Introduction
It has been said that the Church is a hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints. In the fourth century AD, under the Roman empire’s reign, the Catholic Church faced off with the Donatists over this very dilemma: limit the church to the righteous and pure, or keep its arms open to all who repent of their sins, and even those who betrayed the Church during the times it was persecuted.
With Augustine at the eventual helm of this debate, this paper will explore what led to the Donatist and Catholic schism, how Cyprian’s views and scriptural references on sin and salvation influenced the Donatist versus Catholic debate, how Augustine used these same sources to refute the Donatist position, and what can be learned from the Catholic Church’s view of fallen away believers / sinners.
Roots of Donatist – Catholic Schism
In 305 AD, as the Roman empire transformed itself from Christian persecutors to accepting Christianity as a separate belief system from pagan worship, this dramatic change triggered confusion and strife among Christians (Balk 13). Should or should they not trust Roman authority? After all, from the second half of the third century into the first part of the fourth century, Christians had been hammered with a string of persecutions, with churches and scripture being destroyed in the process (Balk 12, 13). Now Christians were on peaceful terms and building a relationship with these same authorities (Irvin and Sunquist 166).
To compound an already uneasy situation, the Catholic Church was going through its own transformation on how to deal with Christians who had corrupted their beliefs to remain compliant with Roman demands, such as offering sacrifices to pagan gods (Balk 12). North African Christians were especially divided: many viewed these acts as a severe betrayal to Christian belief, and those who submitted to Roman demands were called traditores (traitors).
Furthermore, because the Christian community had strongly revered martyrdom and standing up for persecution – which was considered a direct fight against the powers of evil (Balk 13) – those considered traditores threatened the Church’s holiness and its relationship with the Holy Spirit (Irvin and Sunquist 167).
Bishops and other clergy labeled as traditores were particularly under fire: they were expected to champion the fight against Roman authority while also adhering to a chaste, unblemished life (Irvin 166, 167). This caused an even bigger rift among African Christians, with a near majority wanting all traditores banned from the Church, yet the community overall now having the Roman-backed means to unify the Church (Irvin and Sunquist 166).
Cyprian Influence on Donatist – Catholic Debate
One major monkey wrench in this already tense situation was Caecilian’s ordination as bishop in 311 AD. Numidian bishops, who did not witness Caecilian’s consecration, condemned him for mismanaging the care for imprisoned Christians years before. Along with that, Felix of Aptunga, who was present for the consecration, was also considered a traditor (Irvin and Sunquist 168). Worse, because Caecilian had departed from the Cyprian view of baptism, he was deemed a heretic and unworthy to serve (MacCulloch 211).
This opened the door for Donatus’ ordination as bishop, despite Caecilian remaining as a parallel (though “invalidly ordained”) bishop. Soon after, two competing churches existed throughout North Africa: Catholicism and Donatism. One the one side, Donatists drew from Cyprian, Paul’s letters, and the Old Testament to support their argument that Christians who strayed from the Church were no longer saved, and that the Holy Spirt could be not passed on outside of the One Holy Church (Gaumer 443, Irvin and Sunquist 168).
In general, Cyprian, a doctor of the Church, required followers to keep a strict Christian life, and that those who remained sinful may be shunned. Moreover, because Cyprian had also relied heavily on Paul’s letters and the OT to support his position, this helped the Donatists further support his mandates and show a continuity with them. (Gaumer 442, 443). This also gave Donatists the ammunition to claim that because traditores were not validly ordained, this same clergy could no longer call on the Holy Spirit during the laying of hands or when celebrating sacraments. Which also meant that as long as Catholics allowed invalid ordinations, Donatists would view baptisms by traditores as invalid. (Irvin and Sunquist 168).
On the other side, Catholics kept pushing for a universal church and seeking ways to be ecumenical. For instance, not only did Catholics accept Donatist baptisms and other sacraments as valid, but also the conditions for rejoining the Catholic Church were often as simple as completing a penitential ritual (Irvin and Sunquist 170, 171). Nevertheless, the back-and-forth between Donatists and Catholics would remain a long-standing rift for decades to come. Each side dug in their heels to preserve what they considered authentic belief. And each side believed their position could be traced directly back to Cyprian (Balk 15).
The debate reached a climatic point in the fifth century when Augustine, who was now bishop of Hippo, was tasked with taking the Donatist debate head on (Irvin and Sunquist 232, 233). As a fellow North African, Augustine was right in the thick of the Donatist disdain towards Catholic practices. Therefore, by studying Donatism in closer detail, he confirmed the Donatists’ use of Cyprian and Pauline letters to defend their position (Gaumer 441).
Augustine’s Approach to the Donatists
It was abundantly clear that Augustine had his work cut out for him: Cyprian was a hero to both Donatists and Catholics, yet Cyprian’s view on righteousness, sin, and salvation within the Church appeared right in line with the Donatist view. Keeping that in mind, Augustine had to figure out how also to use Cyprian, Pauline letters, and other scriptural references to debunk Donatism (Gaumer 441, 442).
Remarkably, Augustine parsed out 151 of the 168 verses quoted by Cyprian as one of a few key strategies to defend the Catholic position (Gaumer 444). Then, in his book, On Baptism Against the Donatists, Augustine uses a combination of Cyprian’s own words and Scripture to show a more Catholic view of dealing with apostates and heretics. The entire work essentially calls out Donatists for being more presumptuous about their position than exactly in line with Cyprian’s instructions.
For instance, Augustine quotes Cyprian’s response to Jubaianus regarding heretics being baptized unlawfully: “giving a judgement which we have once and again and often given, that heretics coming to the Church out to be baptized, and sanctified with the baptism of the Church” (Ch. 2). Later on, Augustine also points out that Cyprian’s ultimate goal, like the apostolic tradition the Church had been following, was to keep the Church unified (Ch. 7). And finally, to help round out his critique, Augustine weaves in several quotes from Pauline letters, including the following quote about being quick to judge others: “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” (Ch. 7, Romans 14:4).
Augustine then dealt a major, final blow to the Donatists: During his debate with Donatist leaders at the Synod of Carthage in 411, Augustine not only skillfully refuted the Donatists’ overall position, but he also conveniently pointed out their past hypocrisy when dealing with the Maximian schism in 394. They effectively used Imperial laws to shut the schism down, took over the Maximian churches, and even reincorporated heretical bishops without rebaptizing them. All information combined was enough for Count Marcellinus, who oversaw the Synod, to give the victory to the Catholic Church (Balk 19, 20).
Conclusion
Looking back on this schism, what are the takeaways? First, Augustine’s role was clearly crucial to getting to the root of the dispute and then resolving it accordingly. Augustine, who had learned much about Catholic life during his time in Milan, viewed the Church as being a leader in seeking out truth; and that by being wedded to Christ and the keeper of the Gospel, the Church offers a path to Jesus’ grace. And as this grace is meant to purify those who receive it, why should anyone be denied from truly searching it out?
The Donatists were a bit short-sighted on that point: They were so focused on ridding the Church of the traditores, they overlooked Augustine’s more holistic response to dealing with sinners: that in addition to being holy, Christians must know how to worship alongside sinners and also how to keep each other accountable (Balk 18). Lastly, considering early Catholics had already anticipated that both “wheats and tares” would exist within the Church, this did not mean the Church itself was no longer valid (Irvin and Sunquist 172). Rather, the unified body of believers, all striving to live a holy life while recognizing their own sinfulness, goes hand-in-hand with God’s grace.
Works Cited
Balk, Catherine Batten. “Augustine and the Donatists.” Chicago Theological Seminary Register, vol. 86, no. 3, Fall 1996, pp. 12–24.
Gaumer, Matthew Alan. “Augustine’s Feud with the Donatists & Pelagians: A Problem of Interpreting Paul?” Annali Di Storia Dell’Esegesi, vol. 30, no. 2, July 2013, pp. 439–48.
Ignatius Press. Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Ignatius Pr, 2016.
Irvin, Dale T., and Scott W. Sunquist. History of the World Christian Movement: Earliest Christianity to 1453. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2001.
MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. New York: Penguin, 2011.
St. Augustine, On Baptism Against the Donatists Book II, Chapters 1–15 (paragraphs 1–20) http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf104.v.iv.iv.i.html