Christianity in the Roman Africa province

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
St. Augustine

The name early African church is given to the

Roman civilization. From the late fifth and early sixth century, the region included several Christian Berber kingdoms.[1]

Informal

Latin language, possibly a local use of the primitive Roman Rite
.

Famous figures include

Latin Christianity"[3][4] and "the founder of Western theology."[5] Carthage remained an important center of Christianity, hosting several councils of Carthage
.

History

First centuries

Early Christian quarter in ancient Carthage.

The

delimitation of the ecclesiastical boundaries of the African Church is a matter of great difficulty. Again and again the Roman political authority rearranged the provincial divisions, and on various occasions the ecclesiastical authorities conformed the limits of their respective jurisdictions to those of the civil power. These limits, however, were not only liable to successive rectification, but in some cases they were not even clearly marked. Parts of Mauretania always remained independent; the mountainous region to the west of the Aurès Mountains (Middle Atlas), and the plateau above the Tell never became Roman. The high lands of the Sahara and all the country west of the Atlas range were inhabited by the nomad tribes of the Gaetuli
, and there are neither churches nor definite ecclesiastical organizations to be found there. Christianity filtered in, so to speak, little by little.

Bishoprics were founded among the converts, as the need for them arose; were moved, possibly, from place to place, and disappeared, without leaving a trace of their existence. The historical period of the African Church begins in 180 with groups of martyrs. At a somewhat later date the writings of

St. Perpetua and the treatises of Tertullian. Christianity, however, did not even then cease to make distant conquests; Christian epitaphs are to be found at Sour El-Ghozlane, dated 227, and at Tipasa
, dated 238. These dates are assured. If we rely on texts less definite we may admit that the evangelization of Northern Africa began very early.

By the opening of the 3rd century there was a large Christian population in the towns and even in the country districts, which included not only the poor, but also persons of the highest rank. A council held at Carthage about the year 235 was presided over by the earliest known bishop of Carthage, Agrippinus,[6] and was attended by eighteen bishops from the province of Numidia. Another council, held in the time of Cyprian, about the middle of the 3rd century, was attended by eighty-seven bishops. At this period the African Church went through a very grave crisis.

The Emperor

communion
, a state of affairs that gave rise to controversies and deplorable troubles.

Yet the Church of Africa had martyrs, even at such a time. The persecutions at the end of the third, and the beginning of the fourth, century did not only make martyrs; they also gave rise to a minority that claimed that Christians could deliver the sacred books and the archives of the Church to the officers of the State, without lapsing from the faith. (See Traditors.)

After Constantine

See also:
Donatists
Painting of Augustine of Hippo arguing with a man before an audience
Charles-André van Loo's 18th-century Augustine arguing with Donatists.

The accession of

Berber nationalism.[9]

Attempts at reconciliation, suggested by the Emperor Constantius II, only widened the breach and led to armed repression, an ever-growing disquiet, and an enmity that became increasingly embittered. Yet, in the very midst of these troubles, the Primate of Carthage, Gratus, declared (in the year 349): "God has restored Africa to religious unity." Julian's accession (361) and his permission to all religious exiles to return to their homes added to the troubles of the African Church. A Donatist bishop sat in the seceded see of Carthage, in opposition to the orthodox bishop.

One act of violence followed another and begat new conflicts. About this period,

homilies
, scriptural commentaries, followed almost without interval; an unparalleled activity that had commensurate results.

Genseric
, king of the Vandals, took possession of Carthage. Then began for the African Church an era of persecution of a kind hitherto unknown. The Vandals were Arians, and were bent on establishing Arianism.

Churches the invasion had left standing were either transferred to the Arians or withdrawn from the Catholics and closed to public worship. The intervention of the Emperor

Victor of Vita
, has told us what we know of this long history of the Vandal persecution. In such a condition of peril, the Christians of Africa did not display much courage in the face of oppression.

Ruins of Basilica of Damous El Karita west view in Carthage.

During the last years of Vandal rule in Africa,

St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, exercised a fortunate influence over the princes of the Vandal dynasty, who were no longer completely barbaric, but whose culture, wholly Roman and Byzantine, equalled that of their native subjects. Yet the Vandal monarchy, which had lasted for nearly a century, seemed less firmly established than at its beginning. Hilderic, who succeeded Thrasamund in 523, was too cultured and too mild a prince to impose his will on others. Gelimer made an attempt to deprive him of power, and, proclaimed King of the Vandals in 531, marched on Carthage and dethroned Hilderich. His cause appeared to be completely successful, and his authority firmly established, when a Byzantine fleet appeared off the coast of Africa. The battle of Ad Decimum (13 September 533) won the initiative for the invading Byzantines. The taking of Carthage, the flight of Gelimer, and the battle of Tricamarum
, about the middle of December, completed their destruction and their disappearance.

The victor,

Proconsular Africa, Byzacena, and Numidia, but those of Tripolitania
and Mauretania were absent. Mauretania had, in fact, regained its political autonomy, during the Vandal period. A native dynasty had been set up, and the Byzantine army of occupation never succeeded in conquering a part of the country so far from their base at Carthage.

The reign of Justinian marks a sad period in the history of the African Church, due to the part taken by the clergy in the matter known as the

Pope Gregory the Great sent men to Africa, whose lofty character contributed greatly to increase the prestige of the Roman Church. The notary Hilarus became in some sense a papal legate with authority over the African Bishops. He left them in no doubt as to their duty, instructed or reprimanded them, and summoned councils in the Pope's name. With the help of the metropolitan
of Carthage, he succeeded in restoring unity, peace, and ecclesiastical discipline in the African Church, which drew strength from so fortunate a change even so surely as the See of Rome regained in respect and authority.

The Arab Conquest and decline

See also: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb
Ruins of Church in Timgad.

The Arabs started conquering the region of North Africa in the 7th century and in 698 Carthage was taken. The Roman church gradually died out alongside the

Church of Africa, the only church permitted to preach there.[13]

Archaeological and scholarly research has shown that Christianity existed after the Muslim conquests. The Catholic church gradually declined along with local Latin dialect.[14][15] Another view however that exists is that Christianity in North Africa effectively ended soon after the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709.[16]

Many causes have been seen as leading to the decline of Christianity in Maghreb. One of them is the constant wars and conquests as well as persecutions. In addition, many Christians also migrated to Europe. The Church at that time lacked the backbone of a

Coptic Egypt, which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 14th century despite numerous persecutions. In addition, the Romans were unable to completely assimilate the indigenous people like the Berbers.[17][18]

Some historians remark how the

martyrdom multiple times at the hands of Arab Muslim officials and rulers;[20] [21][22][23] many were executed under the Islamic death penalty for defending their Christian faith through dramatic acts of resistance such as refusing to convert to Islam, repudiation of the Islamic religion and subsequent reconversion to Christianity, and blasphemy towards Muslim beliefs.[21][22][23]
Local Catholicism came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of the
Almohads came into power, and the record shows persecutions and demands made that the local Christians of Maghreb were forced to convert to Islam.[24] Reports still exist of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city of Kairouan around 1150 – a significant report, since this city was founded by Arab Muslims around 680 as their administrative center after their conquest. A letter from the 14th century shows that there were still four bishoprics left in North Africa, admittedly a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest.[25] The Almohad Abd al-Mu'min forced the Christians and Jews of Tunis to convert in 1159. Ibn Khaldun hinted at a native Christian community in 14th century in the villages of Nefzaoua, south-west of Tozeur. They paid the jizya and had some people of Frankish descent among them.[26] Berber Christians continued to live in Tunis and Nefzaoua in the south of Tunisia until the early 15th century, and "[i]n the first quarter of the fifteenth century, we even read that the native Christians of Tunis, though much assimilated, extended their church, perhaps because the last of the persecuted Christians from all over the Maghreb had gathered there."[27]

Another group of Christians who came to North Africa after being deported from Islamic Spain were called the

Innocent IV.[28] Another phase of Christianity in Africa began with the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century.[29] After the end of Reconquista, the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa.[30]

In June 1225, Honorius III issued the bull

Innocent IV.[32] Innocent IV asked the emirs of Tunis, Ceuta and Bugia to permit Lope and Franciscian friars to look after the Christians in those regions. He thanked Caliph al-Sa'id for granting protection to the Christians and requested to allow them to create fortresses along the shores, but the Caliph rejected that request.[33]

The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century and was borne by the suffragans of Seville. Juan de Prado had attempted to re-establish the mission but was killed in 1631. Franciscan monasteries continued to exist in the city until the 18th century.[34]

Literature

A manuscript of Tertullian's Apologeticus from the 1440s.

The ecclesiastical literature of Christian Africa is the most important of Latin Christian literatures. The first name that presents itself is Tertullian, an admirable writer, much of whose work we still possess, notwithstanding the lacunae due to lost writings. Such works as the Passio S. Perpetuae have been attributed to him, but the great apologist stands so complete that he has no need to borrow from others. Not that Tertullian is always remarkable for style, ideas, and theology, but he has furnished matter for very suggestive studies. His style, indeed, is often exaggerated, but his faults are those of a period not far removed from the great age of Latin literature. Nor are all his ideas alike novel and original, so that what seems actually to be his own gains in importance on that very account. In contradistinction to the apologists of, and before, his time, Tertullian refused to make Christian apologetics merely defensive; he appealed to the law of the Empire, claimed the right to social existence, and took the offensive.

His theology is sometimes daring, and even inaccurate, his morality inadmissible through very excess. Some of the treatises that come down to us were written after he separated from the Catholic Church. Yet, whatever verdict may be passed on him, his works remain among the most valuable of Christian antiquity.

The lawyer

Minucius Felix has shown so much literary skill in his short treatises of a few pages that he has deservedly attained to fame. The correspondence, treatises, and sermons of St. Cyprian
, Bishop of Carthage, belong approximately to the middle of the 3rd century, the correspondence forming one of the most valuable sources for the history of Christianity in Africa and the West during his time. His relations with the Church of Rome, the councils of Carthage, his endless disputes with the African bishops, take the place, to some extent, of the lost documents of the period.

St. Cyprian, indeed, although an orator before he became a bishop, is not Tertullian's equal in the matter of style. His treatises are well composed, and written with art; they do not, however, contain that inexhaustible abundance of views and perspectives that are the sole privilege of certain very lofty minds.

Optatus of Milevi
, in the front rank of African literature in the 4th century before the appearance of St. Augustine.

The literary labours of St. Augustine are so closely connected with his work as a bishop that it is difficult, at the present time, to separate one from the other. He wrote not for the sake of writing, but for the sake of doing. From the year 386 onward, his treatises appeared every year. Such profuseness is often detrimental to their literary worth; but what is more injurious, however, was his own carelessness concerning beauty of form, of which he hardly ever seems to think in his solicitude about other things. His aim above all else was to ensure conviction. The result is that we have the few beautiful passages that fell from his pen. It is to the loftiness of his thought, rather than to the culture of his mind, that we owe certain pages which are admirable, but not perfect. The language of Augustine was Latin indeed, but a Latin that had already entered on its decline. His desire was to be understood, not to be admired, which explains the shortcomings of his work in respect of style.

But when from his style we pass to his thoughts, we may admire almost unreservedly. Even here we find occasional traces of bad taste, but it is the taste of his period: florid, fond of glitter, puns, refinements – in a word – of the weaknesses of contemporary Latin.

Of all St. Augustine's vast labours, the most important, as they are among the first Christian writings, are: The Confessions, the City of God, and the Commentary on the Gospel of St. John. As regards

Verecundus, and Victor of Tunnunum
, may be found bursts of passion of literary merit, but often of doubtful historical accuracy.

The writings of African authors, e.g., Tertullian and St. Augustine, are full of quotations drawn from the Sacred Scriptures. These fragmentary texts are among the most ancient witnesses to the Latin Bible, and are of great importance, not only in connection with the formation of the style and vocabulary of the Christian writers of Africa, but also in regard to the establishment of the biblical text. Africa is represented at the present day by a group of texts that preserved a version commonly known as the "African Version" of the New Testament. It may now be taken as certain that there never existed in early Christian Africa an official Latin text known to all the Churches, or used by the faithful to the exclusion of all others. The African bishops willingly allowed corrections to be made in a copy of the Sacred Scriptures, or even a reference, when necessary, to the Greek text. With some exceptions, it was the Septuagint text that prevailed, for the Old Testament, until the 4th century. In the case of the New, the MSS. were of the western type. (See Biblical canon.) On this basis arose a variety of translations and interpretations. The existence of a number of versions of the Bible in Africa does not imply, however, that no one version was more widely used and generally received than the rest, i.e., the version found nearly complete in the works of St. Cyprian. Yet even this version was not without rivals. Apart from discrepancies in two quotations of the same text in the works of two different authors, and sometimes of the same author, we know that of several books of Scripture there were versions wholly independent of each other. At least three different versions of Daniel were used in Africa during the 3rd century. In the middle of the fourth, the Donatist Tychonius uses and collates two versions of the Apocalypse.

Liturgy

Main article: African Rite
Epitaph of a berber patriarch found in the actual Ouled Moumen, Souk Ahras Province

The liturgy of the African Church is known to us from the writings of the Fathers, but there exists no complete work, no liturgical book, belonging to it. The writings of Tertullian, of St. Cyprian, of St. Augustine are full of valuable indications that indicate the liturgy of Africa presented many characteristic points of contact with the liturgy of the Roman Church. The liturgical year comprised the feasts in honour of Our Lord and a great number of feasts of martyrs, which are offset by certain days of penance. Africa, however, does not seem to have conformed rigorously, in this matter, with what was else customary. For the station days. the fast was not continued beyond the third hour after noon. Easter in the African Church had the same character as in other Churches; it continued to draw a part of the year into its orbit by fixing the date of Lent and of the Paschal season, while Pentecost and the Ascension likewise gravitated around it. Christmas and the Epiphany were kept clearly apart, and had fixed dates. The cultus of the martyrs is not always to be distinguished from that of the dead, and it is only by degrees that the line was drawn between the martyrs who were to be invoked and the dead who were to be prayed for. The prayer (petition) for a place of refreshment, refrigerium, bears witness to the belief of an interchange of help between the living and the departed. In addition, moreover, to the prayer for the dead, we find in Africa the prayer for certain classes of the living.

Dialects

Several languages were used simultaneously by the people of Africa; the northern part seems at first to have been a Latin-speaking country. Indeed, the first few centuries had a flourishing Latin literature, many schools, and famous rhetoricians. However, Greek was spoken at Carthage in the 2nd century, and some of Tertullian's treatises were written also in Greek. The steady advance of Roman civilization caused the neglect and the abandonment of Greek. At the beginning of the 3rd century an African, chosen at random, would have expressed himself more easily in Greek than in Latin. Two hundred years later, St. Augustine and the poet Dracontius had at best but a slight knowledge of Greek. As to local dialects, we know little. No work of Christian literature written in

Punic has come down to us, though there can be no doubt that the clergy and faithful used a language much spoken in Carthage and in the coast towns of the Proconsular Province. The lower and middle classes spoke Punic, and the Circumcellions
were to be among the last of its defenders. The Christian writers almost wholly ignore the native Libyan, or Berber, dialect. St. Augustine, indeed, tells us that this writing was only in use among the nomad tribes.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Proconsular Africa listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees of the Catholic Church:[35]

See also

References

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  2. ^ Plummer, Alfred (1887). The Church of the Early Fathers: External History. Longmans, Green and Company. pp. 109. church of africa carthage.
  3. ^ Benham, William (1887). The Dictionary of Religion. Cassell. pp. 1013.
  4. ISBN 978-0-7391-3386-6
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  5. ^ Gonzáles, Justo L. (2010). "The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation". The Story of Christianity. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 91–93.
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  7. ISBN 9781135121426
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  8. ISBN 9780313313233
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  9. ISBN 9780313313233
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  10. ^ Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten By Heinz Halm, page 99
  11. ^ Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition By David E. Wilhite, page 322
  12. ^ "Office of the President – Bethel University". Archived from the original on 2007-02-02.
  13. ISBN 9781843838098
    ., page 103-104
  14. ^ Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten By Heinz Halm, page 99
  15. ^ Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition By David E. Wilhite, page 332-334
  16. ^ "Office of the President - Bethel University". Archived from the original on 2007-02-02.
  17. ^ Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition By David E. Wilhite, page 336-338
  18. ^ The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam, C. J. Speel, II, Church History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (December, 1960), pp. 379-397
  19. ^ The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam C. J. Speel, II Church History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Dec. 1960), pp. 379–397
  20. ISBN 978-0-521-34770-9
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  21. ^
    LCCN 2017956010
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  22. ^
    S2CID 161217907
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  23. ^
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  25. ^ Phillips, Fr Andrew. "The Last Christians Of North-West Africa: Some Lessons For Orthodox Today".
  26. ISBN 9781351923057
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  27. ^ "citing Mohamed Talbi, "Le Christianisme maghrébin", in M. Gervers & R. Bikhazi, Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands; Toronto, 1990; pp. 344-345".
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  33. ISBN 978-0812203066
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  34. ISBN 9004097910
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  35. ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1
    ), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819–1013

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Early African Church". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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