Novatian

Life

Novatian served as a presbyter in the church at Rome during the first half of the third century. His birthplace and family background are uncertain. A letter by Cornelius, bishop of Rome, is preserved in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History. According to this letter, Novatian was baptized on his sickbed while gravely ill. Cornelius cited this circumstance to argue that Novatian lacked the qualifications for clerical office.

In 250 the emperor Decius launched a persecution, and in the same year Fabian, bishop of Rome, was martyred. The Roman see then remained vacant for some time. During this period Novatian played a central role in the administration of the church; for example, he wrote on behalf of the Roman presbyterate to Cyprian, bishop of Carthage.

When Cornelius was elected bishop of Rome in 251, Novatian's supporters set him up as a rival bishop. He is reported to have received episcopal consecration from three Italian bishops. That same year a synod convened by Cornelius at Rome excommunicated Novatian and his followers. According to tradition, he was martyred during the persecution under the emperor Valerian, but this is uncertain.

Ministry and Contributions

The question of the lapsed. Those who had denied the faith during persecution, whether by offering sacrifice or by purchasing certificates of compliance, were known as the lapsed. How to receive them when they repented and sought to return was a major controversy in the church of the time. Cornelius and Cyprian held that they should be readmitted after a period of penance. Novatian maintained that the church could not forgive the sin of apostasy and that it must be left to the judgment of God. The community that followed him called itself the "pure ones" (Katharoi). It spread to many places in both East and West and endured for several centuries. The Council of Nicaea (325) laid down a specific procedure for Novatianist clergy returning to the main body of the church.

Theological writings. His Latin treatise On the Trinity (De Trinitate) is regarded as an important early theological work produced in Rome. Against modalism, which did not distinguish the Father from the Son, the work argued that the Son, Jesus Christ, is true God and true man. For this reason it is frequently discussed in connection with the later development of the doctrine of the Trinity and of Christology.

Influence on the Korean Church

No direct influence of Novatian on the Korean church has been identified. However, the question he raised—how the church should restore those who abandoned the faith under persecution—is presented as a classic case in seminary church history courses dealing with church discipline and the holiness of the church. After Korea's liberation in 1945, a controversy of a similar nature arose in the Korean church over the repentance and reinstatement of ministers who had taken part in Shinto shrine worship.

Assessment

Cornelius, Cyprian, and the majority of the church of their day criticized Novatian for breaking the unity of the church and for closing the way of forgiveness to the penitent. For this reason the later church has remembered him as the leader of a schism. Others, however, regard his rigorism as having arisen from a desire to preserve the purity of the church in an age of persecution. His On the Trinity, a work that does not depart significantly from the mainstream of orthodox belief, continues to be studied today.