Donatists
Constantine
Almost as soon as Constantine had won the battle
of the Milvian Bridge and been converted to Christianity, in the
winter of 313 AD, he began to get letters
from Africa about the Donatists. This was a fight between Christians
which had started during the Great Persecution
of Diocletian. The
persecution had been very bad in Africa and many Christians had been
killed. Some of the Christians in Africa had not done anything to hide
or try to get away from the persecutors, but had stood up bravely for
their faith. Others had done little things to try to protect themselves,
like handing over copies of the Bible to the persecutors. Now the two
sides were fighting, and they wanted Constantine to say who was right.
Constantine asked the advice of the Christian bishops at his court,
and soon decided in favor of the moderates, the people who had hidden
things and handed things over. He thought the other side, the Donatists,
sounded like dangerous radicals and not the sort of responsible people
you would want to be in charge of anything. But the Donatists appealed
his decision. Constantine heard the case again, but again he decided
in favor of the moderates.
