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 DONATISTS

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DONATISTS

rebaptized and of having laid his hands in penance on bishops — tliis was forbidden by ecclesiastical law. On the third day the unanimous sentence was pronounced by Melchiades: CajcUian was to be maintained in eccle- siastical communion. If Douatist bishops returned to the Church, in a place where there were two rival bishops, the j unior was to retire and be provided with another see. The Donatists were furious. A hun- dred years later their successors declared that Pope Melchiades was himself a traditor, and that on this ac- count they had not accepted his decision; though there is no trace of this having been alleged at the time. But the nineteen bishops at Rome were contrasted with the seventy bishops of the Carthaginian Council, and a fresh judgment was demanded.

The Council of Arles. — Constantine was angry, but he saw that the party was powerful in .Africa, and he summoned a council of the whole West (that is, of the whole of his actual dominions) to meet at Aries on 1 August, 314. Melchiades was dead, and his succes- sor, St. Sylvester, thought it unbecoming to leave Rome, thus setting an example which he repeated in the case of Xicaea, and which his successors followed in the cases of Sardica, Rimini, and the Eastern oecumeni- cal councils. Between forty and fifty sees were repre- sented at the council by bishops or proxies; the Bish- ops of London, York, and Lincoln were there. St. Sylvester sent legates. The council condemned the Donatists and drew up a number of canons; it re- ported its proceedings in a letter to the pope, which is extant; but, as in the case of Nicsea, no detailed Acts remain, nor are any such mentioned by the ancients. The Fathers in their letter salute Sylvester, saying that he had rightly decided not to quit the spot " where the Apostles daily sit in j udgment "; had he been wit h them, they might perhaps have dealt more severely wit lit he heretics. Among the canons, one forbids rebaptism (which was still praetise<l in Africa), another declares that those who falsely accuse their brethren shall have communion only at the hour of death. On the other hand, traditors are to be refused communion, but only when their fault has been proved by pubhc official acts; those whom they have ordained are to retain their positions. The council produced some effect in Africa, but the main body of the Donatists was im- movable. They appealed from the council to the emperor. Constantine was horrified: "O insolent madness!" he wrote, "they appeal from heaven to earth, from Jesus Christ to a man."

The Policy op Constantine. — The emperor re- tained the Donatist envoys in Gaul, after at first dis- missing them. He seems to have thought of sending for Csecilian, then of granting a full examination in Africa. The case of Felix of .\ptonga was in fact ex- amined by his order at Carthage in February, 315 (St. Augustine is probalily wrong in giving 314). The minutes of the proceedings have come down to us in a mutilated state; they are referred to by St. Optatus, who appended them to his liook with other documents, and they are frequently cited by St. .Vugustine. It was showm that the letter which the Donatists put for- ward as proving the crime of Felix, had been inter- polated by a certain Ingentius; this was established by the confession of Ingent ius, as well as by the witness of .^fius, the writer of the letter. It was proved that Felix was actually absent at the time the search for Sacred Books was made at .4ptonga. Constantine eventually summoned Cxcilian and his opponents to Rome; but CVrcilian, for .some unknown reason, did not appear. C;rcilian and Donatus the Great (who was now, at all events, bishop) were called to Milan, where Constantine heard both sides with great care. lie declared that C:rcilian was innocent and an excel- lent bishop (.Xugustine, Contra Cresconium, III, Ixxi). lie retained both in Italy, however, while he sent two bishops, Eunomius and Olympius, to .Vfrica, with an idea of putting Donatus and Ca;cilian aside, and sul)-

stituting a new bishop, to be agreed upon by all par- ties. It is to be presumed that Caecihan and Donatus had assented to this course; but the violence of the sectaries made it impossible to carry it out. Euno- mius and Olympius declared at Carthage that the Cath- olic Church was that which is diffused throughout the world and that the sentence pronounced against the Donatists could not be annulled. They communi- cated with the clergy of C;ecilian and returned to Italy. Donatus went back to Carthage, and Ca-cilian, seeing this, felt himself free to do the same. Finally Con- stantine ordered that the churches which the Don- atists had taken should be given to the Catholics. Their other meeting-places were confiscated. Those who were convicted (of calumny?) lost their goods. Evictions were carried out by the military. An an- cient sermon on the passion of the Donatist "martyrs", Donatus and Advocatus, describes such scenes. In one of them a regular massacre occurred, and a bishop was among the slain, if we may trust this curious docu- ment. The Donatists were proud of this "persecu- tion of Ca?cilian", which "the Pure" suffered at the hands of the "Church of the Traditors". The Comes Leontius and the Dux Ursacius were the special objects of their indignation.

In 320 came revelations unpleasant to the "Pure". Nundinarius, a deacon of Cirta, had a quarrel with his bishop, Silvanus, who caused him to be stoned — so he said in his complaint to certain Xumitlian bishops, in which he threatened that if they did not use their in- fluence in his behalf with Silvanus, he would tell what he knew of them. As he got no satisfaction he brought the matter before Zenophilus, the consular of Numidia. The minutes have come down to us in a fragmentary form in the appendix of Optatus, under the title of "Gesta apud Zenophilum". Nundinarius produced letters from Purpurius and other bishops to Silvanus and to the people of Cirta, trying to have peace made with the inconvenient deacon. The minutes of the search at Cirta, which we have already cited, were read, and witnesses were called to establish their accu- racy, including two of the fossores then present and a lector, Victor the grammarian. It was shown not only that Silvanus was a traditor, but that he had assisted Purpurius, together with two priests and a deacon, in the theft of certain casks of vinegar belong- ing to the treasury, which were in the temple of Serapis. Silvanus had ordained a priest for the sum of 20 folles (500 to 600 dollars). It was established that none of the money given by Lucilla had reached the poor for whom it was ostensibly given. Thvis Sil- vanus, one of the mainstays of the '' Pure " Church, which declared that to communicate with any traditor was to be outside the Church, was himself proved to be a traditor. He was exiled by the consular for robbing the treasury, for obtaining money under false pretences, and for getting himself made bishop by violence. The Donatists later preferred to say that he was ban- ished for refusing to communicate with the "Ca'cilian- ists", and Cresconius even spoke of "the persecution of Zenophilus". But it should have been clear to all that the consecrators of Majorinus had called their opponents traditors in order to cover their own delinquencies.

The Donatist party owed its success in great part to the ability of its leader Donatus, the successor of Majorinus. He appears to have really merited the title of " the Great" by his eloquence and force of char- acter. Ilis writings are lost. His influence with his party was extraordinary. St. .\ug\istine frequently declaims against his arrogance and the impiety with which he was almost worshipped by his followers. In his lifetime he is said to have greatly enjoyed the adulation he received, and after death he was counted as a martyr and miracles were ascrilied to him.

In 321 Constantine relaxed his vigorous measures, having found that they did not produce the peace he