N0VAT1ANISM

NOVATIANISM

upon his accession, and Agelius their bishop wasbauished. “ But Macedonius consummated hiswickedness in the following manner. Hearingthere was a great number of the Novatian sectin the province of Paphlagonia, and especially atMantinium, and, perceiving that such a nume-rous body could not be driven from their homesby ecclesiastics alone, he caused, by the emperor’spermission, four companies of soldiers to be sentinto Paphlagonia that, through dread of themilitary, they might receive the Arian opinion.But those who inhabited Mantinium, animatedto desperation by zeal for their religion, armedthemselves with long reaping-hooks, hatchets,and whatever weapons came to hand, and wentforth to meet the troops, on which, a conflict en-suing, many indeed of the Paphlagonians wereslain, but nearly all the soldiers were destroyed.”This persecutiou well-nigh brought about aunion between the Catholics and the Novatians,as the former frequented the churches of thelatter party during the Arian supremacy. TheNovatians again, however, as in Constantine’stime, were obstinate in refusing to unite withthose whose church-theory was different fromtheir own, though their faith was alike. UnderValens, seven years later, a.d. 366, they sufferedanother persecution, and Agelius was againexiled. Under Theodosius, bishop at Constan-tinople, Agelius appeared in conjunction withthe orthodox patriarch Nectarius as joint-defenders of the Homoousian doctrine at thesynod of a.d. 383, on which account the emperorconferred on their churches equal privileges withthose of the establishment (Soc. H. E. v. 10,20). John Chrysostom’s severe zeal for churchdiscipline led him to persecute them. Whenvisiting Ephesus to consecrate a bishop, a.d. 401,he deprived them of their churches, an act towhich many attributed John’s subsequent mis-fortunes. An expression uttered by Chrysostomin reference to their peculiar views about sinafter baptism, “ Approach (the altar) though youmay have repented a thousand times,” led to aliterary controversy between him and the learnedand witty Sisinnius, Novatiau bishop of Con-stantinople (Soc. H. E. vi. 21, 22). Two orthree other points of interest may be noted intheir history during the 4th century. Aboutthe year 374 there occurred a schism in theirranks concerning the true time of Easter.Hitherto the Novatians had strictly observed theCatholic rule. A few obscure Phrygian bishopshowever convened a synod at Pazum or Paza-coma, where they agreed to celebrate the sameday as that on which the Jews keep the Feastof Unleavened Bread. This canon was passedin the absence of Agelius of Constantinople,Maximus of Nice, and the bishops of Nicomediaand Cotyaeum, their leading men (Soc. II. E. iv.28). Jewish influence was also at work, as Sozo-men (vii. 18) tells us that a number of priests were'converted by the Novatians at Pazum during thereign of Valens, who still retained their Jewishideas about Easter. To this sect was given thename Protopaschitae ( Cod. Tkeod. ed. Haenel,p. 1581), where severe penalties are denouncedagainst them as worshippers of a different Christbecause observing Easter otherwise than theorthodox. This question, when raised by apresbyter of Jewish birth, named Sabbatius,«ome twenty years later, caused a further schism

57

among the Novatiaus, at Constantinople, underthe episcopate of Mavcian, a.d. 391, whence thename Sabbatiani ( tafifSaTtavoi ). This division ofthe Novatians Anally coalesced with the Montan-ists, though we can trace its distinct existencetill the middle of the 5th century [Sabbatius],(Soc. II. E. v. 21; Soz. H. E. vii. 18 ; God. Theod.ed. Haenel, pp. 1566, 1570, 1581). The curiousstudent will find many particulars about thevarious customs of the Eastern Novatians andconcerning the reflex influence of the sect on thechurch in the matter of auricular confession inSoc. II. E. v. 19, 22. The historian in cap. 19ascribes the original establishment of the officeof penitentiary presbyter and secret confessionto the Novatian schism. To prevent scrupulouspersons knowing who had lapsed, the bishopsappointed a presbyter to receive privately theconfession of penitents. This office continued inConstantinople till the time of the patriarchNectarius, A.D. 391, when it was abolished owingto a grave scandal which arose therefrom.Thenceforward it was determined “to leaveevery one to his own conscience with regardto participation in the sacred mysteries.”The succession of Novatian patriarchs of Con-stantinople during the 4th century was Acesius,Agelius Marcianus, Sisinnius (Soc. II. E.v. 21; vi. 22 ; Soz. II. E. vii. 14). Duringthe 5th century the Novatians continued toflourish notwithstanding occasional troubles.In Constantinople their bishops during the firsthalf of the century were Sisinnius, died inA.D. 412, Chrysanthus in 419, Paul in 438and Marcian. They lived on amicable termswith the orthodox patriarch Atticus, who, re-membering their fidelity under the Arian perse-cution, protected them from their enemies. Pauleven enjoyed the reputation of a miracle-worker, and died in the odour of universalsanctity, all sects and parties uniting in singingpsalms at his funeral (Soc. H. E. vii. 46). InAlexandria, however, they were persecuted byCyril, their bishop Theopemptus and theirchurches plundered, notwithstanding which theycontinued to exist in large numbers in that citytill the 7th century, when Eulogius, Catholicpatriarch of Alexandria, wrote a treatise againstthem (Phot. God. 182, 208; Ceill. xi. 589).Even in Scythia their churches existed, as we findMarcus, a bishop from that country, presentat the death of Paul, Novatian bishop of Con-stantinople in July 21, 438. In Asia Minor,again, we find them as widely dispersed as theCatholics. In parts of it, indeed, the orthodoxparty seem for long to have been completelyabsorbed by those who took the Puritan view.Epiphanius tells us, for instance, there were noCatholics for 112 years in the city of Thyatira(Haer . li.; Lumper, Hist. SS. Pl\ viii. 259).They had established a regular parochialsystem. Thus (in Boeckh, Corp, Gr. Inscriptt.iv. 9268) we find at Laodicea in Lycaoniaan inscription on a tombstone erected by oneAurelia Domna to her husband Paul, deacon ofthe holy church of the Novatians (NauaTwy),*

* The learned Editor of Boeckh, not recognising thename of the sect, speculates about some unknowntown of NaOa to which the holy deacon might beassigned. Amid the corruptions of the Greek languageNaoaTo? was a frequent form assumed by the largerNayartat/bs. Sec references at beginning of article.