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| Of Novatus and his Followers. The Novatians of Phrygia alter the Time of keeping Easter, following Jewish Usage.
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Chapter XXVIII.—Of
Novatus and his Followers. The Novatians of Phrygia alter the Time of
keeping Easter, following Jewish Usage.
About this time the
Novatians649
| 649On the Novatians and their schism, see Schaff,
Hist. of the Christ. Ch. Vol. I. p. 450, 451; Neander, Hist.
of Christ. Ch. Vol. I. p. 237–248. On Socrates’
attitude toward Novatianism, see Introd. p. ix. Cf. also Euseb. H.
E. VI. 43.
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inhabiting Phrygia changed the day for celebrating the Feast of Easter.
How this happened I shall state, after first explaining the reason of
the strict discipline which is maintained in their church, even to the
present day, in the provinces of Phrygia and Paphlagonia. Novatus,650
| 650His right name was Novatian, although the Greek
writers call him uniformly Navatus, ignoring or confusing him with
another person whose name is strictly Novatus. Cf. Jerome, Scriptor.
Eccles. LXX.; also Smith and Wace, Dict. of Christ.
Biog.
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a presbyter of the Roman Church, separated from it, because Cornelius
the bishop received into communion believers who had sacrificed during
the persecution which the Emperor Decius651
| 651This was the great Seventh Persecution, and
the first which historians agree in calling strictly
‘general.’ It took place in 249–251 a.d., and consisted in a systematic effort to uproot
Christianity throughout the empire. Many eminent Christians were put to
death during its course, and others, among whom was Origen, were
tortured. Cf. Origen, Contra Celsum, III.; Gregory of Nyssa,
Vita Gregori Thaumaturg. III.; Euseb. H. E. VI.
40–42.
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had raised against the Church. Having seceded on this account, on being
afterwards elevated to the episcopacy by such bishops as entertained
similar sentiments, he wrote to all the churches652
that ‘they should not admit to the sacred mysteries those who had
sacrificed; but exhorting them to repentance, leave the pardoning of
their offense to God, who has the power to forgive all sin.’
Receiving such letters, the parties in the various provinces, to whom
they were addressed, acted according to their several dispositions and
judgments. As he asked that they should not receive to the sacraments
those who after baptism had committed any deadly sin653
this appeared to some a cruel and merciless course: but others received
the rule as just and conducive to the maintenance of discipline, and
the promotion of greater devotedness of life. In the midst of the
agitation of this question, letters arrived from Cornelius the bishop,
promising indulgence to delinquents after baptism. Thus as these two
persons wrote contrary to one another, and each confirmed his own
procedure by the testimony of the Divine word, as it usually happens,
every one identified himself with that view which favored his previous
habits and inclinations. Those who had pleasure in sin, encouraged by
the license then granted them, took occasion from it to revel in every
species of criminality. Now the Phrygians appear to be more temperate
than other nations, and are seldom guilty of swearing. The Scythians,
on the other hand, and the Thracians, are naturally of a very irritable
disposition: while the inhabitants of the East are addicted to sensual
pleasures. But the Paphlagonians and Phrygians are prone to neither of
these vices; nor are the sports of the circus and theatrical
exhibitions in much estimation among them even to the present day. And
for this reason, it seems to me, these people, as well as others of the
same character, so readily assented to the letters then written by
Novatus. Fornication and adultery are regarded among them as the
grossest enormities: and it is well known that there is no race of men
on the face of the earth who more rigidly govern their passions in this
respect than the Phrygians and Paphlagonians. The same reason I think
had force with those who dwelt in the West and followed Novatus. Yet
although for the sake of stricter discipline Novatus became a
separatist, he made no change in
the time of keeping Easter,654
but invariably observed the practice that obtained in the Western
churches. For they celebrate this feast after the equinox, according to
the usage which had of old been delivered to them when first they
embraced Christianity. He himself indeed afterwards suffered martyrdom
in the reign of Valerian,655
| 655The accuracy of this statement is disputed by
Valesius, who asserts that the Novatians wrote a book entitled The
Martyrdom of Novatian, but that this book was full of false
statements and fables, and had been disproved by Eulogius, bishop of
Alexandria in the sixth book of his treatise Against the
Novatians. Besides, in this Martyrdom of Novatian the
founder of the sect was not represented as suffering martyrdom, but
simply as being a ‘confessor.’ Cf. I. 8, note 12.
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during the persecution which was then raised against the Christians.
But those in Phrygia656
| 656Let it be noted that Novatian was a native of
Phrygia and naturally had many followers in that province.
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who are named after him Novatians, about this period changed the day of
celebrating Easter, being averse to communion with other Christians
even on this occasion. This was effected by means of a few obscure
bishops of that sect convening a Synod at the village of Pazum, which
is situated near the sources of the river Sangarius; for there they
framed a canon appointing its observance on the same day as that on
which the Jews annually keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. An aged
man, who was the son of a presbyter, and had been present with his
father at this Synod, gave us our information on this matter. But both
Agelius, bishop of the Novatians at Constantinople, and Maximus of
Nicæa, as also the bishops of Nicomedia and Cotyæum, were
absent, although the ecclesiastical affairs of the Novatians were for
the most part under the control of these bishops. How the church of the
Novatians soon after was divided into two parties in consequence of
this Synod, shall be related in its proper course:657
but we must now notice what took place about the same time in the
Western parts.
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