[3] Pope Cornelius, in a letter to Fabius of Antioch, states that a catechumen called Novatian was possessed by Satan for a whole season.
[5] The story told by Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, that Novatian was an archdeacon of Rome consecrated a priest by the pope in order to prevent his succeeding to the papacy, is contradicted by Cornelius and is based on a later state of affairs in which Roman deacons were statesmen rather than religious ministers.
[4] Saint Cyprian of Carthage later accused Novatian of striking his pregnant wife in the stomach and causing an abortion.
In a letter the following year, Cornelius speaks of his rival whose cowardice and love of his own life made him deny to the persecutors that he was a priest and refuse to comfort his brothers in danger.
The anonymous work Ad Novatianum (XIII) states that Novatian, "so long as he was in the one house, that is in Christ's Church, bewailed the sins of his neighbours as if they were his own, bore the burdens of the brethren, as the Apostle exhorts, and strengthened with consolation the backsliding in heavenly faith".
The Roman clergy agreed with Cyprian that the question had to be treated with moderation and balance by a council at the earliest possible opportunity, after the election of a new bishop.
Cyprian (Letter LXXV) conceded that Novatian affirmed the baptismal question: "Do you believe in the remission of sins and in the life eternal, through the Holy Church?"
[8] In March 251, with the emperor Decius's death, the persecution began to subside and the Roman community seized the opportunity to nominate a successor to Fabian.
Although Novatian was the pre-eminent theologian in Rome, and had a hand in running the Church after the death of Fabian, the moderate Roman aristocrat Cornelius was elected.
Saint Cyprian's correspondence tells of an accurate investigation carried out at the end of the Council of Carthage (251), which resulted in the whole African episcopate backing Cornelius.