Novatianists

Leaders

• Novatian of Rome (d. c. 258)
• Acesius (at Nicaea, 325)
• Agelius
• Sisinnius (bishops in Constantinople)

Beliefs

Their doctrine of God and Christ was fully orthodox; Novatian's On the Trinity was the first major Latin Trinitarian treatise from Rome. They held that the church could not restore to communion those who had denied the faith under persecution, or later those who committed other grave sins after baptism, and left such people to God's mercy. Some groups also refused second marriages.

Home bases

• Rome (Novatian's rival episcopate, 251)

  Rome, Italy · 3rd–5th

  In 251 the presbyter Novatian was consecrated as a rival bishop to Cornelius. He refused to readmit Christians who had lapsed in the Decian persecution. His 'Katharoi' (the Pure) kept a church in Rome until Pope Celestine I (422–432) took their churches.

  

• Constantinople (tolerated Novatianist church)

  Istanbul, Turkey · 4th–7th

  Novatianists were Nicene in doctrine, so they were often tolerated in Constantinople, with bishops, churches and a synod system. Socrates Scholasticus names their bishops, from Acesius at Nicaea in 325 onward, and they shared persecution with the Nicenes under the Homoian emperors.

  

• Nicaea / Phrygia (Novatianist heartland)

  Iznik / central Anatolia, Turkey · 4th–5th

  Socrates says Novatianists were especially strong in Phrygia and Paphlagonia. In the 4th century some of them held a synod at Pazus that adopted the Quartodeciman Easter date. Canon 8 of Nicaea (325) set terms for receiving their clergy.

Spread

It quickly gained bishops in Italy, Gaul, Africa, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, and was strongest in Phrygia, Paphlagonia and Constantinople.

Books

• Novatian, On the Trinity
• Novatian, On Jewish Foods

What happened to it

Nicaea (325, canon 8) offered easy reconciliation. Novatianists were tolerated in Constantinople but lost their churches in Alexandria under Cyril (c. 412) and in Rome under Celestine I (c. 422–432). They faded by the 7th century.

Hostile sources

• Cyprian of Carthage. Letters 44–55; On the Unity of the Church 251–255

  Hostile.

• Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History VI.43 (letter of Cornelius) c. 313–325

  Hostile toward heresies; quotes earlier documents verbatim. NPNF translation (public domain).

• Anonymous. Against Novatian c. 255

  Hostile.

Their own words

• Novatian. On the Trinity; On Jewish Foods; On the Spectacles; In Praise of Purity c. 240–257

  Insider; ANF translation (public domain).

• Socrates Scholasticus. Church History (sympathetic reports) c. 439

  Neutral to sympathetic outsider.

Sources

• NovatianismConfessional source

  Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 (confessional). Accessed 2026-11-11.

• Novatianism

  Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-11-11.