzereien, ii, 185-310; Haag, Hist, des Dor/mes Chretiennes, i, 137 sq.; ii, 28, 33, 110; Mosheim, Ch. Hist, of the first Three Centuries, ii, 59 sq. ; Schaff, Ch. Hint, i, 450 sq. ; Tillemont, Memoires, etc., vol. iii ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, i, 75 sq., et al., 194, et al. ; IMilman, Hist, of Lot. Christianity, i, 83 sq. ; Neander, Ch. Hist, i, 237 sq. ; id. Dogmas, 163, 222, 226, 235; Augusti, Doymengesch. p. 41 sq., 388, 414 sq. ; Shepherd, Hist, of Rome, p. 26, 129, 180; (.Juette, Pa- pacy, p. 88 sq. ; Gibbon, Decline and. Fall of the Roman Empire ; Theol. and Lit. Journal (Jan. 1855) ; Ffoulkes, Divisions of Christendom.
Novatus OF Cakthagk, an Eastern ecclesiastic who fiourished in the 3d century, is thought to have orig- inated the Novatian heresy of which Novatian was the leader. Novatus is said to have rebelled against the episcopal authority of Cyprian, whom he had opposed from the time his name was mentioned for the see of Carthage. Novatus fled from Carthage to Rome to avoid the sentence of Cyprian, and tliere became an as- sociate and a coadjutor of Novatian, procured him many friends, and with vast zeal and effort cherished and pro- moted his cause, as is abundanth' proved by the Epistles of Cyprian, by Jerome, by Pacian, and by many others. Novatian, a man gloomy and retiring, would have giv- en way to admonition, or would have been easily over- come, had not his irresolute mind been excited and for- tified by the various appliances of that factious, active, eloquent man, an adept at kindling the passions, who was influenced, undoubtedly, by his hatred of Cyprian, the partisan of Cornelius. Necessity also urged Novatus to embrace and defend the party of Novatian with all his might, and even to the establishing of a new Church at Rome. He had repaired to Rome as to a haven of security, in order to be safe from the shafts of Cyprian and the Africans. But if Cornelius, the intimate of his