When we think of Christian heresy, we think of the more popular ones, such as Arianism (the denial of Christ’s divinity) or Nestorianism (Christ’s divinity and humanity are entirely separated). Heresies sprouted, for the most, after the persecution era in the Roman Empire. Before the time of peace, the Donatist heresy arose amid chaos for Christians.
We’ll explore who began the Donatist heresy, why it became controversial, and its lasting effects.
Who Is Donatism Named For?
The early church was full of great saints—men and women, who led, taught, and died for the Christian faith. It was also full of disagreements and theological tension, some resulting in schisms before ;the Great Schism of 1054 AD. Amidst these schisms came several theological heresies that strayed believers from the faith.
One of these former believers was Donatus, a Bishop of Rome. Donatus would not only ground himself in an early heresy but also contribute to his schism from the early church.
We need some historical context to understand what this heresy was and how it impacted the early church.
What Is Donatism Known For?
The period is the early second century: Co-emperors Galerius and Diocletian rule. Christians are heavily persecuted. Christians by the hundreds are tried, tortured, slaughtered, and executed for their faith. The persecution ranges from average churchgoers to clergy.
Persecution was not just torture of the body but also the mind and spirit, as many people’s faith was tested. Like the apostles, many Christians endured until the end, taking everything they did in torture from the Roman Empire.
Others (sometimes unintentionally, always unfortunately) fell into apostasy—they abandoned the faith). From clergy to average congregants, many gave in to the Romans’ demands. Like Peter after denying Christ, many of these apostates felt great shame afterward. Many sought repentance and penitence for denying the faith under torture.
After Constantine the Great legitimized Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) and adopted the faith in the new capital, Constantinople, persecutions ceased. As anyone can imagine, this allowed Christians to come out of hiding and openly profess their faith. With this came believers who had confessed and repented for turning from the faith during persecution.
While many accepted this, one group did not. This group became known as the Donatists.
What Made Donatism Controversial?
Contrary to certain Biblical figures—i.e., the apostle Peter—Christians residing in North Africa did not take too kindly to apostates returning to the faith, especially clergy. When clergy returned to the fold and were reinstated, these Christians viewed the clergy’s handling of the sacraments as invalid.
One Christian greatly affected was Bishop Caecilian of Carthage in 311 AD. This was due to his being consecrated as a bishop by Bishop Felix, who surrendered Scripture manuscripts under Emperor Diocletian’s persecution. As a result, Bishop Caecilian was called to be removed. In his place was Majorinus, who Donatus then replaced. Doatus preached and taught that all Christians who had surrendered manuscripts, other Christians, or their faith under persecution could not be reinstated to their former positions. They should be denied Holy Eucharist. As a result, his hardcore followers would be known and labeled as Donatists.
This controversy became a major scandal to the point where Emperor Constantine the Great was involved. Originally, Emperor Constantine and the Council found Caecilian innocent of his charges. This did not sway Donatus or his Donatist followers. In fact, Donatus himself contacted the Emperor for his involvement, thus dissolving the divide between church and state.
How Long Did Donatism Last?
While Emperor Constantine oversaw the council’s decision on the matter, he was not the deciding factor. When a hearing was placed to view Donatus’ case to remain bishop, Constantine left it to the church to decide. Originally, Constantine appointed three Bishops to hear the case. After his leave, however, 15 more Bishops were added to the hearing without the Emperor being notified. Denied by the Church, Donatus was ousted and removed from his role as Bishop. As a result, he pleaded a second time with the Emperor. A second hearing was given. Dan Graves’ article below gives details on what occurred and the events leading up to it.
Ultimately, the second hearing’s results were the same. At this point, Donatus and the Donatist were becoming branded as heretics.
The church’s reason for labeling Donataists as heretics can be boiled down to the sacrament of penance (or confession) and Christ atoning for the sins of the world (Galatians 1:4). In Roman Catholicism, Eastern and Coptic Orthodoxy, Anglican Catholicism, and high church Protestantism, confession is where the penitent person confesses their sins to God with a priest as a witness and spiritual father who can offer direction and counsel. After this, the penitent is absolved of their sins in the Holy Trinity and is given penance. The sacrament is rooted in Christ’s atonement and the call to confess sins to one another (James 5:6). If Christ atoned for our sins, and we confess our sins to God (who is loving and merciful), what makes apostasy an unforgivable sin where communion is withheld and ordination rites stripped without a second chance?
Despite the result of the second hearing, Donatist pleaded with the Emperor a third time. Attending this time around, Constantine begrudgingly gave a third hearing. The division grew beyond theological disagreement, resulting in violence between the Donatists and the church. While wanting to unite the church, Constantine had a civil war back in Constantinople and left it to the church to handle.
As a result, the Donatists were tolerated until 347 AD. Under Emperor Constans I, the Donatists were exiled to Gaul (modern-day France). This was not to last. Under Emperor Julian (also called Julian the Apostate), the Donatist managed to return to North Africa in 361 AD. The church, including notable figures like St. Augustine of Hippo, still managed to put the Donatists in their place. Through another council in 411 AD, Donasts were separated from the church and denied ecclesiastical rights by law. Despite this, the Donatists survived under foreign rulers such as the Visigoths and then again under Byzantium well into the seventh century.
While Donatism does not widely exist today, some Christian denominations, namely Baptists, claim to have roots in the early church through the trail of blood theory and name Donatists as part of the lineage. It should be noted that Baptists do not widely hold Donatism, but the history is worth noting nonetheless.
Can We Learn Anything from Donatism Today?
Donatism is a powerful lesson for Christians today. It shows how legalistic and double-standard Christians can become when we negatively look down upon returning apostate Christians while praising St. Peter, who literally became apostate after denying Christ three times (Matthew 26:69-75) and then was forgiven. If we are not careful, we can gatekeep people from the faith with little to no trial. This is not to say that the church should not take returning apostates seriously, but totally denying them is unchristlike. Furthermore, it goes against the foundations of faith regarding confession, forgiveness, compassion, and atonement.
Here is Dan Graves’ in-depth account of the Council of Arles in 314 AD, the second hearing to discuss the Donatists.
“Donatists Dug in Heels in North Africa”
Under the beating sun, two slaves of Carthage pulled their master and mistress in a cart. As they drew abreast of some rocks, they turned their heads with dull curiosity for they heard a noise. Armed men leaped out, yelling. While some pulled the owners out of the cart, others released the slaves from their harnesses. Within moments the social world was turned upside down. Two uncertain slaves were seated in the cart and the frightened owners were harnessed to the cart shafts. “Pull,” shouted the men, brandishing swords and spears.
This was not an isolated incident. The turmoil in North Africa was the result of an ugly instance of spiritual pride. It began in 303 with one of the most horrific persecutions ever unleashed against the church. Its buildings were demolished, Christians tortured, clergymen arrested, and scriptures confiscated. The instigator of this onslaught was Galerius, the co-emperor of the Roman Empire, who insisted that Christians were disloyal. Diocletian agreed to crush them.
During the persecutions, many Christians apostatized, offering sacrifices to Roman gods, and some cooperated with pagan authorities as far as their consciences allowed. Here and there, bishops canceled public worship, intending to lie low until the trouble passed over. Some gave up scriptures, considering lives worth more than manuscripts. Others gave up heretical books, pretending they were scriptures. But staunch Christians refused to cooperate at all with the authorities, and were tortured or killed.
Galerius finally called a halt to the terror and asked for Christian prayers. By then he was dying, eaten alive by worms. His successor renewed the oppression, but the next emperors, Constantine and Licinius agreed on a policy of religious toleration.
At once the church quarreled over what should be called betrayal of Christ and who should be allowed back into the church. In North Africa, hard-liners said that any bishop who had forfeited scriptures under persecution, had forfeited his holy office and its powers.
When the church as a whole refused to apply this stringent rule to offenders, the hard-liners set up rival bishops. In Carthage, the Catholic bishop was Caecilian and his rival was Marjorinus, soon succeeded by Donatus. Donatus considered Caecilian an illegal bishop, because he had supposedly gone so far as to picket against martyrs held in prison and because one of the bishops who consecrated Caecilian was considered a traitor.
Constantine ordered a council to meet at Arles to decide the issue. On this day, August 1, 314, the council met. It handed down a decision in favor of Caecilian.
Donatus and his followers dug in their heels. Private feuds fueled their schism. For instance, the bishops of Numidia joined Donatus because they felt slighted by the church and a leading woman joined him because she resented Caecilian for rebuking her for kissing the relics of a saint not recognized by the church.
Bitter division resulted in North Africa. The behavior of the Donatists suggests that pride had more to do with their stand than principle. They actively sought martyrdom and (according to their opponents) even engaged in suicidal behavior to win death. When Constantine ordered their property confiscated, the Donatists joined forces with groups who sought to abolish class distinctions and set up communes. They used violence and intimidation to right social wrongs and even forced masters out of carriages, making them pull their slaves.
Although divisive, the Donatists had some good ideas. For instance, it seems that they believed that church and state should be separate. Donatus asked, “What has the emperor to do with the church?” But the sum effect of their breakaway was to weaken North Africa so that it was more easily overrun first by the Vandals and then by the Muslims.
Bibliography:
Aland, Kurt. Saints and Sinners; men and ideas in the early church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
Chapman, John. “Donatists.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
“Donatism.” New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
“Donatism.” Encyclopedia of the Early Church, produced by the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum and edited by Angelo Di Berardino; translated from the Italian by Adrian Walford ; with a foreword and bibliographic amendments by W.H.C. Frend. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
“Donatists.” The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
Fuller, Thomas. “The Rigid Donatists.” The Holy State and the Profane State Volume II. New York: Columbia University Press, 1938; p. 396ff.
Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
(“Donatists Dug in Heels in North Africa” by Dan Graves, MSL, first appeared on Christianity.com on May 3, 2010.)
Photo Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Trey Soto holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Biola University and an M.A. in Communication Management from the University of Denver. He is a photographer, a writer, and a podcast host at T.V. Trey Podcast. You can see more of his work on his Wix portfolio.
