Cornelius, on Refusal to Receive Novatian's Ordination

Pope Cornelius (d. 253) served as bishop of Rome from 251 to 253 and was one of Cyprian of Carthage's most important allies. He appears 5 times in this collection as a recipient of Cyprian's letters, and their correspondence documents the joint response of Rome and Carthage to the Novatianist schism — the rigorist movement that refused to readmit Christians who had lapsed during the Decian persecution. The Cyprian-Cornelius correspondence matters because it shows the early church working out, in real time, the principles of forgiveness and church unity that would define Christian ecclesiology for centuries. It also documents one of the earliest examples of effective cooperation between the Roman and African churches.