During the wave of Christian persecutions under the Roman Emperor
Diocletian, Roman authorities demanded that Christians surrender their sacred scriptures, intending to revise them to depict Jesus in a manner more sympathetic to Roman authority. To escape torture, exile, or execution, many Christians of Roman origin complied, handing over their scriptures, liturgical texts, and other ecclesiastical possessions to the imperial officials. These individuals came to be known as
traditors. The schism between the two Christian factions revolved primarily around the status of
traditor clergy. The Libyco-Punic party argued that those who had surrendered sacred texts under persecution had forfeited their spiritual authority and could not be reinstated without undergoing re-baptism and re-ordination. They maintained that sacraments administered by
traditors were invalid and viewed scriptures written in Latin and Greek as potentially corrupted, favoring texts preserved in their own native tongue unblemished by the hand of Roman scribes. In contrast, the Greco-Roman faction held that
traditors could be restored to office without the need for re-baptism or re-ordination and accept their cannon. During the
Diocletianic Persecution in
Carthage, many Christians barricaded themselves inside the church, choosing martyrdom over surrender as they courageously defended sacred property from pagan confiscation. The Romans enlisted a
traditor named
Mensurius to persuade the Christians of Carthage to submit to imperial authority. Acting on Mensurius’s orders, his servant Caecilian approached the besieged believers with false assurances: that the persecution had ended, that their act of defiance would be pardoned, and that Church property would remain untouched if they peacefully departed. Trusting his promises, the Christians emerged from the church, only to be ambushed by Roman soldiers lying in wait. Many were captured and crucified before the gates of Carthage. As a reward for his betrayal, the Romans appointed Mensurius as bishop of Carthage. Following the death of
Mensurius of Carthage in
311, Caecilian was appointed his successor by the Roman authorities. He was consecrated as Bishop of Carthage and
Primate of Africa by
Felix of Aptungi, himself a known
traditor. In response,
Secundus of Tigisis, the legitimate
Primate of Numidia, convened a council of seventy bishops at Cirta, which declared Caecilian’s ordination invalid on the grounds that it had been performed by a traditor. Caecilian, who already occupied the basilica, refused to attend the council in person but sent word that, should his consecration be deemed invalid, he was willing to be re-consecrated. In Carthage, it was widely known that Caecilian had been the preferred candidate of the Roman occupiers and that both he and
Felix of Aptungi had previously surrendered the Sacred Scriptures. The council responded by consecrating
Majorinus as Bishop of Carthage. This marked the beginning of a deep ecclesiastical divide, as many cities across North Africa soon found themselves with two rival bishops, one aligned with the Roman-backed Caecilian, and the other loyal to Majorinus. After the early death of
Majorinus, Donatus was elected to succeed him. as well as three leading bishops from Gaul:
Reticius of Autun,
Maternus of Cologne, and Marinus of Arles. The proceedings were poorly managed, as Miltiades ruled in favor of Caecilian by default, disregarding testimonies and written evidence that implicated him. This blatant partiality enraged many Christians, who walked out in protest. The council concluded abruptly, with the Bishop of Rome affirming Caecilian’s position as Bishop of Carthage and condemning Donatus’s doctrine of rebaptism for bishops and priests. The Donatists once again appealed to the emperor, who responded by convening the
Council of Arles in 314; however, this council also ruled against them. Despite these adverse judgments, Donatism continued to spread throughout
North Africa. It later emerged that
Miltiades and his successor,
Sylvester I, had both surrendered sacred texts and offered incense to Roman deities, actions that prompted
Petilianus, the Donatist bishop of Constantine, to excommunicate them around 400 AD. ==Aftermath==