Novatian and Cornelius

Novatian, a presbyter of the church of Rome, was lifted up by arrogance against these people, as though there were no longer any hope of salvation for them, not even if they did everything that belongs to a genuine turning back and a pure confession. He became the founder of a heresy of his own, made up of those who, in the conceit of their reasoning, declared themselves Cathari, “the Pure.” [a] On this account a very large synod was gathered at Rome: sixty bishops in number, and still more presbyters and deacons, while the pastors of the other provinces deliberated separately, each in his own region, about what ought to be done. A resolution was adopted by all: Novatian, with those who had been carried away along with him and those who chose to agree with the man’s brother-hating and most inhuman opinion, was to be counted among those alien to the Church; but those of the brothers who had fallen into misfortune were to be healed and cared for with the medicines of repentance. [c]

Letters reached us from Cornelius, bishop of Rome, to Fabius of the church of Antioch, making known what happened at the synod of Rome and what was decided by those in Italy and Africa and the regions there. Others again, composed in Latin, came from Cyprian and those with him in Africa. They showed that these too agreed that those who had been tested must receive help, and that the founder of the heresy, and with him all who were led off along with him, must rightly be proclaimed outcasts from the catholic Church. [d] Attached to these was another letter of Cornelius about the synod’s decisions, and yet another about what Novatian had done. Nothing would prevent quoting parts of this last one, so that those who come upon this work may know about him. In explaining to Fabius what sort of man Novatian was,

Cornelius writes these very words: “So that you may know that this remarkable man had been craving the office of bishop for a long time, and kept this reckless craving hidden inside himself unnoticed, using as a cloak for his madness the fact that he had the confessors with him at the start, I want to tell you this. [f] Maximus, one of our presbyters, and Urbanus, both of whom twice reaped the highest glory of confession, together with Sidonius and Celerinus, a man who by God’s mercy bore every kind of torture with the greatest endurance, strengthened the weakness of the flesh by the power of his faith, and conquered the adversary by main force: these men saw through him and caught him in his craft and double-dealing, his perjuries and lies, his unsociable ways and his wolf’s friendship. They came back to the holy church, and in the presence of a good number of bishops, and of presbyters and a great many laymen as well, they made known all his tricks and wickedness, which he had long kept hidden in himself. They did this lamenting and repenting that, persuaded by that treacherous and malicious beast, they had left the church for a short time.” [g]

Then, a little later, he says: “Beyond belief, dear brother, is the change and transformation we have seen take place in him in a short time. This most illustrious man, who swore with fearful oaths that he did not desire the office of bishop at all, suddenly appears as a bishop, as if hurled into our midst by some stage machine. [j] This dogmatist, this champion of the Church’s learning, when he set about seizing and snatching the office of bishop, which had not been given to him from above, chose two companions who had given up on their own salvation. He sent them to a small and very insignificant part of Italy, to deceive three bishops there, rustic and very simple men, with an invented pretext. He assured them, insisting strongly, that they must come to Rome quickly, supposedly so that whatever dissension had arisen might be settled through their mediation, together with other bishops. [k] When they arrived, being, as we have already said, rather too simple for the schemes and tricks of the wicked, they were shut in by some disordered men like himself. At the tenth hour, when they were drunk and sick with wine, he forced them to give him the office of bishop by a sham and empty laying on of hands. It is an office that does not belong to him, and he claims it by treachery and craft. [m] One of these bishops came back to the church not long afterward, lamenting and confessing his sin. We received him into communion as a layman, since all the people present pleaded for him. For the other bishops we ordained successors and sent them to the places where they had been.

This champion of the gospel, then, did not know that there must be one bishop in a catholic church. Yet he was not unaware, for how could he be, that in it there are forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two exorcists, readers and doorkeepers together, and more than fifteen hundred widows and people in distress, all of whom the grace and kindness of the Master feed. Yet not even so great a multitude, so necessary in the church, a number made rich and growing by God’s providence, together with a very great and countless people, turned him back from such despair and renunciation and called him back to the church.” [p]

Again, after other things, he adds this: “Come, then, let us say next by what deeds or what way of life he took the confidence to lay claim to the office of bishop. Was it because he had lived in the church from the beginning, had fought many struggles on her behalf, and had been in many great dangers for the sake of piety? Not at all. In his case the occasion of believing was Satan, who came into him and lived in him for a considerable time. While he was being helped by the exorcists he fell into a severe illness, and since he was thought to be all but dead, he received baptism by pouring, in the very bed where he lay, if one must say that such a man received it at all. Nor, when he escaped the illness, did he receive the other things [q] that one ought to share in according to the Church’s rule, namely being sealed by the bishop. And since he did not receive this, how could he have received the Holy Spirit?” [r]

And again, a little later, he says: “In the time of persecution, out of cowardice and love of life, he denied that he was a presbyter. When the deacons asked and pleaded with him to come out of the little room in which he had shut himself up, and help the brothers in danger and in need of aid, as far as it is right and possible for a presbyter to help, he was so far from heeding the deacons’ pleas that he went off in a temper and left. He said that he no longer wanted to be a presbyter, since he was in love with another philosophy.” [s]

Passing over a few things, he goes on again, saying: “This splendid man deserted the church of God in which, after he believed, he had been judged worthy of the presbyterate. This was by favor of the bishop who laid his hand on him for the rank of presbyter. The whole clergy and many laymen too tried to stop it, since it was not lawful for one who had been baptized by pouring in his bed because of illness, as this man had been, to enter any rank of the clergy. But the bishop asked to be allowed to ordain this one man.”

Then he adds another thing, the worst of the man’s outrages, saying: “When he has made the offerings and is distributing each one’s portion, as he hands it over he forces the wretched people to swear instead of blessing. He holds the hands of the one receiving in both his own and does not let go until they have sworn, saying this (I will use his own words): ‘Swear to me by the blood and the body of our Lord Jesus Christ that you will never desert me and turn back to Cornelius.’ [t] And the miserable man does not taste until he has first called down a curse on himself. Instead of saying ‘Amen’ as he takes that bread, he says, ‘I will not go back to Cornelius.’”

And after other things he says this again: “Know that he has now been stripped bare and left deserted, as the brothers leave him every day and come back to the church. Moses too, the blessed martyr, who recently bore a fine and wonderful witness among us, saw his presumption and madness while he was still in the world, and cut him off from communion, together with the five presbyters who had split themselves off from the church with him.” [u]

At the end of the letter he gives a list of the bishops who came to Rome and condemned Novatian’s stupidity, setting down their names and the church community each of them led. He also names those who did not come to Rome but agreed by letter with the vote of those already mentioned, giving their names and the cities from which each one wrote. This is what Cornelius wrote to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, to inform him. [v]