The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313

Novatian of Rome

c. 200 – 258 · Presbyter of Rome (later schismatic rival bishop) · First Roman theologian in Latin · Rome

The Ante-Nicene Church

Novatian of Rome — historical depiction 1 — Novatian of RomeKleon3 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

Novatian of Rome — historical depiction 2 — Novatian of RomeJim Forest https://www.flickr.com/people/jimforest/ (artwork by unknown) · Public domain · Commons

Novatian of Rome — historical depiction 3 — Novatian of Romeunknown artist, Rome, mid-4th century A.D. · Public domain · Commons

Novatian of Rome — historical depiction 4 — Novatian of RomeThompson, Edward Maunde,(1840-1929). · Public domain · Commons

Novatian of Rome — historical depiction 5 — Novatian of Romeanonymous artist, reproduction by H. F. Jos Liell · Public domain · Commons

Who Novatian of Rome was

Novatian was the intellectual of the mid-century Roman clergy — the first of that church’s writers to compose in Latin rather than Greek, and author of its official letters while the see stood vacant under persecution. His On the Trinity, a lucid synthesis of the rule of faith against every current error, remained the West’s best statement of the doctrine until Hilary. But in 251, opposing Cornelius’s election and any readmission of Christians who had sacrificed under Decius, he had himself consecrated rival bishop of Rome. His rigorist communion — doctrinally orthodox, pastorally unbending — persisted for centuries. Tradition holds that Novatian himself, the man who refused mercy to the lapsed, died a martyr under Valerian rather than lapse.

Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and heretics & schismatics.

Common questions

When did Novatian live?

Novatian of Rome is dated c. 200 – 258 in the archive, which places Novatian in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did Novatian write?

Novatian of Rome has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: On the Trinity.

Which early sources mention Novatian?

Novatian of Rome is named in 5 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Novatian of Rome, Cornelius of Rome, Cyprian of Carthage and Jerome of Stridon. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Novatian from?

The archive associates Novatian of Rome with Rome.

Writings (1)

On the Trinity

c. 240–250

For Scripture as much announces Christ as also God, as it announces God Himself as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord to be God.

Earliest witness · Transmitted among Tertullian's works (medieval copies)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (5)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

On the Trinity (De Trinitate)

c. AD 250

The rule of truth requires that we should first of all things believe on God the Father and Lord Omnipotent; that is, the absolutely perfect Founder of all things… The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the Father, also on the Son of God, Christ Jesus.

Novatian of Rome · source text

Cornelius to Fabius, via Ecclesiastical History VI.43 (the hostile portrait of his consecration)

c. AD 251

This vaunted doctor, this champion of ecclesiastical discipline, when he was attempting to grasp and seize the episcopate, which had not been given him from above.

Cornelius of Rome · Ecclesiastical History VI.43 · source text

Epistle 55 (Cyprian to Antonianus, weighing the rival)

c. AD 252

Cyprian of Carthage · Epistle 55 · source text

On Illustrious Men 70

c. AD 392

Novatianus, presbyter of Rome, attempted to usurp the sacerdotal chair occupied by Cornelius, and established the dogma of the Novatians, refusing to receive penitent apostates.

Jerome of Stridon · On Illustrious Men 70 · source text

Ecclesiastical History IV.28 (Socrates' sympathetic account of his churches)

c. AD 440

Socrates Scholasticus · Ecclesiastical History IV.28 · source text

Connected in the archive

Rival of Cornelius of Rome; his rigorism was fought hardest by Cyprian. (Typology note: he stands among the church figures for his pre-schism rank as Rome’s first Latin theologian; his rigorist counter-church is chronicled under the events of 251.)