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Epistle II.—To
Novatus.784
784
Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 45. |
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Dionysius to Novatus785
785
Jerome, in his Catalogus, where he adduces the beginning of this
epistle, gives Novatianus for Novatus. So in the Chronicon
of Georgius Syncellus we have Διονύσιος
Ναυατιανῷ.
Rufinus’ account appears to be that there were two such
epistles,—one to Novatus, and another to Novatianus. The
confounding of these two forms seems, however, to have been frequent
among the Greeks. [See Lardner, Credib., sub voce
Novat. Wordsworth thinks the Greeks shortened the name, on
the grounds which Horace notes ad vocem
“Equotuticum.” Satires, I. v.
87.] | his brother, greeting. If you were
carried on against your will, as you say, you will show that such has
been the case by your voluntary retirement. For it would have
been but dutiful to have suffered any kind of ill, so as to avoid
rending the Church of God. And a martyrdom borne for the sake of
preventing a division of the Church, would not have been more
inglorious than one endured for refusing to worship idols;786
786 We
read, with Gallandi, καὶ
ἦν οὐκ
ἀδοξυτέρα
τῆς ἕνεκεν
τοῦ μὴ
ἰδωλολατρεῦσαι
(sic) γινομένης, ἡ
ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ
σχίσαι
μαρτυρία.
This is substantially the reading of three Venetian codices, as
also of Sophronius on Jerome’s De vir. illustr., ch. 69,
and Georgius Syncellus in the Chronogr., p. 374, and Nicephorus
Callist., Hist. Eccles., vi. 4. Pearson, in the Annales
Cyprian., Num. x. p. 31, proposes θῦσαι for σχίσαι. Rufinus
renders it: “et erat non inferior gloria sustinere
martyrium ne scindatur ecclesia quam est illa ne idolis
immoletur.” | nay, in my opinion at least, the former
would have been a nobler thing than the latter. For in the one
case a person gives such a testimony simply for his own individual
soul, whereas in the other case he is a witness for the whole
Church. And now, if you can persuade or constrain the brethren to
come to be of one mind again, your uprightness will be superior to your
error; and the latter will not be charged against you, while the former
will be commended in you. But if you cannot prevail so far with
your recusant brethren, see to it that you save your own soul. My
wish is, that in the Lord you may fare well as you study
peace.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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