JOVINIAN. - Heretic of the 4th century. Nothing is known about his origin and early education; the place and date of his death are likewise unknown. Around 385, after having lived for some time in the practices of the strictest asceticism, he suddenly changed his life, giving himself over to a life of pleasure and debauchery. To justify this new way of life, he wrote works that are now lost.
Their content, however, can be known from the writings of those who refuted them, and in particular from St. Jerome, and can thus be summarized: 1) there is no difference whatsoever between the various states of social life: virgins, married persons and widowers, provided they have received Baptism, are equal; 2) whoever has been regenerated through Baptism can no longer sin, nor be subject to the suggestions of the devil; 3) there is no difference in merit between the abstinent life and participating in a banquet, provided that this ends with a thanksgiving to the Lord; 4) there is no distinction of merit in heaven among the various degrees of virtue. For this system of doctrines that endangered the whole of Christian morality, G. was accused before Pope Siricius, who in a Synod held in 390 condemned his doctrines and excommunicated him together with eight followers. To defend himself, G. then published a libel known by the name of Commentarioli, in which, adducing a series of scriptural passages, he sought to validate his theories. Meanwhile he moved to Milan hoping to obtain justice and protection from the emperor Theodosius; the latter, however, not only did not receive the heretic but even banished him from Milan. St. Ambrose then, to whom Pope Siricius had communicated the sentence of excommunication, with the approval of a Synod held in 391 confirmed the condemnation of Rome. From the Milanese synodal letter it appears that G. also denied the perpetual virginity of Mary (St. Ambrose, Epist. 42).
From Rome, then, Pammachius thought to send the Commentarioli to St. Jerome, who was in Palestine, begging him to write their refutation. In two weeks, between 392 and 395, the solitary of Bethlehem composed the two books Adversus Iovinianum in which, following the libel step by step, with an abundance of sacred and profane citations and in a vehement and strongly polemical style, he destroyed the arguments of G. and in particular exalted the beauty of the virginal state and its superiority over the married state.
Despite the sentences of excommunication of Rome and Milan and the biting refutation of St. Jerome, G. continued to spread propaganda and to have followers; two apostate Milanese monks spread his errors also at Vercelli.
Bibliography5 works
Agostino Amore