Donatist schism
A quarrel over the bishop of Carthage, who was accused of having been consecrated by a bishop who had handed over the scriptures during Diocletian’s persecution, split the African church into two rival hierarchies. The Donatists, named after their bishop Donatus, held that sacraments given by unworthy clergy were invalid; for a century they rivalled the Catholic Church in Africa, until the Conference of Carthage in 411 condemned them.
- Date
- between 311 and 312 – 411start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: year known · duration: ≈ 100 years
- Place
- Carthagetoday: Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia · Africa
- Participants
- Donatus Magnus, Constantine the Great, Augustine of Hippo, Roman Empire
- Threads
- Africa (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Donatism; Donatists; Донатизм; Донатисты; Circumcellions; Циркумцеллионы
During the Great Persecution many clergy had surrendered the scriptures to the authorities; rigorists called them traditores, “those who handed over”. When Caecilian was consecrated bishop of Carthage around 311 by Felix of Aptungi, an alleged traditor, the bishops of Numidia declared the consecration invalid and consecrated a rival, Majorinus; his successor Donatus, bishop from 313, gave the movement its name. Constantine, who had just granted the Church toleration and subsidies, found himself the arbiter of a great church schism: a council in Rome under Bishop Miltiades (313), the Council of Arles (314) and the emperor himself ruled for Caecilian, and in 317 he ordered Donatist churches confiscated, only to ask for moderation in 321. The Donatists saw themselves as the true church of the saints, appealed to Cyprian’s teaching that there is no salvation outside the Church and rebaptised converts; the movement spread widely, above all among the Berber population, and the violent bands known as Circumcellions were associated with it.
In 347 an imperial repression forced a union, and Donatus died in exile. Julian (361–363) favoured the Donatists, and at the height of their strength they were linked with the revolts of Firmus in the 370s and of Gildo in 397–398. Augustine, bishop of Hippo from 395, led the Catholic campaign against them in treatises and debates and came to justify the use of force. In 411, at a conference in Carthage ordered by Honorius, the imperial tribune Marcellinus heard 286 Catholic and 279 Donatist bishops and found for the Catholics, and the Donatist churches were ordered to be handed over. Donatism nevertheless survived the Vandal conquest and the Byzantine reconquest; how long it lasted is unknown.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Great Persecution24 February 303 – 313 · Balkans and Anatoliathe schism began over clergy who had handed over the Scriptures during the persecution
Related events
- Martyrdom of Cyprian of Carthage14 September 258 · Africathe Donatists appealed to Cyprian’s teaching that there is no salvation outside the Church and to his practice of rebaptism
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313 · Western and Central Europethe Donatists appealed to Constantine, who had just legalised Christianity
- Revolt of Gildo397 – July 398 · Africathe Donatist bishop Optatus of Thamugadi was among Gildo’s closest supporters
- Augustine’s Confessionsbetween 397 and 400 · Africaas bishop of Hippo, Augustine led the Catholic campaign against the Donatists
Same participants
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Constantine the Great
- Siege of Amida359 · Middle East and Egyptvia Roman Empire
- Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 3635 March 363 – July 363 · Middle East and Egyptvia Roman Empire
- Ambrose, bishop of Milan7 December 374 – 4 April 397 · Western and Central Europevia Augustine of Hippo
Same place
- Antonine Baths of Carthagebetween 145 and 146 – 162 · Africa
- Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass)150s … 180s · Africa
- Scillitan Martyrs17 July 180 · Africa
- Tertullian’s Apologeticus197 · Africa
- Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity7 March 203 · Africa
- Plague of Cyprianc. 249 – between 262 and 270 · Africa
- Vandal conquest of Roman AfricaMay 429 – 442 · Africa
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534 · Africa
Adjacent events in the thread
- Ezana’s Nile campaign and the end of Kushbetween 340 and 360 · Africa
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Martin of Tours founds the monastery of Ligugé361
- Jerome begins the Vulgate382
- Ambrose, bishop of Milan7 December 374 – 4 April 397
- Division of the Roman Empire17 January 395
- End of Roman rule in Britain383–410
+ 4 events
Eastern Europe
- Reign of Ermanaric, king of the Greuthungic. 350 – between 370 and 376
- The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungic. 370 – 376
- Vinitharius’ war with the Antes of Bozbetween 375 and 380
- Bishop Aetherius of Chersonesus at the Second Ecumenical Council381
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
+ 1 event
Balkans and Anatolia
- Crete earthquake and tsunami of 36521 July 365
- Wulfila’s Gothic Biblebetween 348 and 383
- Basil the Great founds the Basileiasbetween 369 and 372
- Battle of Adrianople9 August 378
- Gothic War (376–382)376 – 3 October 382
+ 4 events
Middle East and Egypt
- Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 3635 March 363 – July 363
- Siege of Amida359
- Theon of Alexandria observes the eclipses of 364between June and November 364
- Reign of Shapur II309–379
- Destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandriabetween 391 and 392
+ 3 events
Central and Northern Asia
- Le Zun cuts the first cave at Mogao366
- Shapur II’s war with the Chionitesc. 350 – 358
- Lü Guang takes Kucha and carries off Kumārajīva384
- The Sogdian “Ancient Letters”between 312 and 314
- Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidaritesbetween 360 and 370 – 467
+ 1 event
South Asia
- Campaigns of Samudragupta and the Allahabad pillar prashastibetween 330 and 353 – between 370 and 376
- Mayurasharma founds the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasic. 345
- The Buddha’s tooth relic is brought to Sri Lankabetween 309 and 371
- Reign of Chandragupta II Vikramadityabetween 375 and 381 – between 412 and 415
- Chandragupta I, ‘great king of kings’, and the beginning of the Gupta erabetween 318 and 320
+ 1 event
East Asia
- The Orchid Pavilion Gathering: Wang Xizhi writes the Lanting Preface22 April 353
- Buddhism reaches Korea: the monk Sundo in Goguryeobetween July and August 372
- Battle of Fei Riverbetween 30 November 383 and 9 January 384
- Ge Hong completes the Baopuzibetween 317 and 318
- Sima Rui founds the Eastern Jin at Jiankang6 April 317 – 26 April 318
+ 2 events
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Zhu Zhantan, the ‘Indian’ king of Funan, offers tamed elephants to the Jin court357
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Fan Wen of Linyi seizes Rinan from the Jin347–349
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Siyaj Kʼakʼ “arrives” at Tikal: Teotihuacan intervenes in the Maya lowlandsbetween 13 January and 15 January 378
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- The Leiden Plaque: a Maya jade records a royal accession in 320between 14 September and 16 September 320
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Donatism
- Wikipedia (English): Councils of Carthage
- Wikipedia (Russian): Донатизм
- Wikipedia (Russian): Карфагенский собор (411)
- Frend W. H. C. The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa. — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952.
- Shaw B. D. Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.