The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

NovATus. A. D. 251. 105
* prived the Novatians at Rome of their churches, and forced
' their bishop Rusticula to assemble them in private houses
' in some obscure ph\ce. For until that time the Novatians
* had flourished mightily at Rome, having- a great number
' of churches, and large congregations; but envy laid hold
' of them also, the bishoprick of Rome, like that of Alexan-
' dria, having long since surpassed the sacerdotal dignity,
' and assumed secular power and authority : for which reason
' those bishops would not allow these persons to meet together
' freely, though they were of thesame opinion with themselves:
' they commended them indeed for their soundness in the
' fliith, but took away from them every thing they had. The
' bishops of Constantinople acted in a different manner
' treating the Novatians with abundance of affection and
* mildness, and permitting them to assemble within the walls
' of the city, as has been shown.'
Celestinus is supposed to have possessed the see of Rome
from the year 424 to 432.
I conclude my history of the Novatians with these passages
of Socrates, which are recommended to the reader's obser-
vation.
V. We saw formerly a catalogue of the w orks of Novatus
in Jerora, but not complete : for Jerom says, there were many
other beside those expressly named by him. Trithemius
likewise, having mentioned the same books that Jerom does,
' adds ; that^ Novatus w rote many letters to divers persons ;
' and that, besides, he is said to have written some other
' pieces, but he was not acquainted with them.'
1. A very few only of those works have come down to us.
We have however a small piece, entitled, Of Jewish meats,
which is supposed to be the same that Jerom mentions. Mr.
Jackson, whose edition of Novatus, or Novatian, (as he calls
him,) I make use of, thinks this treatise, or epistle, was
written in the year 250, before the end of the Decian persecution
: but of this, I think, we cannot be positive : for, as'^
before observed, it may be questioned whether this treatise
was not written by Novatus after his episcopal ordination,
and after his separation from the church ; consequently, after
fiv^q) avvayeiv r]vayKa