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Against the Donatists

St Optatus of Milevis, tr. Vassall-Phillips, 1917

Book 1, 13. The Originators of the Donatist Schism Were Betrayers

But now (to return to the order upon which we have determined), in the first place listen to the names of those who were Betrayers and learn more distinctly who were the originators of the schism. It is certain that two evil things have been perpetrated in Africa----even the worst of all¹ ----the first----Betrayal, the second----Schism. Both these crimes were committed, in one period of time, by the same wicked men.

You ought, therefore, my brother Parmenian, to learn that of which you are understood to be ignorant; for sixty years and more have passed since the storm of persecution spread abroad throughout the whole of Africa² ----a persecution which made some Martyrs, others Confessors, whilst not a few it laid low in a terrible death,³ leaving unharmed those who lay in hiding.

Why should I make mention of laymen who at that time were supported by no ecclesiastical dignity? Why name a host of clerics⁴? Or deacons in the third,⁵ or priests in the second degree of the sacerdotium, when the heads and chiefs of all,⁶ some Bishops of that period,⁷ in order to purchase for themselves, at the loss of Life Eternal, some very short prolongation of this uncertain day, impiously betrayed the records⁸ of the law of God? Amongst whom were Donatus of Mascula, Victor of Rusicca, Merinus from the Baths of Tibilis, Donatus of Calama, and Purpurius of Limata, the murderer⁹ ----who, when he was questioned on the charge of having killed his sister’s sons in the prison of Mileum,¹⁰ confessed it with the words: ‘Yes, I did kill them, and not them alone do I kill, but whoever shall act against me.’ And Menalius who pretended that he had a pain in his eyes, and trembled at the idea of meeting his own people,¹¹ for fear lest it should be proved against him by his fellow-citizens that he had offered incense to idols.

Notes

duo mala et pessima. Cf. ‘Scisma summum malum’ (i, 21) and ‘Aestimo vos non negare unitatem summum bonum esse’ (iii, 4).
Optatus refers here to the persecution under Diocletian, which began in the month of February A.D. 303, and ended in the West in 305.
prostravit in mortem funestam. Sc. the death of the soul through apostasy.
ministros.
The application of the term sacerdotium to deacons cannot, I think, be found anywhere in antiquity excepting in this passage. Not many years after the death of St. Optatus, the Fathers at the Council of Carthage made the following distinction: ‘When a deacon is ordained, it is the Bishop alone (without the imposition of hands of other priests) who blesses him, placing his hand upon his head, because he is consecrated, not to the sacerdotium, but to the ministry of service (ministerium).’ The word sacerdos was used of either bishops or priests, episcopus being reserved for the first degree, and presbyter for the second degree, of the sacred ministry. It is very curious to read these words in the Canon Law (Dist. 31 Can. 14) ‘Aliter se Orientalium traditio habet Ecclesiarum, aliter huius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae. Nam illarum sacerdotes diaconi et subdiaconi matrimonio copulantur. Istius autem Ecclesiae vel Occidentalium nullus sacerdotum a subdiacono usque ad episcopum licentiam habet coniugium sortiendi.’ As far as I can discover, this is the only instance of the word sacerdos being applied to subdeacons.
ipsi apices et principes omnium. (P omits omnium.) The Episcopate is the apex of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. From the point of view of the Sacrament of Order, the Bishop of Beneventum is the equal of the Bishop of Rome.
aliqui Episcopi illius temporis. RBvb read illis temporibus.
instrumenta. This word is used by Tertullian and others for a codex containing several books. Thus Instrumentum Ioannis ----a collection of St. John’s Epistles. Novum Instrumentum = the New Testament.
homicida.
Mileum, also called Milevis, the town where St. Optatus was Bishop.
ad consessum suorum procedere trepidavit. Cf. ‘consessum vitant’ (i, 4). Suorum may mean his Brother Bishops, in which case consessum should be here translated a Synod. RBGv read consensum, but this is manifestly a mistake; it is corrected in the margin of G.