Publisher's Synopsis
Pacianus, fourth-century bishop of Barcelona, wrote the De paenitentibus and the De baptismo and exchanged ideas, in two letters, with Sympronianus, member of the heretical group of Novatians. In these letters he gently exposed his reflections against the discourses of the Novatians and in his Contra Novatianorum tractatus, in his own words by no means sluggishly discussed them. The writings of Pacianus which have survived are preserved in three manuscripts: Vaticanus Reginensis Lat. 331, Gratianopolitanus 262 and Parisinus 2182. The codex Mazarinus should hardly be mentioned. Excerpts are found in Lugdunensis 5804 and a manuscript of Vitry burnt in 1944. In the mid-ninth century Florus the Deacon, director of the scriptorium of Lyon, well skilled in Christian doctrine and writings, had taken care that the writings of Pacianus were preserved in the codex Reginensis.
