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Africa, Orthodoxy in Essential Ingredient in the Support of the Citizens in JUSTIN M

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Africa, Orthodoxy in Essential Ingredient in the Support of the Citizens in JUSTIN M A Afanasiev, Nicholas (1893–1966) structures. It was Julius Caesar who laid the plans for see Contemporary Orthodox Carthage’s reemergence as Colonia Junonia in 44 bce. This strong colonial apparatus made North African Theology Christians especially susceptible to persecution by the Roman authorities on the Italian Peninsula. Because the economic power of Carthage was an Africa, Orthodoxy in essential ingredient in the support of the citizens in JUSTIN M. LASSER the city of Rome, the Romans paid careful attention to the region. The earliest extant North African Christianity on the African continent begins its story, Christian text, the Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs (180 primarily, in four separate locales: Alexandrine and ce), reflects a particularly negative estimation of the Coptic Egypt, the North African region surrounding Roman authorities. Saturninus, the Roman procon- the city of Carthage, Nubia, and the steppes of sul, made this appeal to the African Christians: “You Ethiopia. The present synopsis will primarily address can win the indulgence of our ruler the Emperor, if the trajectories of the North African Church, the you return to a sensible mind.” The Holy Martyr Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Nubian Speratus responded by declaring: “The empire of this Orthodox Church. The affairs of Christian Alexandria world I know not; but rather I serve that God, whom and the Coptic regions have their own treatments no one has seen, nor with these eyes can see. I have elsewhere in the encyclopedia. committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax; because I know my Lord, the King of Roman-colonial North Africa kings and Emperor of all nations.” This declaration was a manifestation of what the Roman authorities After the Romans sacked the city of Carthage in 146 feared most about the Christians – their proclama- during the Third Punic War,COPYRIGHTED they began a sustained tion MATERIAL of a “rival” emperor, Jesus Christ, King of kings. colonizing campaign that slowly transformed the The Holy Martyr Donata expressed that sentiment region (modern Tunisia and Libya) into a partially most clearly: “Honor to Caesar as Caesar: but fear to “Romanized” society. In most instances, however, the God.” Within the Roman imperial fold such declara- cultural transformations were superficial, affecting tions were not merely interpreted as “religious” predominantly the trade languages and local power expressions, but political challenges. As a result the The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity, First Edition. Edited by John Anthony McGuckin. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 0002055928.INDD 1 11/8/2013 6:08:32 PM 2 africa, orthodoxy in Plate 1 Ethiopian Orthodox clergy celebrating at the Plate 2 Pilgrims gathered around the Ethiopian Orthodox rock-carved church of St. George Lalibela. Photo by Church of Holy Emmanuel. Photo Sulaiman Ellison. Sulaiman Ellison. that Augustine, to a certain degree, “invented” the modern genre of the autobiography in his masterful Roman authorities executed the Scillitan Christians, work, the Confessions. However, Augustine drew on a the proto-martyrs of Africa. Other such persecutions long-established tradition of Latin theology before formed the character and psyche of North African him as expressed in the writings of Tertullian, Christianity. It became and remained a “persecuted” Minucius Felix, Optatus of Milevis, Arnobius, and church in mentality, even after the empire was con- Lactantius, among others, in the period of the 2nd verted to Christianity. through the 4th centuries. By far the most important theologian of Latin North Africa was Augustine of Hippo (354–430). His profound theological works established the founda- Tertullian tions of later Latin theology and remain today as some of the most important expressions of western literary Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus’ (ca. 160–225) culture. His articulation of Christian doctrine repre- masterful rhetorical skill manifests the sentiments of the sents the pinnacle of Latin Christian ingenuity and North African population in regard to the Roman depth (see especially, On Christian Doctrine, On the authorities and various “heretical” groups. His terse Holy Trinity, and City of God ). It also should be noted rhetoric also represents the flowering of Latin rhetorical 0002055928.INDD 2 11/8/2013 6:08:33 PM africa, orthodoxy in 3 Plate 3 Orthodox clergy at celebrations for the Feast of the Ark of the Covenant (Timkat). Photo by Sulaiman Ellison. dexterity. Tertullian created many of the most memo- genre was markedly different from the apologetic rable proclamations and formulae of early Christianity, treatises which were more common in the 2nd cen- several of which characterize his negative estimation of tury. His is a highly eschatological vision, but allied philosophical “innovators” – “What has Athens to do with a deep sense that Christianity has the destiny to with Jerusalem?” he asked, casting aspersions on the emerge as the new system for Rome, and his thought utility of philosophy in the formulation of church is colored by his legal training. He manifests a unique teachings. His heresiological works laid the ground- window into ancient patterns of pre-Nicene western work for many of the Orthodox responses to the Christian thought in philosophical circles around the Gnostics, Monarchians, and Marcionites, among others Emperor Constantine. However, as we shall see, the (The Apology, Against Marcion, Against Praxeas, Against contributions of North African Christianity cannot Hermogenes). Tertullian also provided the Latin Church simply be limited to the intelligentsia and the cities. with much of its technical theological vocabulary Much of its unique Christian expression was mani- (terms such as “person,” “nature,” and “sacrament”). fested outside Carthage. Lactantius Cyprian of Carthage Lactantius (ca. 250–325) differs from Tertullian in a The great rhetorician Cyprian of Carthage (ca. 200– variety of ways, but none is as clear as his different 58) represents the Orthodox response to the crises in style of writing. Lactantius, to a certain degree, repre- the North African Church resulting from the Roman sents the first Christian “systematic” theology. This persecutions. He was a leading Romano-African 0002055928.INDD 3 11/8/2013 6:08:34 PM 4 africa, orthodoxy in rhetorician, and became a convert to the Christian them, his major opponents), the Donatists were a faith under the tutelage of Bishop Caecilius, a noted schismatical group that insisted on absolute purity of “resister.” Cyprian found himself at the center of the the clergy and the Orthodox communion. They competing positions in the face of Roman persecu- became emboldened by their perseverance during tion. In 250 the Emperor Decius demanded that all persecution and demanded the same of every citizens should offer sacrifices to the Roman gods. Christian. They also expressed a remarkable literalness Cyprian, in response, chose to flee the city and take in exegetical interpretation and renounced those who refuge. There were many Christians in Carthage who turned over the sacred Scriptures to the authorities as looked upon this flight with great disdain. While traditores (traitors). Traditionally, they also expressed a Cyprian was in hiding, many of his faithful confessed strange eagerness for the “second baptism” of martyr- their faith and died as martyrs, while others elected to dom. The memory of the Numidian Donatists has offer sacrifices to the gods. These circumstances led to been greatly overshadowed by Augustine of Hippo’s the controversy over whether or not lapsed Christians writings and his international reputation. Augustine should be readmitted into the church. With the successfully characterized the Donatists as “elitists,” potential onslaught of new persecutions, Cyprian but this has partly occluded the more correct view of advocated reconciliation. This crisis produced some of the movement as chiefly a village phenomenon, closer, the most profound expositions of Christian ecclesiol- perhaps, to the poorer life of the countryside than that ogy (see especially, Unity of the Catholic Church and On known by Augustine, who clearly lived far more hap- the Lapsed). In 258 Cyprian was martyred under pily in the Roman colonial establishment. Augustine’s Galerius Maximus during the reign of Emperor friend Alypius described the Numidian Donatists Valerian. His writings have had a deep effect on the thus: “All these men are bishops of estates [ fundi] and ecclesiological thought of the Eastern Orthodox manors [villae] not towns [civitates]” (GestaColl. world, though in many instances they have been Carthage I.164, quoted in Frend 1952: 49). The charge superseded, for the West, by the ecclesiological writ- of sectarian elitism was a means to delegitimize the ings Augustine would produce after his encounter rural bishops, as the city bishops assumed that the with the Donatists. Cyprian’s theology and noble ecclesiastical hierarchy should reflect the Roman leadership bear witness to the fact that the Donatist imperial hierarchy, and they considered the Donatist controversy was not a disagreement between enemies, flocks too small to have a significant say. In the Roman but brothers. world, power was centralized in the cities, not in the manors. The estates (fundi ) existed only as a means of supplying the cities, not as autonomous entities in Augustine and the Donatists themselves. The Numidian Christians challenged this
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