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A Fine Line? Catholics and Donatists in Roman North Africa*

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A Fine Line? Catholics and Donatists in Roman North Africa* A FINE LINE? CATHOLICS AND DONATISTS IN ROMAN NORTH AFRICA* Alexander Evers I. Introduction On the st of June of the year ad, bishops from all over Roman North Africa gathered together in the main hall of the Baths of Gargilius at Carthage, right in the centre of the city, as Augustine of Hippo pointed out—in urbe media.1 They were divided in two camps: on the one side Catholic bishops were present, on the other Donatist. The Emperor Honorius had called for this council, in order to find the Donatists guilty of schism and to deliver a final blow to the movement, which had started a hundred years earlier. The verbatim records of the meeting were meticulously written down and have been carefully preserved, thus being by far the most valuable literary source, providing an almost complete record of the African episcopal sees—on both sides of the dividing line— at the beginning of the fifth century. * First of all I would like to express my gratitude to Olivier Hekster and Ted Kaizer for organising this colloquium on Frontiers in the Roman World, and for allowing me to speak on mostly imaginary boundaries—the dividing lines between two parties within an entity that at the time was perhaps also only separated from its surrounding world in the “imagination of their hearts”: the Church within the Roman Empire. I am very grateful to Averil Cameron, Robert Dodaro o.s.a., Alan Fitzgerald o.s.a., Peter Garnsey, Paul van Geest, Claude Lepelley, Fergus Millar, Simon Price, Bryan Ward-Perkins, and Greg Woolf for providing directions and sharing opinions. Alan Dearn has been particularly kind in sending me some of his own material on Donatist martyr stories and the archaeology of Roman Africa from his Oxford DPhil thesis, The Polemical Use of the Past in the Catholic/Donatist Schism (). Also, in his article ‘The Abitinian martyrs and the outbreak of the Donatist schism’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History . (), –, he argues how texts are used to create divisions, even centuries after the actual events. 1 Augustine, Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis libri III .; Augustine, Ad Dona- tistas post Collationem .. See also Augustine, Collatio cum Donatistis;S.Lancel(ed.), Sources Chrétiennes (Paris –), , , ; SC , –; B.D. Shaw, ‘African Christianity: disputes, definitions, and ‘Donatists’’, in M.R. Greenshields—T.A. Robinson (eds.), Orthodoxy and Heresy in Religious Movements: Discipline and Dissent (Lampeter ), –, at . Alexander Evers - 9789004215030 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 11:25:35AM via free access alexander evers The development of the Christian Church in Roman Africa during the fourth and fifth centuries was greatly influenced by the issue of Donatism. In a relatively short period of time this division within the Church, largely a direct result of the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian, developed into an effectively organised movement: an independent Church, with its own bishops, other clergy, and an ever growing, flourishing faithful flock. Our knowledge of the schism is largely limited and unilateral, and mostly determined by the works of Catholic writers against the party of Donatus, thus creating more than a fine line. As Barnes already indicated: “the early history of the Donatist schism is known almost exclusively from documents quoted by Eusebius, and from documents which Optatus and Augustine used in their polemical works against the Donatists”.2 Augustine, of course, can be regarded as the champion of virtually everything, being one of the most influential figures of the Latin Church in the West, as well as the Church in general. But when it comes to being a relevant source regarding the Donatist issue, Optatus is equally important. As bishop of Milevis in Numidia during the second half of the fourth century, he was the pronounced predecessor of Augustine in his battle against the Donatists, and possibly set the tone for the decades to come. Extremely little is known about and of him, as only his treatise known as Contra Parmenianum has survived throughout the ages—a highly polemical work divided into seven books, addressing Parmenian, the Donatist bishop of Carthage at the time. Of great, perhaps even greater, historical importance is the dossier of contemporary documents, whichOptatushadcollectedandusedasareferencetosupporthisown arguments, such as the Acta purgationis Felicis (ad() and the Gesta apud Zenophilum (ad). When talking about the Donatists and the Donatist Church, it is important to reflect on definitions. Shaw reckons that modern-day his- torians have consistently labelled the movement as Donatism, but unjus- tifiably so. For the “sake of convenience”,historians and also theologians have deluded themselves by exploiting the past mostly for present ide- ological purposes. The existing records were obviously biased towards “those” people, and referred to them as “Donatists”. But then these re- cords were almost without exception written by members of the “win- ning” Catholic side. And so ever since the battle was fought hegemonic domination has severely influenced labelling these “African Chris- 2 T.D. Barnes, The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge ), . Alexander Evers - 9789004215030 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 11:25:35AM via free access catholics and donatists in roman north africa tians”—as Shaw prefers to call them, since he argues that they were more tied to African roots and traditions—as “Donatists”.3 For now, however, “convenience” has won once again, be it in full awareness of the issues attached to it. Shaw’s “African Christians” shall continue to be labelled “Donatists”—a party, a movement, a Church. It is probably unlikely that the ancient literary sources regarding Dona- tism will ever be described and analysed in greater magnitude than by Monceaux.4 Frend’simpressiveworkhasmadethatDonatismhasoften been, and still is, regarded as a social movement of resistance of the poor population of Africa against Roman rule.5 The geographical divide in the African territories led him to believe so. Frend pointed out that the literary evidence by itself shows that Donatism was strongest in Numidia. In Africa Proconsularis the Catholics were at an advantage. In the two outlying provinces of Tripolitania and Mauretania Caesariensis the two rival parties appear to have been of approximately the same strength. The majority of the native castella in Mauretania Sitifensis were unchallenged Donatist bishoprics. According to Frend the main division between the Donatist and the Catholic Church was that between respectively the inland plains and the cities and towns on the Tell. There was a clear divergence between the cities and the countryside, between rich and poor, between Roman and indigenous. To a certain extent there was another difference, in that the Donatist areas were Berber- speaking, whereas the Catholics seem to have spoken Latin.6 The division of language also marked the geographical distribution of Donatists and Catholics in North Africa. All this, according to Frend, is confirmed by archaeological and epigraphic evidence.7 3 Shaw , op. cit. (n. ), . 4 P. Mon c e au x , L’histoire littéraire de l’Afrique chrétienne: d’origine jusqu’à l’invasion arabe, vols. (Paris –). 5 W. H . C . F r e n d , The Donatist Church. A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa (Oxford , nd ed.). 6 One ought to be prudent about the use of the term “Berber”. See for example F.G.B. Millar, ‘Local cultures in the Roman Empire: Libyan, Punic, and Latin in Roman Africa’, Journal of Roman Studies (), –, at –; J.N. Adams, ‘Latin and Punic in contact? The case of the Bu Njem ostraca’, Journal of Roman Studies (), –, at –. On the survival of African culture and languages see also D.J. Mattingly, ‘Libyans and the Limes: culture and society in Roman Tripolitania’, Antiquités africaines (), –; G. Camps, ‘Punica lingua et épigraphique libyque dans la Numidie d’Hippone’, Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (), –. 7 See Frend , op. cit. (n. ), –. Alexander Evers - 9789004215030 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 11:25:35AM via free access alexander evers All these divisions, however, must have been less clear-cut, and the question remains whether the mutual differences between Catholics and Donatists were really that big. Also, greater emphasis ought to be put on the religious character and background of the schism. I will get back to this further on. First, however, it is useful to briefly outline the history of the schism, mainly on the basis of our literary sources, before addressing some problems concerning the literature, both ancient and modern, as well as some of the archaeological evidence from various Roman cities of North Africa. The principal argument would be that the archaeology can contribute to an understanding of Donatism as a religious movement not all that different from its Catholic brothers and sisters. II. Christianity in Africa In the aftermath of his victory at the Milvian Bridge in Rome in ad, theEmperorConstantinemadeenormouseffortstocreateanequal position for Christianity amongst all the other religions of the Roman Empire.8 Christians no longer constituted a persecuted minority, but their faith became an ever faster rising star at the religious firmament. Christianity spread rapidly, not only geographically, but also across all levels of Roman society. The spiritual leaders of the Christian communi- ties, bishops, priests, and deacons, became public figures with an increas- ing authority—due to the emperor’s dream not only prominent within the Church, but also outside its organisation. They gained a wide range of imperial and juridical privileges. The emperor himself greatly stimulated the construction of churches. But private initiatives also took off. Chris- tian buildings gradually became a familiar feature of the urban landscape, both in Rome and in all other parts of the empire. Christian communi- ties came into being and flourished everywhere, in the cities and in the countryside, often with their own bishop. North Africa always was one of the most desirable areas of the Roman Empire, from the time of its conquest on Carthage until the Arab inva- sions.
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