FARNOVIANS, in ecclesiastical history, a sect of
Socinians, so called from Stanislaus Farnovius, who se-
parated from the other Unitarians in the year 1568,
and was followed by several persons eminent for their
learning. This sect did not last long; for having
lost their chief, who died in 1615, it was scattered
abroad and reduced to nothing. Farnovius was enga-
ged by Gonesius to prefer the Arian system to that of
the Socinians, and consequently asserted, that Christ
had been produced out of nothing by the Supreme Be-
ing before the creation of this terrestrial globe. His
sentiments concerning the Holy Ghost are not certainly
known; however, it appears that he warned his disci-
ples against paying the tribute of religious worship to
the Divine Spirit.