He was the Bishop of Carthage, and hence the leader of the Donatist movement in
Roman North Africa. He had succeeded
Parmenian as bishop in about 391, winning a tightly fought election for the role. His rival,
Maximian, a relative of the
founder of their movement, saw him as a lax and conformist appeaser. The rivalry did not end with the election. In 393 a council was called by Maximian where forty of the sixty-five
Donatist bishops sided with Maximianus over Primian, causing a split in the Donatist ranks. He was accused of readmitting the Claudianist faction back to the Donatist movement. Three years of proceedings in the Roman civil courts saw Primian retake Maximianist-held
basilicas in
Musti,
Assuras and
Membressa. A number of the bishops split with Primian to follow Maximianus, forming their own short-lived schism. Primian attended the
Council of Bagai, at which he is said to have taunted his opponents. He also attended the
Council of Carthage (411), where he made comment condemning the actions of
Cyprian, the Donatist bishop of Tubursica, for
immorality. ==References==