Gesta cum Emerito Donatistarum Episcopum

Under the most glorious consulship of Honorius for the twelfth time and Theodosius for the eighth time, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of October, at Caesarea in the larger church, when Deuterius, the metropolitan bishop of Caesarea, together with Alypius of Tagaste, Augustine of Hippo, Possidius of Calama, Rusticus of Cartenna, Palladius of Tigabae, and the other bishops, had proceeded into the exedra, with presbyters and deacons and the entire clergy and a very numerous congregation present, and when Emeritus, bishop of the Donatist party, was also present, Augustine, bishop of the Catholic Church, said: Dearest brothers, you who have been Catholics from the beginning, and all of you who have come to the Catholic Church from the error of the Donatists and have recognized the peace of this holy Catholic Church and have held it with a sincere heart, and you who perhaps still doubt the truth of Catholic unity, listen to us, who are anxious with pure love for you. When our brother Emeritus, still a bishop of the Donatists, came to this city the day before yesterday, it was suddenly reported to us that he was present. And because, by a love which God sees, we desired his presence, we immediately hastened to see him. We found him standing in the square; after exchanging greetings, we admonished him that it would be harsh and shameful for him to remain in the square, and that he should come with us to the church.

And he agreed to us without any refusal; whereupon we thought that he would not refuse Catholic communion, just as he had either voluntarily offered his coming or had not hesitated at all to come to the church. But while he lingered longer in heretical perversity, even within the Catholic church, I addressed your love, as you deign to remember. I said many things, which you heard and which, without doubt, as much as you can, you also remember—many things about peace, many about charity, many about the unity of the holy Catholic church, which God promised and provided. In that sermon of mine, I was both addressing you and exhorting him, and, as far as the bowels of charity could in me, I was laboring over all those placed in peril of their soul in that sermon of mine, and I desired to give birth to them for the Lord. For the blessed apostle Paul also said to some: "My little children, whom I am bringing forth again, until Christ is formed in you." But even after our sermon, while he still persisted in that obstinacy of his, we did not think it was time to despair; nor do we think it right to despair of any man, as long as he lives in this body. For I did not say the day before yesterday that I had not despaired, so that today I would dare to despair.

But the case has been brought to this point, that, since he came and, as far as we have learned, came voluntarily, his arrival should not be fruitless for this church. For either, which we more strongly hope and desire, we will also rejoice with you in Catholic peace over his salvation, or if, which we abhor and detest, he himself persists in that obstinacy, you ought, through his presence, to know better what the difference is between Catholic peace and heretical dissension. For he is a bishop of the Donatist party, but ordained for the Donatists of this city; which Donatists we have already received into the Catholic fold in the name of Christ to a great extent, so that we rejoice that nearly all have been united to the Catholic communion.

But since some who have already communicated—not all, but certain ones—seem, as I said a little earlier, to doubt the Catholic truth itself, while others do not even doubt but still, with their heart placed in the Donatist party, present us with their bodily presence—whether men or women, flesh within, spirit without—we judge it good to interrogate their bishop, so that, if he has anything still to say on behalf of that party after the conference held at Carthage, known to all, if he has anything still to say, he may say it without prejudice to the Donatist party, yet in a way that he thinks might benefit us, in whose city he considers himself ordained for your salvation in Christ; and we will respond without prejudice to the Catholic Church, since at present he has undertaken no role of defense, yet in a way that, as we think and wish, may benefit you who are present, face to face with him who is present, so that, if he is deceived, he may not deceive; but if we were deceiving, with him present—who perhaps boasts much outside—let us be refuted, confuted, convicted, taught. I said this so that he might not be unwilling to speak because he could say: 'My party has imposed no role of defense on me at present.' For it is not the case that after that conference he did not speak, or that after that conference he did not come to this city, or that he ever left this province, or that we believe he has, after that conference, spoken not a single word to anyone on behalf of the Donatist party.

I know what was being said to you—I address those of you who came from that side—I know what was being said to you, that we had bought the judge’s verdict. I know it was said to you that he was of our communion and therefore he allowed those men to say whatever they wished as little as possible and rather crushed them by power than accepted what they said on its merits. All these things were bandied about after the Conference, whether by him or by men of that communion. What does it matter by whom you are disturbed, you whom we wish to be tranquil in Catholic peace? If he were absent, I would say to you about him: “But he who disturbs you will bear the judgment, whoever he is.” For these words I have spoken are the words of blessed Paul against those who are absent, by whom the simple were being disturbed. But now he is present: let him deign to tell us now why he has come. Brother Emeritus, you are present. You were present with us at the Conference. If you were defeated, why have you come? But if you do not think yourself defeated, speak, from what you seem to yourself to be the victor. For you were defeated then, if you were defeated by the truth. But if you seem to have been defeated by power and to have conquered by the truth, there is no power here by which you seem defeated; let your fellow citizens hear from what you presume yourself to be the victor. But if you know that the truth was victorious against you, why do you still reject unity? Emeritus, bishop of the Donatist party, said: The Acts show whether I was defeated or conquered, whether I was defeated by the truth or crushed by power.

Augustine, bishop of the Catholic Church, said: Why then did you come? Emeritus, bishop of the Donatist party, said: To say what you are asking. Augustine, bishop of the Catholic Church, said: I ask why you came. I would not ask this if you had not come. Emeritus, bishop of the Donatist party, said to the notary who was recording: Do it. And when he remained silent, Augustine, bishop of the Catholic Church, said: If, therefore, you were silent under the truth, you did not come without reason, except that you wished to deceive these people. And when he remained silent for a long time, Augustine, bishop of the Catholic Church, said: You see, brothers, one long silent; I warn you to pray for his repentance, I beseech you not to follow him to perdition. Nevertheless, since he recalled the records of our conference, where he said it could appear whether he was conquered by truth or oppressed by power, there are indeed many things where they piled up the records with superfluous and delaying proceedings, doing nothing else with great efforts except that nothing be done; but with the Lord presiding and pleading his own cause, it came to what they did not want. The case was argued and decided.

But if we wanted to read all the proceedings to you, although I bind my brother and fellow bishop Deuterius, who is present with you, that, just as is done at Carthage, at Tagaste, at Constantine, at Hippo, at all diligent churches, he should not be slow to do likewise thereafter, so that every year during the days of fasting, that is, Lent before Easter, when you, who are especially fasting, have more leisure to listen, the same proceedings of the conference be recited in their entirety from beginning to end each year, nevertheless, as I had begun to say, because we cannot read all of them to you now, deign first to hear what letters we gave to the judge before the conference, where we promised or how we wished to be received if we had been defeated, or how we would receive them if we conquered, so that victory might seem to be not in contention, but in humility. Alypius, bishop of the Catholic Church, read a letter: To the honorable and most beloved son, the most illustrious and spectable man, tribune and notary Marcellinus, Aurelius, Silvanus, and all the Catholic bishops. By the edict of your spectability, by which provision has been made for preserving the tranquility and quiet of our conference and for manifesting and securing the truth, we declare through this letter that we consent to all things, just as you have deigned to advise.

Trusting also in that truth, we bind ourselves by a condition, so that, if those with whom we are dealing can demonstrate to us that, when according to God's promises the Christian people had everywhere grown and already filled a great part of the world and were spreading to fill the rest, suddenly the Church of Christ perished by the contagion of the sins of certain persons whom these accuse, and remained only in the Donatist party—if, as has been said, they can demonstrate this, we will not seek any episcopal honors among them, but will follow their counsel for the sake of salvation alone, to whom we will owe the grace of so great a benefit on account of the recognized truth.

If, however, we are rather able to show that the Church of Christ, holding not only the African provinces but also those across the sea, the vast spaces of many nations already teeming with a multitude of peoples, and, as it is written, bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world, could not have perished because of the sins of any men mixed in with it; if, finally, we are able to show that the question of those whom they then wished to accuse rather than were able to convict—although the Church does not consist in them—was decided, and that Caecilianus was innocent, while they themselves were judged to be violent and slanderous by that emperor to whose examination they sent their own accusations by voluntarily accusing; lastly, if, whatever they may say about the sins of any men, we prove either by human documents or by divine that either their innocence was assailed by false charges or that the Church of Christ, to whose communion we adhere, was not destroyed by any of their offenses—then let them hold unity with us in such a way that they not only find the way of salvation but also do not lose the honor of the episcopate. For we do not detest in them the sacraments of divine truth, but the fabrications of human error; once these are removed, we shall embrace a fraternal heart joined to us by Christian charity, which now we grieve to be separated by diabolical dissension. Indeed, each one of us, with a colleague joined to him in honor, will be able to sit in a more eminent place in turn, just as when a visiting bishop sits next to a colleague.

This, when both sides grant it to each other in alternate basilicas, each anticipating the other with mutual honor, because, where the command of charity has expanded hearts, the possession of peace does not become narrow, so that after the death of one of them, thereafter single bishops succeed singly in the former custom. And nothing new will happen; for from the very beginning of the separation itself, in those who, having condemned the error of nefarious dissension, tasted the sweetness of unity even late, catholic love preserved this. Or if perhaps the Christian people delight in single bishops and cannot tolerate the partnership of two with an unusual appearance of affairs, let us both withdraw from the middle, and with the cause of schism condemned, with the churches established in peaceful unity, with the bishops of the individual churches assenting to the unity that has been made, let single bishops be appointed in the necessary places. And when he was reading, Bishop Augustine said: I will tell your Charity and recall a very sweet and very pleasant thing, which we experienced with the Lord's help. When before that very conference we were discussing this matter among ourselves, some brothers, because for the sake of Christ's peace bishops ought to be or ought not to be, which we must confess, looking around at all our brothers and fellow bishops, not easily did those occur to us who would wish to undertake this and sacrifice to the Lord in this humility.

We were saying, as is customary, 'He can, he cannot, he consents to this, he does not tolerate that,' speaking more from our own suspicions, since we were utterly unable to see their hearts. But when it came to the point that this was made public, in a council of all, so crowded with nearly three hundred bishops, it pleased everyone, and all were so inflamed, that they were ready to lay down the episcopate for the unity of Christ and not to lose it, but to entrust it more safely to God. Only two were found there to whom it was displeasing: one a very old man, who even dared to say this more freely; the other signified his will by his silent expression. But after the fraternal rebuke of all overwhelmed that old man speaking thus more freely, when he changed his opinion, that other also changed his expression. Hear, therefore, in what ways even that exhortation itself was made, on account of him who said: He who humbles himself will be exalted. Likewise he reads: For why should we hesitate to offer the sacrifice of this humility to our Redeemer? Or did He descend from the heavens into human limbs, that we might be His limbs, and do we, lest those same limbs be torn by cruel division, fear to descend from our chairs? For ourselves, we are nothing more sufficient than faithful and obedient Christians; let us therefore always be this. But bishops are ordained for the sake of Christian peoples; therefore, what benefits Christian peoples for Christian peace, let us do that from our episcopate.

Bishop Augustine said: For our own sakes we ought to be what you are. What ought you to be, each of you to whom I speak? A faithful, obedient Christian. This you ought to be for your own sake, and this I ought to be for my own sake. Therefore, what you ought to be for your own sake and I for my own sake, we must always be; but what I am for your sake, let me be if it benefits you, let me not be if it harms you. Behold what was said; pay attention. He read again: If we are useful servants, why do we begrudge the Lord eternal gains for our temporal elevations? Episcopal dignity will be more fruitful for us if, by laying it aside, it gathers the flock of Christ more than by retaining it, it scatters it. And when he was reading, Bishop Augustine said: My brothers, if we consider the Lord, this higher place is the watchtower of a vinedresser, not the pinnacle of a proud man. If, when I wish to retain my episcopate, I scatter the flock of Christ, how is the honor of the shepherd the loss of the flock? He read again: For with what face will we hope in the future age for the honor promised by Christ, if in this age our honor impedes Christian unity?

this we have taken care to write to your Excellency, and we request that it be made known to all, so that with the help of our Lord God, at whose prompting we make these promises and with whose assistance we trust we can fulfill them, even before the conference, if it can be done, the hearts of men, whether weak or hard, may be healed or tamed by pious charity, and thus, with minds already at peace, we may not resist the most manifest truth, and we may either precede the discussion with concord or follow it. For we ought not to despair, if they recall that the blessed are peacemakers, since they themselves are called sons of God, that they will much more worthily and easily wish the Donatist party to be reconciled to the whole Christian world than the whole Christian world to be rebaptized by the Donatist party, especially since those coming from the sacrilegious and condemned schism of Maximianus, whom they also took care to correct by persecuting them with the orders of earthly powers, they sought with such diligence that they dared not rescind the baptism given by them, and they received some of their condemned without any diminution of honor, while they deemed others to be unpolluted in the fellowship of that division. We do not envy their concord among themselves, but they ought to notice how piously the Catholic root seeks out a branch broken from itself with such zeal, if the branch itself labored to gather a small fragment cut from itself in like manner. And in another hand: We wish you, son, to fare well in the Lord.

After this was read, Bishop Augustine said: "Hear, those of you who do not know; hear, I beseech you. Thanks be to God, because I speak in His presence. This case of the Maximianists, which I now wish to set before you, where they have shattered their ship of all calumnies as if of bad wares—this case, then, of the Maximianists, when we had so often brought it up in our conference, they could say nothing against it, that is, against our objection so often inserted, so often repeated, so often dashed against their foreheads; they could answer nothing at all, because they found nothing to answer. Therefore, hear it diligently. Behold, he is here; he hears me. If I lie, let him refute me, let him compel me to prove it. The acts themselves are indeed not here, but let the case rest there. Let us bear any delays whatsoever, so that we may come to the necessary documents, if I prove what I say. If, however, he doubts, or (which God forbid) pretends to doubt—let me say this with his leave—let him not communicate, if I do not prove it. But if he already knows that I speak the truth and knows that he therefore refused to answer because he could not find what to answer, I ask you to judge for yourselves what is more tolerable: to receive into his honor one condemned by himself, or to acknowledge a brother never convicted by himself. Pay attention, I beseech you; hear the narrative.

A certain Maximianus was a deacon of Carthage in the Donatist party. Whether by reason of his own pride or, as they themselves think, by reason of his own justice, he offended his bishop, that is, Primianus of Carthage—whether unjustly, if a proud man offended a better man, or justly, if an upright man offended a more corrupt one. He was excommunicated by Primianus. He went to the neighboring bishops, stirred up ill-will against Primianus, and accused him before them. They came to Carthage. Many Donatist bishops who came wished that Primianus would come to them, just as the predecessors of these men wished that Caecilianus would come to them. When the plot was known, Primianus refused to come to them, just as Caecilianus refused to come to them. Primianus was condemned in his absence by these men, just as Caecilianus was condemned in his absence by those men. What an image of events God wished to place before our eyes in recent times, since too great antiquity was already erasing it through forgetfulness! He was condemned in his absence. By other bishops of the Donatist party, Primianus was restored to communion—indeed, because they had not deposed him, he was confirmed in his see. The Maximianists were condemned, just as, after Caecilianus was acquitted by foreign and overseas bishops, Donatus deserved to be condemned. Maximianus was condemned along with his twelve ordainers. The faction itself, indeed, contained very many; there were perhaps a hundred bishops. But, lest a greater schism occur, these men were unwilling to impose discipline on the many by casting out a few.

They condemned only those who were present at the ordination of Maximianus, when he was unlawfully raised as bishop against his own bishop; the rest who were in that same faction, if they wished to return to the church, were to be permitted in their own ranks. By their own words, indeed, they showed that these men were outside the church; for whom do you urge to enter, he is outside. Therefore, a day was set, within which day if they returned, nothing that was said against Primianus would harm them; by the decree of Bagai they confirmed it, and Maximianus was condemned along with twelve others. Action began so that the condemned might be driven from the basilicas. Judges were appealed to, proconsuls were appealed to, the episcopal council of Bagai was pleaded in court. They were called heretics, they were shown to be condemned, orders were obtained, auxiliaries were gathered, and it came to the point of ejecting from the basilicas the condemned men who persisted in their obstinacy. With those condemned, the people who favored them resisted; where they could not prevail, they were defeated, and in the place of those who were defeated and expelled, others were ordained. Of these, we know two, to say nothing of the rest: one Felicianus of Musti, the other Praetextatus of Assura, whom after two or three years, through Optatus Gildonianus, after many persecutions inflicted upon them by judicial prosecutions and the full harshness of the authorities, they received back into their own ranks. After their condemnation, after their ejection, after the persecutions, they received them into their own ranks, and joined them to themselves as associates and colleagues.

For in the place of one of them, Praetextatus of Assuritanum, they had already ordained another named Rogatus, who is now a Catholic, whose army of these men, that is, the band of Circumcellions, cut off his tongue and hand. But those who, during that same time when those condemned were outside, were baptized by the condemned for nearly three years, were baptized outside the church of these men, and were received as such. No one said, 'You do not have baptism because you were baptized outside'; and yet he who comes from Ephesus, from Smyrna, from Thessalonica, from the other churches which the apostles planted by their labor and to which we read the apostolic epistles were sent, which we hear recited in the church, is rebaptized. The sentence is upheld, and as we have heard from our brother himself, whom God may make a peaceful brother of ours, the sentence was pronounced by this Emeritus, where those men were condemned. Let that sentence be read where they were condemned, and let the sentence be read where the predecessors of these men condemned Caecilianus, and let us see which ones became worse offenders, who were punished with a heavier sentence, who were condemned with greater uproar. There he said: 'For although the noxious offspring of viperous seed, the damp clots of a poisoned womb, long concealed by the hollow, have evaporated the members of asps with slow heat, yet the conceived poison could not be hidden as the shadow faded.

For even if late, yet public, their parricide and crime, the vows of their crimes, once pregnant, have given birth, as was foretold before: 'She was pregnant with injustice, conceived pain, and gave birth to iniquity.' But since a clear sky now shines from the clouds, and the forest of crimes is not confused, when the names are designated for punishment—for indulgence had been granted before—while we yield the line to clemency, the case finds whom to punish. And among other things: let us speak, dearest brothers, of the causes of the schism, because we can no longer remain silent about the persons. Maximian, a rival of the faith, an adulterer of the truth, an enemy of mother Church, a minister of Dathan, Core, and Abiron. These are the words of the Donatist party, uttered against the Maximianists, as we have heard, dictated by him. You know, moreover, who Dathan, Core, and Abiron are. They were the first to make a schism, for whom the usual punishment was not enough: the open earth swallowed them alive. 'A minister of Dathan, Core, and Abiron'—these are his own words—he hurled a thunderbolt of condemnation from the bosom of peace. Listen further: 'And that the earth, gaping, has not yet swallowed him,' he says, 'it has reserved him for a greater judgment of the higher powers.' For a sudden death had gained the profit of his own funeral at a cheap price; now he gathers the interest of a heavier usury, since the dead man stands as interest among the living. These are his own words condemning Maximian, or rather, as he himself says, thundering with a 'truthful mouth.' And yet they were gathered together, asps, vipers, parricides, nor is the baptism given by an asp, a viper, a parricide, blown away.

You have heard how great a fire of eloquence blazed up when it found hay that it could set alight. Brother Emeritus, you embraced your brother Felicianus, condemned by the thunderbolt of your own mouth: acknowledge your brother Deuterius, joined to you even by kinship. Whenever, my brothers, we brought up this case of the Maximianists, which I have set before you as best I could, when we were arguing it with them in the conference, they were more silent on that point than they now are silent on everything. Let them not hide themselves by tergiversation, not by defense but by flight. For they say that they granted them a delay and within that delay received them back. This is false; twelve were condemned with Maximianus, but the others were not present at his ordination when hands were laid on him. They granted them a delay; for these are his own words: 'Not only does a just death condemn this man for his crime,' he says; 'the chain of sacrilege also drags many others into a partnership in the crime, concerning whom it is written: "The venom of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of curse and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and they have not known the way of peace. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

We would not, indeed, wish to cut a joint as if of our own body. But since the pestilential putrefaction of a festering wound has more comfort in excision than in the remission of treatment, a more healthful course has been found, lest the contagious poison creep through all the limbs, so that the wound, once born, may be cut away with a concentrated pain. Therefore, he names twelve as guilty of a notorious crime, among them Felicianus and Praetextatus, but the names of all do not occur to me; and he thus argues: "Know that those who, by a fatal work of ruin, have defiled a foul vessel with collected filth, and also some clerics of the church of Carthage, who, while participating in the crime, provided panderage for an unlawful incest, have been condemned by the truthful mouth of a universal council under the presiding judgment of God. But those whom the plantings of a sacrilegious shoot did not pollute—that is, those who drew back their own hands from the head of Maximianus with a reverent modesty of faith—we have permitted to return to mother church." They wished to pumice their own face, because they were forgiving sacrilegious persons and were openly granting a way of return to schismatics. What is this, I ask? Let him now deign to explain to me how the plantings of a sacrilegious shoot did not pollute them. Why do you grant them a delay, if they could have no part in the schism of Maximianus?

If, however, they are partners in the faction, even though they were not present at the ordination, how does Maximianus not pollute them, and does a man once condemned in absence, thirdly acquitted in presence, pollute the whole world? Does an African not pollute Africans, a living man living men, a known man known men, a participant his associates, and does Caecilianus pollute those across the sea, pollute those far away, pollute the unknown, pollute those not yet born? Felicianus sat with you, condemned by you, and did he not pollute you? I did not see him; you knew him; I believe him innocent; you condemned this man as guilty. Or if you admit that you received an innocent man, you admit that you condemned an innocent man. And yet, my brothers, we do not begrudge their concord. They have ended the diabolical hatreds stirred up among themselves; they have, as they think, returned to peace. But I say this: if a broken branch sought a small piece broken from itself, with what diligence ought the tree itself to seek a branch broken from itself? That is why we sweat, why we labor, why we have been endangered among their weapons and the bloody furies of the Circumcellions, and still endure their remnants with whatever patience God has granted, while the tree seeks the branch, while the flock seeks the lost sheep from Christ’s fold. If we are endowed with pastoral hearts, we must force ourselves through hedges and thorns. With torn limbs, let us seek the sheep and bring it back with joy to the Shepherd and Prince of all.

We have said much, even to the point of weariness, and yet our brother, for whose sake we say these things to you, and to whom we likewise speak, and for whom we exert such effort, still stands obstinate. He thinks himself steadfast, but it is a cruel hardness. Let him no longer boast of a vain and false fortitude. Let him hear the Apostle saying: "Strength is perfected in weakness." Let us pray for him. For how do we know what God wills? Many are the thoughts, as it is written, in the heart of a man; but the counsel of the Lord endures forever. FROM AUGUSTINE'S RETRACTATIONS, BOOK II, CHAPTER 77 (51) (PAGE 187, ED. KNOELL). THE PROCEEDINGS WITH EMERITUS THE DONATIST, ONE BOOK. Some time after the conference which we held with the Donatist heretics, a necessity arose for us to travel to Mauretania Caesariensis. There, in Caesarea itself, we saw Emeritus, the Donatist bishop, one of the seven, namely, whom they had chosen for the defense of their cause, and who had labored most in that same cause. What we transacted with him in the presence of the bishops of that province and the congregation of the church of Caesarea—in which city he was both a citizen and the bishop of the aforementioned heretics—is attested by the ecclesiastical proceedings, which are contained among my works. There, finding nothing to answer, he listened to my entire discourse, which I unfolded concerning the Maximianists alone, in his hearing and in that of all who were present, as if he were mute.

This book, or these proceedings, begin thus: In the consulship of the most glorious Honorius Augustus for the twelfth time and Constantius for the second time, the most illustrious men, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of October, at Caesarea in the major church.