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Against the Donatists

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

Book 1, 2. This Peace Was Disturbed by the Schism

If this Peace had remained whole and inviolate¹ as it was given, and had not been disturbed by the authors of the schism, there would not be any disagreement to-day between us and our brethren, nor would they be causing God inconsolable tears (as Isaiah the prophet bears witness²), nor would they deserve the name, and do the deeds, of false prophets³; nor would they have built a crumbling and whitened wall⁴; nor would they overturn simple but too credulous minds; nor would they, by wickedly imposing hands⁵ upon the heads of all, place upon them the veils of destruction⁶; nor would they speak evil things to God⁷; nor would they re-baptise the Faithful; nor should we now be grieving for the souls which they have either destroyed or slain,----souls of the innocent, for whom God was the first to grieve, saying by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet:
‘Woe to you who place a veil over every head and over every age, for the destruction of souls. The souls of My people have been destroyed; and they spoke evil things to Me amongst My people, that they might slay souls which ought not to die, whilst they proclaim to My people their empty deceits.’⁸

Notes

Quae Pax . . . integra inviolataque. It is an interesting coincidence----but probably a coincidence only----that these last two words, applied by St. Optatus to God’s Peace (by which he designates the Catholic Unity), are used in the Athanasian Creed of the Catholic Faith: ‘Catholicam Fidem, quam nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit.’
The reference is to Isaiah xxii, 4: ‘Therefore have I said: Depart from Me: I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort Me for the devastation of the daughter of My people.’ Optatus uses the same strong figure twice in iii, 2: ‘In dolore Dei amare plorantis,’ and again: ‘Indicat Deus lacrymas suas quas vos fecistis, quas testatur nulla posse consolatione siccari,’ with a reference to the same passage in Isaiah.
vatum is in all the MSS. It has been suggested that it should be fratrum (cf. 2 Cor. xi, 27). But cf. iii, 10: ‘parietem fecisse dicuntur falsi vales.’
nec ruinosum ac dealbatum extruerent parietem. For the full meaning of this reference to Ezekiel xiii, 10, see iii, 10.
In Penance.
Cf. Ez. xiii, 18. It was strictly forbidden to impose the Veil of Penance upon the innocent, thus withdrawing them from the Communion of the Body of Christ, or, under any circumstances, upon Bishops or clergy, even though they might have been guilty of such a serious sin as that of apostasy.
nec maledicerent Deo, i.e. by the exorcisms used by the Donatists when they rebaptised Catholics or subjected them to Penance. These Donatists are said by St. Optatus profanely to rail at, or speak evil things to, the Spirit of God, Optatus develops this thought in iv, 6 where he accuses the Donatists of saying to God----dwelling in the soul of the Catholic: ‘Maledicte, exi foras.’ In both passages he refers to Ez. xiii, 19, where he reads ‘maledicebant Mihi.’ (The Vulgate has ‘violabant Me.’) Cf. also ii, 21: ‘Quid iniquius quam exorcizare Spiritum Sanctum? ‘
Ez. xiii, 18.