Novatian

Novatian , fl. 250, Roman priest, antipope (from 251), and theologian. He opposed the election of St. Cornelius as pope and set himself up instead. He gained followers throughout the empire because of his espousal of the idea that those fallen from grace by compromising their Christianity during the Decian persecution (250) were barred from the church forever. At the instigation of St. Cyprian of Carthage, who was himself quite strict on readmission to the church, virtually the whole church recognized Cornelius and repudiated Novatian and his followers, who maintained their own hierarchy for two or three centuries. After 325 the sect was merged with that of Donatism . Novatian's chief work, On the Trinity, which was written as a refutation of the Gnostics, the Theodotians, and the Sabellians, was later regarded as an orthodox expression of ante-Nicene doctrine, except for the last chapter, which anticipated Arianism.

Novatian (d. 257/8). Leader of a schism in the Latin Church. He was a Roman presbyter and author of an important work On the Trinity. He joined the rigorists who rejected concessions to the lapsi, and was consecrated rival bishop of Rome. He was martyred in the persecution under Valerian.

Novatianism. A rigorist schism in the W. Church. Novatian was a Roman presbyter and author of a treatise on the doctrine of the Trinity. Apparently because he was disappointed by the election of Cornelius as Pope (251), he joined the rigorist party which deprecated concessions to those who had compromised in the Decian persecution, and he was consecrated rival Bp. of Rome. He suffered martyrdom in 257–8. The Novatianists, though doctrinally orthodox, were excommunicated. They survived into the 5th cent.