His Works.

        No work of Novatian has come down to us under his own name, and yet some of his writings have survived as part of the writings of Tertullian or Cyprian. It would seem that the ancients found so much value in them that they could not resist copying them but could not bring themselves to credit them to the notorious Roman schismatic. In the long list of fourteen pseudo-Cyprianic writings, Harnack is satisfied that no less than five were written by Novatian: On the Trinity, On Shows, On the Advantage of Modesty, Against the Jews, and In Praise of Martyrdom. There is most doubt about the work Against the Jews; most scholars now recognize On the Trinity as certainly, and On Shows, In Praise ofMartyrdom, and On the Advantage ofModesty, as probably, his.

        Of the works listed by Jerome, only two, On Jewish Foods and On the Trinity, have survived. These are unquestioned writings of Novatian. On the Trinity was far from being “the sort of epitome of the work of Tertullian” that Jerome called it. It was the basis for Novatian's reputation as a theologian and went far to justify it. In the presence of the numerous heresies that had invaded the church, Novatian felt, as Tertullian had felt before him, that Christians should he shown what the true Christian positions were, as established by the Christian scriptures and the tradition of the church. From these had emerged the baptismal confession-the brief, compact statement of what it meant in terms of belief to be a Christian: to believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ his Son, and in the Holv Spirit. N ovatian makes this confession the framework of his discussion, which owes much to Tertullian and something also to Theophilus and Irenaeus.

His book is the work of a man trained in Stoic philosophy, skilled in dialectic, possessed of a poetical prose style, and equipped with all the resources of ancient rhetoric.

        The work On Jewish Foods was written as a sort of pastoral when Novatian was absent from his flock, probably because of persecution, and in response to a request for such a discussion. It deals with the clean and unclean creatures named in Leviticus and arrives at an allegorical explanation of the unclean ones as symbolizing human sins and failings-indulgence, lust, and greed, essentially like that of the Letter of Barnabas. In this book Novatian expressly refers to previous works of his on the true Priesthood and on the true Circumcision.

        If we undertake to arrange the works of Novatian in the order in which they were written, they fall into the following sequence. On the Trinity was written before he became a schismatic m 251, so probably before 250, perhaps as early as 245, In Praise of Mnrtyrdonz was also written before he became a schismatic and probably at the end of 249 or the beginning of 25o. Letters 30 and 36 (among the Letters of Cyprian) Novatian wrote probably in August-September, 250. On the Priesthood and On Circumcision were written after Novatian became rival bishop in 251 and before On Jewish Foods, which mentions them both. On Shows, On Jezoish Foods, and On the Advantage of Modesty arc pastoral letters written to his people while he was compelled to be away from Rome to avoid arrest in the persecutions under Gallus, 255-53, or Valerian, 253-60. The works Against the Jews and III Praise of Martyrdom were already ascribed to Cyprian when what we know as the Cheltenham list of Cyprian's works was first composed, about A.D. 359.

        As early as the time of Rufinus (d. 410) the work On the Trinity was credited to Tertullian, as Jerome reports. Both it and the work On Jewish Foods passed in medieval manuscripts (now lost) as writings of Tertullian and were published among his works in the first printed editions of them in 1545 and 1550. By 1579 however, both works were recognized as Novatian's and republished under his name.

        Out of twelve or possibly thirteen works of Tovatian of which we know, aside from the two letters to Cvprian, we now possess fire, or Possibly six: On the Trinity, On Jewish Foods, On Shows, On the Advantage of Modesty, In Praise of Martyrdom, and, if it is genuine, Against the Jews. Seven are lost: On the Passover, On the Sabbath, On Circumcision, On the Priesthood, On Prayer, On Zeal, and On Attalus. The twenty treatises bearing the name of Origen found some years ago by Batiffol (i9oo) and lat ascribed to Novatian are now believed to be the work of Gregory of Iliberris (Elvira) in Spain (d. after 3g2).