Copyright © By Dr. Adel Elsaie, Book Title: "Please Revise the Bible, Again"

3.5 Donatism

 

The Donatist sect has its origins in the Diocletian persecution of the church in 303 CE in which all churches and sacred scriptures of the Christians were to be destroyed.  In 304 the emperor Diocletian sought to rid the Roman Empire of Christianity by forcing Christians to offer sacrifices to their idol gods or suffer imprisonment or martyrdom.  Christians refused, and the emperor Diocletian did not stop the increased persecution.  Many Christians gave up the sacred texts to the persecutors and even betrayed other Christians to the Romans. With the end of the persecution the church was confronted with the question whether to admit those who had abandoned their faith during the Diocletian persecutions. This issue came to a head at the consecration of bishop Caecilian of Carthage in the province of Africa in 311 AD, when one of the three bishops, Felix, bishop of Aptunga, who consecrated Caecilian, had given copies of the Bible to the Roman persecutors. A group of about 70 bishops formed a synod and declared the consecration of the bishop Felix to be invalid.  Great debate arose concerning the validity of the sacraments (baptism, the Lord's Supper, etc.) by one who had sinned so greatly against other Christians. After the death of Caecilian, Aelius Donatus the Great became bishop of Carthage and it is from his name that the movement is called. 

 

The Donatists believed that the Holy Spirit was actually present in the baptismal waters. This meant that a baptism administered by an apostate priest could not be valid. Anyone entering the Donatist Church had to be re-baptized. The Donatists regarded Catholic Church as compromised because some of its bishops had betrayed their faith during persecution and because it had accepted the support of the Roman authorities.

 

The Donatist issue was raised at several ecumenical councils and finally submitted to Emperor Constantine in 316. In each case the consecration of bishop Caecilian was upheld.  However, persecution fuels emotions and by 350 the Donatists had gained many converts and outnumbered the Orthodox in Africa.  But during the 5th century the Donatists were treated as heretics and subjected to severely repressive laws. On 30 January 412 an edict was passed which called for the confiscation of Donatist property and the exile of Donatist leaders. The measures were successful; the Donatist church went into decline and after the end of the sixth century nothing more was heard of the movement.

 

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