other · 390 · Rome
Jovinian was himself a monk, which is what made him dangerous. He argued that the baptized who keep their baptism are of equal merit whether they are virgins, widows or married; that fasting is no better than eating with thanksgiving; that there are only two classes at the judgement and not three; and that a person truly born again cannot be overthrown by the devil. Siricius condemned him at Rome and Ambrose at Milan, both in 390. Jerome then wrote Adversus Jovinianum, and it is the most notorious thing he ever did — the praise of virginity in it is so extreme, and the disparagement of marriage so unguarded, that his own friends at Rome tried to withdraw the book from circulation and Jerome had to write a letter explaining himself. The interest of Jovinian is that he was answered by everyone and refuted by nobody comfortably: the Reformers took him up eleven centuries later, and the questions he raised about merit and about whether grace can be lost are exactly the ones the sixteenth century reopened.
Is the monk's life better than the married one?
He said no, and was condemned by Rome and Milan in the same year.