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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
This paper focuses attention upon the twenty-ninth chapter 1 of De Trinitate, a third-century theological treatise. Its author, Novatian, was a prominent member of the Roman College of Presbyters. However, his position did not engender feelings of loyalty sufficient to prevent his taking a surprising course of action when Cornelius became the Bishop of Rome in A.D. 251: he had himself consecrated to the same position. This step was a major factor in his being excommunicated in the same year. Subsequently, his personal status among the orthodox declined sharply, and very soon thereafter the records fall silent about him. However, in spite of this he continues to have a place among the theologians of the Church—a place which has been won for him almost single-handedly by De Trinitate. The book appeared in the A.D. 240s, being in fact the first major theological work to be written in Latin in Rome. Novatian produced it while still an eminent, well-respected member of the Roman church. As the title suggests, De Trinitate is about the Trinity, but Novatian by no means devotes equal space to all three members. His discussion of the Holy Spirit seems rather truncated when compared to the treatment afforded to the Father and Son, with virtually everything which is said about the Spirit appearing in chapter 29. Yet it is this chapter which will occupy our attention in this paper, because it appears to contain material which may provide hints about the religious experience of the Roman church in the mid-third century.
page 313 note 1 He was probably born ca. A.D. 200, but not in Phrygia, as Philostorgius suggests. (The Ecclesiastical History as Epitomized by Photius, 8.15, trans. Walford, E. (London: Henry C. Bohn, 1855), p. 491Google Scholar. See also Weyer, Hans, ed. and trans., Novatianus De Trinitate über den dreifaltigen Gott (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1962), p. 5Google Scholar; Diercks, G. F., ed., Novatiani Opera (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, 4) (Turnholt: Brepols, 1972), p. viiiGoogle Scholar; Koch, Hugo, ‘Novatianus’, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie (Stuttgart, 1963), XVII, col. 1152Google Scholar, and Fausset, W. Y., ed., Novatiani Romanae urbis presbyteri De Trinitate liber (Cambridge Patristic Texts) (Cambridge: U.P., 1909), pp. xviii and xx).Google Scholar
page 313 note 2 It was likely Fabian who ordained him (see Diercks, p. ix). That he was important among the leaders of the Roman church is demonstrated by the fact that on at least three occasions he wrote letters on behalf of the Roman presbyters. See Cyprian, , Epistula, 55.5, ed. Hartel, W. (CSEL, III, 2) (Vindobon: C. Geroldi, 1871), p. 627Google Scholar; Koch, Hugo, ‘Zu Novatians Ep. 30’, ZNW 34 (1935), 303–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Koch, ‘Novatianus’, col. 1146; and Diercks, p. ix. It should be noted that this advancement was not without opposition. Eusebius has preserved a letter from Cornelius to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, in which Novatian's baptism is discredited and he is charged with cowardice in face of persecution (The Ecclesiastical History, 6.43.13–16, trans. Oulton, J. E. L. (Loeb Classical Library) (London: William Heinemann, 1932), II. 121)Google Scholar. Of course, in considering this information, one must remember that Novatian and Cornelius were bitter rivals.
page 313 note 3 See Diercks, p. x and Cyprian, Epistula, 55.24. Cornelius, at least, certainly regarded this as a radical reversal in Novatian's thinking about the episcopate (Eusebius, H.E., 6.43.7).
page 313 note 4 Another factor was his refusal to moderate his position on the lapsi. See Eusebius, H.E., 6.43.1, and Jerome, , De viris illustribus, 70, ed.Herding, W. (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1924), p. 6.Google Scholar
page 313 note 5 Eusebius, H.E., 6.43.2; Weyer, p. 9, and Diercks, p. xi.
page 313 note 6 Nothing precise is known about his death. Koch suggests that he may have died a martyr (‘Novatianus’, col. 1143f). There is some doubt over his status with the Catholic Church at the time of his death. Weyer (p. 11) thinks he died outside the Church, while D. Van den Eynde argues to the contrary (‘L'inscription sepulcrale de Novatien’, RHE 33 (1937), 793).
Whatever may have happened to Novatian, the group that grew up around him continued to be an important feature in the life of the Church for at least two centuries. See Fausset, p. xv; Weyer, p. 9, and Van den Eynde, p. 793. Cyprian has an interesting comment on Novatian's ‘evangelism’ in Epistula, 55.24.
page 314 note 1 For discussions of Novatian's other works, see D'Ales, A., ‘Le corpus de Novatien’, Recberches de science religieuse, 10 (1919), 293–323Google Scholar; Quasten, Johannes, Patrology (Utrecht-Antwerp: Spectrum, 1964), II, 217–226Google Scholar; DeSimone, Russell J., The Treatise of Novatian the Roman Presbyter on the Trinity (Studia Ephemeridis ‘Augustinianum’, 1970), pp. 37–40Google Scholar, and Diercks, passim.
page 314 note 2 See Harnack, Adolf, Die Chronologie: Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1958 (1904)), II, 2, p. 399Google Scholar; Koch, ‘Novatianus’, col. 1146; Weyer, p. 15; Diercks, p. xii; Fausset, p. xxvi, and Quasten, II, 217.
page 314 note 3 See Rom. 12.6–8 and 1 Cor. 12.8–10.
page 314 note 4 Of course, linguas may simply mean ‘languages’, but in so far as the word is embedded in a list of charismata, the translation ‘tongues’ seems more appropriate.
page 315 note 1 Novatian, De Trinitate, 29.10, ed. Diercks (CCSL 4, p. 70). This passage and those from De Trinitate that follow were translated by the present writer. I express my thanks to Professor C. D. Pritchet, Department of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Saskatchewan, for having examined my translations.
page 315 note 2 See 1 Cor. 12–14; Rom. 12.6–8; 1 Thess. 5.19 and 20; and possibly Eph. 4.11 and 12.
page 316 note 1 Differentia sane in illo genera officiorum, De Trinitate, 29.4.
page 316 note 2 I Cor. 12.4–6.
page 316 note 3 See DeSimone, pp. 143, 147f. and 158.
page 316 note 4 Novatian, 29.16.
page 317 note 1 Novatian, 29.18 and 19.
page 317 note 2 Novatian, 29.19.
page 317 note 3 ibid.
page 317 note 4 Novatian, 29.26.