Appendix of Ten Documents on the Donatist Controversy

Contents

Reading pages: 1 · 2–6 · 7–10

1. 1The court record of 320 before the governor Zenophilus at Thamugadi, where witnesses and the record of a search of the Cirta church in 303 show that Silvanus, later bishop of Cirta and one of Maiorinus's ordainers, had handed over church property, and that money from Lucilla and fees for ordination went to the bishops.
2. 2The record of the proconsul Aelianus's inquiry (315) at Carthage, which showed that the Donatists' evidence against Felix of Abthugni, Caecilian's ordainer, rested on a letter of the former magistrate Alfius Caecilianus to which Ingentius had added a forged passage, and cleared Felix.
3. 3Constantine, informed that the Donatists reject the verdict of the Roman council, orders the vicar of Africa, Aelafius, to send Caecilian and his opponents, with bishops from each African province, to a council at Arles by 1 August (314).
4. 4The bishops of the council of Arles (314) report to Silvester of Rome the condemnation of Caecilian's accusers and summarize their canons: one date for Easter, clergy to stay where ordained, the excommunication of soldiers who desert in peacetime, of charioteers and actors, rules for Christian officials, and the reception of those baptized by heretics in the Trinity by laying on of hands alone.
5. 5After the council of Arles (314), Constantine thanks the bishops, denounces the Donatists for appealing to him from the bishops' judgment as if from a secular court, and orders the obstinate to be brought to his court.
6. 6Constantine tells the Donatist bishops that, instead of sending them back to Africa, he will hear Caecilian's case himself, and promises that proof of a single crime will count as proof of all.
7. 7Constantine tells the vicar Celsus to leave the Donatist agitators alone for now, but to announce that he will come to Africa, judge the case, and punish those who disturb true worship.
8. 8The praetorian prefects inform the vicar Celsus that the Donatist bishops who came to Gaul have been sent home with the public post as far as Arles.
9. 9Constantine, abandoning coercion, urges the African Catholics to bear Donatist injuries patiently, leave vengeance to God, and count their sufferings as martyrdom.
10. 10Constantine praises the Numidian Catholic bishops for not seeking vengeance after the Donatists seized the basilica he had built at Constantina, grants them a property of the treasury for a new church built at public expense, and confirms the clergy's exemption from public duties.