Donatism

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Not to be confused with Docetism.
Painting of Augustine of Hippo arguing with a man before an audience
Charles-André van Loo's 18th-century Augustine arguing with Donatists

Donatism was a Christian

Berber population,[3] and Donatists were able to blend Christianity with many of the Berber local customs.[4]

Origin and controversy

The Roman governor of North Africa, lenient to the large Christian minority under his rule throughout

scriptures as a token repudiation of faith. When the persecution ended, Christians who did so were called traditores—"those who handed (the holy things) over"—by their critics (who were mainly from the poorer classes).[5]

Like third-century

Felix of Aptungi, an alleged traditor. His opponents consecrated Majorinus, a short-lived rival who was succeeded by Donatus.[7]

Two years later, a commission appointed by

Constantine I; according to the Donatists, sacraments administered by the traditores were invalid.[citation needed
]

Whether the sacrament of Penance could reconcile a traditor to full communion was questioned, and the church's position was that the sacrament could. The church still imposed years- (sometimes decades-) long public penance for serious sins. A penitent would first beg for the prayers of those entering a church from outside its doors. They would next be permitted to kneel inside the church during the Liturgy. After being allowed to stand with the congregation, the penitent would finally be allowed to receive the Eucharist again. According to Donatists, apostasy would permanently disqualify a man from church leadership.[9]

The validity of sacraments administered by priests and bishops who had been traditores was denied by the Donatists. According to Augustine, a sacrament was from God and ex opere operato (Latin for "from the work carried out”). A priest or bishop in a state of mortal sin could continue to administer valid sacraments.[10] The Donatists believed that a repentant apostate priest could no longer consecrate the Eucharist. Some towns had both Donatist and Orthodox congregations.[citation needed]

Impact

The sect developed and grew in North Africa, with unrest and threatened riots in Carthage connected to the bishop controversy.

first Council of Arles in 314. The council ruled against the Donatists, who again appealed to Constantine. The emperor ordered all parties to Rome for a hearing, ruled in favour of Caecilian and warned against unrest.[12] A delegation from Rome travelled to Carthage in a vain attempt to seek compromise. The Donatists fomented protests and street violence,[13] refusing to compromise in favor of the Catholic bishop.[citation needed
]

After the Constantinian shift, when other Christians accepted the emperor's decision, the Donatists continued to demonize him. After several attempts at reconciliation, in 317 Constantine issued an edict threatening death to anyone who disturbed the imperial peace; another edict followed, calling for the confiscation of all Donatist church property. Donatus refused to surrender his buildings in Carthage, and the local Roman governor sent troops to deal with him and his followers. Although the historical record is unclear, some Donatists were apparently killed and their clergy exiled.[citation needed]

Outside Carthage, Donatist churches and clergy were undisturbed.

Julian, the Donatists were revitalized and, due to imperial protection, occupied churches and carried out atrocities.[16] Laws against the Donatists were decreed by Valentinian I after the defeat of the Donatist usurper Firmus in North Africa.[citation needed
]

Opposition

Augustine of Hippo campaigned against Donatism as bishop; through his efforts, orthodoxy gained the upper hand. According to Augustine and the church, the validity of sacraments was a property of the priesthood independent of individual character. Influenced by the Old Testament, he believed in discipline as a means of education.[17]

In his letter to Vincentius, Augustine used the New Testament Parable of the Great Banquet to justify using force against the Donatists: "You are of opinion that no one should be compelled to follow righteousness; and yet you read that the householder said to his servants, 'Whomsoever ye shall find, compel them to come in.'"[18]

In 409, Emperor Honorius's secretary of state, Marcellinus of Carthage, issued a decree which condemned the Donatists as heretical and demanded that they surrender their churches. This was made possible by a collatio in which St. Augustine legally proved that Constantine had chosen the Nicene church over the Donatists as the imperial church. The Donatists were persecuted by the Roman authorities to such a degree that Augustine protested their treatment.[19]

The Council of Trent (1545-1563) taught that in the divine sacrifice of the Holy Mass "is contained and immolated, in an unbloody manner, the same Christ that offered Himself in a bloody manner upon the altar of the Cross. Hence, it is the same victim, the same sacrificing-priest who offers Himself now through the ministry of priests and who once offers Himself upon the Cross." The worth of the sacrifice does not depend on the celebrating priest (or bishop), but on the "worth of the victim and on the dignity of the chief priest- none other than Jesus Christ Himself".[20]

Decline

The effects of Augustine's theological success and the emperor's legal action were somewhat reversed when the

Arian Vandals,[21] but it survived the Vandal occupation and Justinian I's Byzantine reconquest. Although it is unknown how long Donatism persisted, some Christian historians believe that the schism and its ensuing unrest in the Christian community facilitated the seventh-century Muslim conquest of the region.[22]

Related groups and individuals

Donatism is associated with a number of other groups, including:

Some non-gnostic Donatist groups

Other Donatist groups influenced by some other precedent gnostic sects

  • The
    charity). Attracted by their extremism, some Donatists found them useful allies. It is very likely that this breakaway group's condemnation of property and slavery, and advocation of free love, cancelling debt, and freeing slaves[24] derived from Carpocrates' Doctrine of libertinage, the refusal of marriage, the abolition of social castes and the communion of goods.[25]
  • Apostolic churches, a sect emulating the Apostles about which little is known. But it is very plausible that they were influenced by precedent gnostic Apotactics.[26]

The other Donatist groups

In Mauretania and Numidia, the splinter groups were so numerous that the Donatists could not name them all.[7]

Bishops

The Donatists followed a succession of bishops:

Later influence

  • Early Kharijites, a strict sect of Islam in the same Berber region.[27]

Epithet

For several centuries during the High Middle Ages and the Reformation, accusations of Donatism were levelled against church-reform movements which criticized clerical immorality on theological grounds. The early reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were accused of Donatism by their theological opponents. Wycliffe taught that the moral corruption of priests invalidated their offices and sacraments, a belief characterizing Donatism.[28] Hus similarly argued that a prelate's moral character determined his ecclesiastical authority, a position his contemporaries compared to Donatism and condemned as heresy at the Council of Constance.[citation needed]

During the Reformation, Catholic

Patriarch Nikon's reforms they (and the other patriarchs) forfeited any claim to apostolic succession.[citation needed
]

Accusations of Donatism remain common in contemporary intra-Christian polemics. Conservative Lutherans are sometimes called Donatists by their liberal brethren, referring to their doctrine of church fellowship[31] and their position that churches which deny that Jesus’ body and blood are eaten during the Eucharist do not celebrate a valid Lord's Supper.[32]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The remainder of this paragraph comes from Frend 1952, who derived his chronology primarily from Optatus' Against the Donatists (one of the only surviving primary sources).

References

  1. ISBN 9780313332890
    .
  2. ^ Cantor 1995, pp. 51f.
  3. ISBN 9781135121426
    .
  4. ISBN 9780313313233
    .
  5. ^ Cantor 1995, p. 51.
  6. ^ Cross, FL, ed. (2005), "Novatianism", The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church, New York: Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ a b Chapman, John. "Donatists." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 15 March 2021Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ Cross, FL, ed. (2005), "Donatism", The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church, New York: Oxford University Press.
  9. ^ "Forgive Us, as We Forgive: The Donatist Controversy" (PDF). Vanderbilt.edu. Osher Institute, Vanderbilt University. April 12, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-20. Retrieved 31 Aug 2021.
  10. ^ Catholic Answers
  11. ^ a b Frend 1952, pp. 144–45.
  12. ^ Frend 1952, p. 156.
  13. ^ Frend 1952, p. 157.
  14. ^ Frend 1952, pp. 159 60.
  15. ^ Frend 1952, pp. 161 62; from the letters of Constantine preserved by Optatus.
  16. ^ Lohr 2007, p. 40, 43.
  17. ^ Brown, P. 1967. Augustine of Hippo. London: Faber & Faber.
  18. ^ Augustine. "How it is legitimate to 'coerce' Donatist Christians to join the Catholic Church". Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  19. ^ Augustine, "2", Letter.
  20. Desclée & Co (printers for the Holy See and the Sacred Congr. of Rites). p. 139. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018 – via archive.org., with the imprimatur of Michael J. Curley
    , Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore
  21. ^ Mitchell, Stephen (2007). A History of the Later Roman Empire. Blackwell. p. 282.
  22. ^ "Donatism", Concordia Cyclopedia, CMU, archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  23. ^ Michael Gaddis (2005), There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ, Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 122.
  24. ^ Durant, Will (1972). The age of faith. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  25. ^ Doctrine of Carpocrates, at Italian wikipedia
  26. ^ "Apostolici" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 02 (11th ed.). 1911.
  27. ISBN 9780878501120
    .
  28. ^ Herring, George (2006), Introduction To The History of Christianity, New York: New York University Press, p. 230.
  29. ^ Pelikan, Jaroslav (2003), Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, Yale University Press, p. 474.
  30. ISBN 0-8028-3791-3
    .
  31. ^ The doctrine of church fellowship, Reclaiming Walther.
  32. ^ Metzger, Paul W (1986), What Constitutes A Valid Celebration of The Lord's Supper? (PDF), WLS essays.

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

Sources

Further reading

External links
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