The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Sympronian
fl. c. AD 380s (death unrecorded) · Novatianist controversialist · Hispania
The Nicene Age
Who Sympronian was
A Novatianist who wrote to Pacian of Barcelona attacking the Catholic church, and drew from him the three letters that are Pacian’s chief surviving work — including the sentence that made his name: ‘Christian is my name, Catholic my surname.’ Sympronian is otherwise entirely unknown in patristic literature, which is precisely the reason to keep him: he is the evidence that Novatianism was still a live controversy in Spain a century and a half after Novatian.
Named once, by a source inside the horizon, as the addressee or named party of a surviving work; no other ancient source names him.
Also listed in heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When was Sympronian active?
Sympronian is dated fl. c. AD 380s (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Sympronian in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Sympronian?
Sympronian is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Pacian of Barcelona. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Sympronian from?
The archive associates Sympronian with Hispania.
Who were Sympronian’s contemporaries?
The archive links Sympronian to 3 other figures, including Pacian of Barcelona, Novatian of Rome and Nummius Aemilianus Dexter. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Letters 1–3, to Sympronian the Novatianist
c. AD 385[Pacian answers Sympronian’s attack on the Catholic name: ‘Christianus mihi nomen est, catholicus vero cognomen.’]Pacian of Barcelona · Pacian, Epp. 1–3 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Sympronian.
- 1Hispaniaprovince only