Barbatinus was a 4th-century early Church theologian and a Jovinianist. Barbatianus disputed the merit of the unmarried life and opposed ascetism. Barbatianus along with

Sarmatio Sarmatio was a 4th-century monk in Milan and a disciple of Jovinian, who disputed the merits of the monastic and unmarried life. Sarmatio first met Jovinian when he travelled to Milan, where Jovinian found two monks of a similar mind, Sarmatio and B ...

met

Jovinian Jovinian ( la, Iovinianus; died c. 405) was an opponent of Christian asceticism in the 4th century and was condemned as a heretic at synods convened in Rome under Pope Siricius and in Milan by Ambrose in 393, because of his anti-ascetic views ...

when he travelled to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and found themselves to have similar ideas. Ambrose wrote about Barbatianus, saying that he came from the monastery of Milan, which was also Ambrose's own monastery. He accused Barbatianus of permitting fornication and asserting it not to be inferior to the state of virginity, calling Sarmatio and Barbatinus "foolish talkers, who say there is no merit in abstinence". He even wrote a letter urging the church at

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

to resist the ideas of Barbatianus, to influence the election of the episcopal see in Vercelli.{{Cite book , last1=S.J , first1=Brian E. Daley , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYoFDgAAQBAJ&dq=Barbatianus+Ambrose&pg=PT148 , title=The Harp of Prophecy: Early Christian Interpretation of the Psalms , last2=Kolbet , first2=Paul R. , date=2015-01-30 , publisher=University of Notre Dame Pess , isbn=978-0-268-15831-6 , language=en

References

4th-century Christian theologians 4th-century Romans