CARTHAGE
386
CARTHAGE
were those under which the Christians of the first
and second centuries had been convicted. From
the year of the martyrdom of Scillium anil Madaura
(180) the Christians of Africa were not molested by
the authorities for nearly two decades. But in 197
or 198 the governors recommenced the legal pursuit
of the followers of Christ, who soon filled the prisons
of Carthage. Tertullian encouraged the "blessed
martyrs designate" by what he termed a contribu-
tion to their spiritual sustenance (Ad martyres, i),
and at the same time protested against the unjust
measures of which they were the victims. But
the magistrates took no heed of his protests. Chris-
tians were daily condemned to exile, torture, death,
and, in at least one instance, to a still more dreaded
fate (Apol., 1). In 202 the new anti-Christian legis-
lation of Septimius Severus appeared in the form of an
edict which forbade anybody to become a Jew or a
Christian. According to Tertullian the Church at
this period was recruited chiefly by conversions
(fiunt, non nascuntur Christian), Apol., xviii); the
new law, consequently, aimed at cutting off this
fertile source of membership, by imposing the death-
penalty both on converts and on those who were the
instruments of their conversion. Among the martyrs
executed at Carthage under the law of Severus were
the young matron Vibia Perpetua and the slave
Felicitas, the Acts of whose martyrdom, which,
perhaps, we owe to Tertullian (Duchesne, op. cit., I,
394), is one of the "jewels of ancient Christian litera-
ture". Throughout the trying period inaugurated
by the new legislation (202-213), during which the
law was enforced with more or less severity according
to the disposition of the governor of the moment,
Tertullian was the central figure of the Church of
Carthage. His rigorism indeed drew him, about the
opening year of the persecution, into the sect of the
Montanists, but in spite of this lapse he appears not
to have lost for many years the confidence of the
orthodox; as late as 212 he wrote his letter to the
Proconsul Scapula in the name of the Christians of
Carthage (Leclercq, op. cit., I, 165). It was only in
the following year (213) that he broke definitively
with the Church and became the head of an obscure
sect, called after him "Tertullianists", which main-
tained a precarious existence till the age of St.
Augustine.
From this time to the election of St. Cyprian (249) little is known of the Church of Carthage. The Acts of Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas mention a certain Optatus, who was Bishop either of Carthage or Thu- burbo minus. Agrippinus, already mentioned, was Bishop of Carthage about 197, and the immediate predecessor of St. Cyprian was Donatus, who presided over a council of ninety African bishops which con- demned as a heretic Privatus, Bishop of Lambesa. Like Tertullian, Cyprian was a convert to Christian- ity; he was baptized at Carthage about 246. The period of his episcopate (249-258) is one of the most important, as well as the best known, in the annals of Christianity in Africa. A year after his elevation the edict of the Emperor Decius against the Christians was promulgated, and its appearance was the signal for wholesale apostasy. During the long interval of peace since the persecution of Severus the fervour of the Christians of Carthage had suffered a notable decline. The time was therefore favourable for effecting the emperor's purpose, which was to compel the Christians to renounce their faith and offer sacri- fice on the altars of the gods. In the early stages of the persecution capital punishment was not resorted to, except in the case of bishops, but the mere threat of even less severe penalties induced large numbers to comply with the law. Many others, however,
E roved themselves worthy of their religion and died eroically. At the beginning of the storm, Cyprian, knowing
that as bishop he would be one of the first victims,
and judging that in a time so perilous it was his duty
for the moment to preserve his life for the good of his
flock, retired to a secure refuge. His motives were
not, however, correctly construed by some of his
people, and even the Roman priests who directed the
chief Church of Christendom after the martyrdom
of Pope Fabian (236-250) made a rather uncompli-
mentary allusion, in a letter to the clergy of Carthage,
to "the Good Shepherd and the hireling". Cyprian
was naturally offended at the tone of this missive,
and easily proved to the satisfaction of the Romans
that they had misjudged him. But the difficulties
which arose in Carthage itself during his retirement
were not so easily overcome. In the absence of the
bishop five priests hostile to him took it upon them-
selves to receive back apostates (lapsi, libettatici)
into communion, merely on the recommendation of
confessors awaiting martyrdom in prison. The
intercession of confessors for the fallen was then cus-
tomary, and was always regarded by the bishops
as a reason for remitting part of the canonical pen-
ance for apostasy. But in Carthage at this time
some of the confessors seem to have regarded them-
selves as having practically superseded the bishops,
and issued letters of communion in a tone of com-
mand. One of them, for example, gave a note order-
ing the restoration of the bearer and his friends to
communion (communicet ille cum stii-s). Cyprian
objected to this usurpation of his authority, which,
if not resisted, would destroy the Church's discipline,
and he was supported in this attitude by the clergy
and confessors of the Roman Church. On this
Novatus, one of the rebellious priests, set out for
Rome to obtain, if possible, support for his party.
But the schismatical envoy at first met with no suc-
cess. Eventually, however, he won over the priest
Novatian and some of the Roman confessors. The
object of the alliance was to elect a "confessors'
pope", who would support a "confessors' bishop",
to be elected in Carthage in opposition to Cyprian.
The allies were, however, defeated at the outset by
the election of Pope Cornelius, who was on the side
of Cyprian. But this check did not at all dispose
them to yield; they proceeded to elect an antipope
in the person of Novatian. Meanwhile Cyprian
had returned to Carthage, where he convened a
council of African bishops for the purpose of dealing
with the question of the lapsi. The decision of the
council was moderate: all apostates who repented
their fall were admitted to penance, which should
last a greater or less time according to the degree of
their guilt. The decree to this effect was confirmed
by a Roman council under Pope Cornelius. But
now, curiously enough, Novatian, who had taken
the part of the laxists of Carthage, became a rigor-
ist; he admitted apostates to penance, indeed, but
without hope of reconciliation with the Church, even
at the point of death. His views, however, were re-
ceived with little favour, and eventually, through
the efforts of Dionysius of Alexandria, Cyprian, and
Pope Cornelius, the Roman confessors from whom
he hail derived his prestige deserted his party and
were admitted to communion. The attempts to or-
ganize a schism in Carthage were no more successful.
Cyprian was supported by all the bishops of Africa,
with five exceptions, three of whom were apostates
and two heretics.
The years 255-257 witnessed a controversy between Rome and Carthage on a question of discipline which for a short time produced strained relations between these two great centres of Latin Christianity. The trouble arose over the different modes in vogue in Rome and in Africa of receiving into communion persons baptized in heretical sects. In Koine baptism conferred by heretics was per se admitted to be valid; in Africa such baptism was regarded as
