ishop even in
case of mortal sin, the Roman bishops went beyond Cyprian, Cyprian drew
from his conception of the Church a conclusion which the former
rejected, viz., the invalidity of baptism administered by non-Catholics.
Here, in all likelihood, the Roman bishops were only determined by their
interest in smoothing the way to a return or admission to the Church in
the case of non-Catholics. In this instance they were again induced to
adhere to their old practice from a consideration of the catholicity of
the Church. It redounds to Cyprian's credit that he drew and firmly
maintained the undeniable inferences from his own theory in spite of
tradition. The matter never led to a great _dogmatic_ controversy.]

[Footnote 246: As to the events during the vacancy in the Roman see
immediately before Novatian's schism, and the part then played by the
latter, who was still a member of the Church, see my essay: "Die Briefe
des roemischen Klerus aus der Zeit. der Sedisvacanz im Jahre 250"
(Abhandl. f. Weizsaecker, 1892).]

[Footnote 247: So far as we are able to judge, Novatian himself did not
extend the severer treatment to all gross sinners (see ep. 55. 26, 27);
but only decreed it in the case of the lapsed. It is, however, very
probable that in the later Novatian Churches no mortal sinner was
absolved (see, e.g., Socrates, H. E. I. 10). The statement of Ambrosius
(de paenit. III. 3) that Novatian made no difference between gross and
lesser sins and equally refused forgiveness to transgressors of every
kind distorts the truth as much as did the old reproach laid to his
charge, viz., that he as "a Stoic" made no distinction between sins.
Moreover, in excluding gross sinners, Novatian's followers did not mean
to abandon them, but to leave them under the discipline and intercession
of the Church.]

[Footnote 248: The title of the evangelical life (evangelical
perfection, imitation of Christ) in contrast to that of ordinary
Catholic Christians, a designation which we first find among the
Encratites (see Vol. I. p. 237, note 3) and Marcionites (see Tertull.,
adv. Marc. IV. 14: "Venio nunc ad ordinarias sententias Marcionis, per
quas proprietatem doctrinae suae inducit ad edictum, ut ita dixerim,
Christi, Beati mendici etc."), and then in Tertullian (in his
pre-Montanist period, see ad mart., de patient., de paenit., de idolol.;
in his later career, see de coron. 8, 9, 13, 14; de fuga 8, 13; de
ieiun. 6, 8, 15; de monog. 3, 5, 11;