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NOVATIAN

THE TRINITY

THE SPECTACLES • JEWISH FOODS

IN PRAISE OF PURITY

LETTERS

Translated by

RUSSELL J. DeSIMONE, O. S. A

Villanova University

Augustinian Institute, Villanova University Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” of the Lateran Pontifical University, Rome

the catholic university of america press

Washington, D.C.

Nihil Obstat:

JOSEPH B. COLLINS, S.S., S.T.D.

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

PATRICK CARDINAL A. O’BOYLE, D.D.

Archbishop of Washington

June 12, 1972

The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the nihil obstat and the imprimatur agree with content, opinions, or statements expressed.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Novatianus.

The Trinity, The spectacles, Jewish foods, In praise of purity, Letters.

(The Fathers of the church, a new translation, v. 67)

1. Trinity—Early works to 1800. 2. Christian ethics—Early church. I.

DeSimone, Russell J., tr. II. Title. III. Series.

BR65.N62E5 1973 230’.1’3 73-9872

ISBN 978-0-8132-0067-5 (cl)

ISBN 978-0-8132-1546-4 (pbk)

the catholic university of america press, inc.

Second Printing 1981

First Paperback Reprint 2008

THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

a new translation

volume 67

EDITORIAL BOARD

Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M.

Quincy College

Editorial Director

Robert P. Russell, O.S.A.

Villanova University

Thomas P. Halton

The Catholic University of America

Robert Sider

Dickinson College

Sister M. Josephine Brennan, I.H.M.

Marywood College

Richard Talaska

Editorial Assistant

former editorial directors

Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles

TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER AND TO MY MOTHER

CONTENTS

SELECT GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABBREVIATIONS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

THE TRINITY (De Trinitate)

Introduction

Text

THE SPECTACLES (De spectaculis)

Introduction

Text

JEWISH FOODS (De cibis Iudaicis)

Introduction

Text

IN PRAISE OF PURITY (De bono pudicitiae)

Introduction

Text

LETTERS (Epistulae)

Index of Holy Scripture

select general bibliography*

Amann, E. “Novatien et novatianisma,” DTC 11 (1931) 816–49.

Ayerst, D., and Fisher, A.S.T. Records of Christianity 1 (New York 1971).

Casamassa, A. Noviziano (Dispense universitarie; Rome 1949).

Cathélinaud, N. L’église Novatienne de Rome. Etude topographique, archéologique et prosopographique. Paris: Diplôme d’études supérieures de Lettres (1960/61).

Daniélou, J., and Marrou, H.-I. The Christian Centuries: The First Six Hundred Years I (New York 1964).

DeSimone, R. The Treatise of Novatian the Roman Presbyter on the Trinity: A Study of the Text and the Doctrine (Studia Ephemeridis “Augustinianum” 4, Rome 1970).

Diercks, G. F. “Novatien et son temps,” in his Novatiani Opera … (CCL 4; Turnhout 1972) viii–xiii.

Frutaz, A. P. “Novaziano, Cimitero detto di,” EC 8 (1952) 1974–76.

Harnack, A. “Novatian, Novatianism,” New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia ...

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About Novatian: The Trinity, The Spectacles, Jewish Foods, In Praise of Purity, Letters

After Novatian’s break with the Church over the treatment of Christians who had lapsed in the persecution of Decius (AD 250–52), Church authorities were reluctant to recognize officially his contributions to Christian theology. Because his writings were too valuable to ignore, a number of them were attributed to less controversial authors. On the basis of stylistic and other internal evidence, scholars have been able to retrieve Novatian’s work from obscurity and to give him recognition as a pioneer of Roman Latin theology.

This volume presents translations of all Novatian’s surviving writings, which appear together in English for the first time under their author’s name. The collection opens with the work that most clearly defines him as a theologian of central importance: The Trinity. This treatise refuted current heresies concerning Christ’s dual nature and God’s total spirituality.

The collection also contains a trilogy of pastoral letters: In Praise of Purity, The Spectacles, and Jewish Foods. Novatian, absent from his community, writes to his adherents about current problems in Christian morality and encourages them to remain faithful to the Gospel. In the three letters, written to Cyprian Bishop Carthage after the martyrdom of Pope Fabian, Novatian speaks for the Church at Rome. They are an important source for the study of Penance as practiced by the early Church. Novatian insisted that those who had denied Christ during the persecution should be most strictly dealt with. There is little in him of Cyprian’s conciliatory tone. Novatian’s Letters illumine a third-century controversy that offers new perspectives for modern re-examination of the sacrament.

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