Early Unitarians in Christianity 85The Bishop of Rome tried to insta1l one of his own bishops in
Carthage to replace Donatus. His name was Cacealian. The pres
tige of Constantine was such that, in the conflict which ensued,
both parties appealed to him. It appears that they thought that
whoever won his support would have no further battles to fight.
This attempt to win the patronage of Constantinebrought with it a
very important change in the history of Christianity, For the first
time it had become possible for schism and unorthodoxy to be
come an offence punishable by secular law. This secular coat of
armour stood at the disposal of whoever could prove himself to be
'orthodox', and could thenbe used against those who differed from
this new standard of orthodoxy. Constantine decided in favour of
Cacealian.
Whenthe newsofConstantine's decisionreachedCarthage, the
general populace there gathered around the office of the Roman
proconsul and denounced Cacealian. Constantine was annoyed by
their action, butnevertheless appointed a tribunal under the Bishop
of Rome to hear the case of the two parties once again. Donatus
was not present and no one was there to argue his case. The deci
sion went against himin absentia, but the Apostolic church in North
Africa refused to accept the ex parte verdict of the Roman Bishop.
Constantine was scandalised that the 'ministers of Cod were
wrangling amongst themselves like otdinary litigants.' 4 In spite of
his disappointment, he set up a new tribunal at Arles. The two
parties were told to travel thereby different routes, in orderto pre
vent any clashes before the hearing took place. The Donatists lost
again. The decision was that 'the bishops foundthemselves deal
ing with dangerous men who had no respect for authority or tradi
tion. They were fit only for condemnation.' 5
This decision was no more acceptable to the NorthAfricanChris
tians than the previous rulings. As it was, they had little respect
for the Roman proconsul and the other imperial officials, For gen
erationsnowthe Christianshad sufferedpersecutionat theirhands,
and regarded them as emissaries of Satan. Formerly, they had been
persecuted becausethey wereChristians. N ow they were to be per
secuted because they were not the right kind of Christians. The
North African Christians could not accept that the officials of the
Roman Empire had become servants of Cod overnight, merely
because they sought to enforce a ruling of the Pauline Bishop of
Rome. Up until this point, Donatus had been their bishop. He now
became their popular leader.