Petilianus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Donatists
.

Petilianus was an eminent

Catholic Bishop Augustine of Hippo
and discourses in Augustine's replies. Although most of what we know of him comes from Augustine, his main theology seems to have been "that the true church was only composed of those who were repentant."[1]

Early life

Petilianus was from

Catholics, but early in life he was taken against his will by the Donatists, baptised and eventually made their bishop around 395 to 400.[2][3] Before this he had been a lawyer, rising to the rank of paraclete.[4]

Episcopal career

About 398 to 400, Augustine invited leaders of the Donatist sect in Cirta to discuss the questions at issue between them and the Catholic Church. The invitation was rejected.

Petilianus later sent a letter to Augustine, proposing a separation from the Catholic Church, due to what he perceived as "pollution of the souls" through the repetition of baptism.

Manicheism
. To these charges Augustine replied in his first book against Petilian.

In Augustine's second book, he refutes Petilanus's position on

  1. application of Scripture passages;
  2. the inefficacy of baptism by ungodly persons;
  3. the iniquity of persecution, wherein Augustine denies the charge, and retorts it upon his adversary, whose partisans, the Circumcellions and others, were guilty of persecution;
  4. the objection to appeal to the civil power where Augustine shows that the Donatists themselves appealed to
    Julian
    ;
  5. denying that the language of Scripture and of the church had been perverted.

A second letter from Petilian followed, which is known only from excerpts in Augustine's subsequent reply letter.[6] and a treatise on the Unity of the Church.

In "Contra litteras Petiliani"

traditors during the Diocletianic Persecution
.

As Bishop of Cirta he had a leading role at the

Council of Carthage (411), being one of the seven managers on the Donatist side.[8][9][10]

At the Council of Carthage 411, Petilian was recorded by Augustine for ingenious quibbling and minute subtlety on technical details of procedure — using, in short, as Augustine said afterwards, every artifice in order to prevent real discussion. He was furthermore accused on the third day of the Council of losing his temper and insulting Augustine personally.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Encyclical Letter To The Donatists", translated by Rev. J. R. King, M.A. Edited By Daniel R. Jennings.
  2. ^ Augustine. c. Lit. Petil. ii. 104 238.
  3. ^ Serm. ad pleb. Caesar. de Emerito 8.
  4. ^ Augustine, Lit. Petil. iii. 16 19
  5. ^ "Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". ccel.org. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  6. ^ Possidius, Indiculus, iii.
  7. ^ Augustin "Contra litteras Petiliani", II, 202:
  8. ^ Augustine. Retract. ii. 34
  9. ^ Augustine Lit. Petal. ii. 40 95; iii. 57 69
  10. ^ Optatus, Opp. Mon. Vet. Don. liii.
  11. ^ See Sparrow Simpson, St. Aug. and Afr. Ch. Divisions (1910), pp. 64 ff.
  12. ^ "Petilianus, a Donatist Bishop", Wace, Henry, A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography
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