Novatian, on Rom 1:8

“First I give thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, because your faith is spoken of in the whole world.”

“We have not just recently adopted this particular course of action, nor have these measures against the ungodly suddenly crossed our mind. For with us, the strictness is ancient, the faith is ancient. The apostle would not have praised us so highly by stating: "Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world," if this strictness of ours had not already been rooted in the faith of those times.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.