NICAENO-CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED. See CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED.

NICARAGUA. See CENTRAL AMERICA.

NICCOLLS, SAMUEL JACK: Presbyterian; b. at Greenfield Farm, Westmoreland Co., Pa., Aug. 3, 1838. He was graduated from Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson), Cannonsburg, Pa. (A.B., 1857), and Western Theological Seminary, Alleghany, Pa. (1860). He was then pastor of Falling Springs Presbyterian Church at Chambersburg, Pa. (1860-64), and since 1864 has been pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Mo. He was also chaplain of the 126th Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1863, and a member of the committee on the revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1890 and 1900. He is likewise president of the board of directors of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, and has written The Eastern Question in Prophecy (St. Louis, 1878). He is evangelical in belief and holds the Reformed theology.

NICENE CREED. See CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED.

NICEPHORUS: Celebrated Byzantine writer and patriarch of Constantinople; b: in Constantinople c. 758; d. at the monastery Tou Agathou June 2, 829. Of a strictly orthodox family, which had suffered from the earlier iconoclasm, he nevertheless entered the service of the State, became cabinet secretary, and under Irene took part in the synod of 787 as imperial commissioner. He then withdrew to a cloister that he had founded on the Propontis, until he was appointed director of the largest home for the destitute in Constantinople. After the death

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Novatian Numbers

schism here (see LuCMR OF CALARIS AND TM LucnmRISNs), as well as that of Meletius (see ME LETIus OF ANTIOCH AND THE MELETIAN SCHISM) in the East. The Novatian organization was consolidated in the two generations after Decius, and received many additions from Montanist communities. Apart from the primary question of discipline, the principal differentia, at least in Phrygia (where Montanist influence was strong), was the prohibition of second marriages. In the fourth and fifth centuries there were communities of " Cathari " in every province bf the Empire, especially in the East. At the beginning of the fifth there were a number of Novatian churches in Rome, with a bishop; they did not fuse with the Donatists, but were usually regarded by the Catholics as on the same plane. In the time of Cyril they had a number of churches in Alexandria under a bishop (Theopemptus); in Conatantinople the list of their bishops is preserved from 325 to 439. The first of this series, Acesius, was present at the Council of Nicaea on Constantine's summons, and accepted its decisions; the constant adherence of all the members of the sect to the homoonion shows the influence of Novatian's work De trinitate. The council adopted a conciliatory attitude toward them, treating them as schismatics but not as heretics, and acknowledging the validity of their baptisms and ordinations. Constantine allowed them to retain their churches and cemeteries; but ten years later he changed his policy, placed them on the same plane as the Marcionites and Valentianians, forbade their public worship, took their churches from them, and ordered the destruction of their books. They suffered severely in the persecution of the orthodox by Constantius, which drew them closer to the Nicene Catholics. Julian's policy was to their advantage, but under Valens they were again united in suffering with the Catholics, and in the provinces the persecution lasted until the accession of Theodosius, who took them under his protection. In Constantinople they remained unmolested until the middle of the fifth century. In Rome, Honorius included them in his edict of 412 against heretics, and at Alexandria Cyril closed their churches and expelled their bishop. Innocent I. was the first pope to take strong measures against them, followed by Celestine I.,. who suppressed their public worship. In the East, however, their organization maintained its existence as late as the seventh century. (A. HARNACg.)

BIHI,ZOGRAPHy: The sources wee indicated in the text. The beet edition of the opera of Novatian is by J. Jackson, London, 1728, cf. MPL, iii.; a recent ed. of the De trinitage is by W. Y. Tausset, Cambridge, 1909; Eng. travel., with introduction, of De trinitate and De c0ia Judaicia in ANF, v. 81180; and a new travel. of the De trinitatn was published New York, 1909. The discussions of the literature ascribed to Novatian are indicated in HauckHersog, RE, xiv. 223-225. Consult further: Harnack, Litteratur, i. 852, fi. 2 pp. 81-62 et passim (very full); idem, Dogma, i. v., consult index; C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Kdaereien, ii. 185-288, 11 vols., Leipsie, 178285; H. Gr6goire, Hilt. des seetes relioieuses, 5 vols., Paris, 1828; R. A. Lipeius, Die Quellen der 81testen Ketaergeschichte, Leipsie, 1875; A. Hilgenfeld, Die Ketzergexhichte des f7r chrsdenthume, 2 vole., Leipsic, 188488; C. T. Cruttwr11, Litemry Hiat. Of Early Christianity, 2 vols., London,1893; Wehofer, in Ephemeris Salonitana, 1894, pp. 13 sqq.; Quarry, in Hermatheno, x (1897), 38 eqq.; O. Bardenhewer, oeschichte der allkirchlichen LOWatur, ii. 559 eqq.,

THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 202

Freiburg, 1903; Neander, Chrislian Church, f. 237-248; $ohaff, Chrigian Church, ii. 198-197, 570, 849853; and in general the works on the church history and doctrinal history of the period.