Nov a tians

(no-va's he-ŭnz.) (Eccl. Hist.) A sect of religionists founded in the 3d cent.,by Nov at i us, presbyter and afterwards bishop of Rome. They denied readmi ion into the Church to all who, in time of persecution, or from other cause, had at any time lapsed from the faith. The N. held their own as a separate sect for nearly a century. [s. 653]