88 Jesus, Prophet ofIslam
Therewasa mass slaughter ofpeople.Deadbodies werethrown
into wells, and bishops were murdered in their churches. How
ever, the surviving Donatists remained firm, and if anything, their
movement became stronger than before. They named their Church
the 'Church of Martyrs'. These events widened the rift between
theDonatistsand the Catholic Chureh even further. Since the Catho
lieChurchwas workingin alliancewiththe paganmagistrates and
their soldiers, the Catholics were called schismatics and their
churches were identified as places of 'hated idolatry'.
Constantine, who was a good administrator, realised the futil
ity of trying to restore religious harmony and unity by force. De
ciding that discretion was the better part of valour, he left the peo
ple in North Africa to themselves. However, it was these events
and their consequences which played a large part in his later mak
ing the decision to calI the famous Council of Nicea.
o e o o o
Before returning to the story of Arius, who at this point was just
beginning to make his voice heard, it would be of interest to give a
very brief summary of the history of the Donatists up until the
coming of Islam: once Constantine had tumed his attention away
from North Africa to other parts of his Empire, the persecution of
the Donatists lessened considerably, and their numbers again be
gan to increase rapidly. They became so powerful that when the
Emperor had a church built for the Catholics of North Africa in 330
AD, the Donatists took possession of il. The Emperor was enraged,
but could do nothing about it except promise the Catholics suffi
cient money to build another church for themselves. The Donatist
movement spread even to Rome. They too had a Bishop of Rome,
but he was regarded as being a rank below the Bishop of Carthage
and Nicomedia. ~I
Donatus acquired sovereign authority at Carthage. He was re
garded by the masses as a being superior to other mortaIs. He was
never called a bishop, but was known as 'Donatus of Carthage'.
Augustine once complained that the Donatists reacted more sharply
to an insult against Donatus than to a blasphemy against Jesus, a
fact which is easily explained by the strong and unkind language
which many of the Catholics used when taIking about Donatus.
When the reign of Constantine ended, the Donatists continued
to work for the independence of their Church and to oppose any
interferenée from the Emperor or his officiais in matters of reli
http://www.islamicbulletin.com