The Novatianists following Novatus, or Novatian, held a strict view that refused readmission to communion of Lapsi, those baptized Christians who'd denied their faith or performed the formalities of a ritual sacrifice to the pagan gods, under the pressures of the persecution sanctioned by Emperor Decius, in AD 250. They were declared heretical. Novatian Novatian was a Roman priest who in 251 opposed the election of Pope Cornelius, following the assassination of Pope Fabian during the persecution… (More on Novatianism)