Letter 53: 1. Since you were pleased to acquaint us with the letter sent to you by a Donatist presbyter, although, with the spirit of a true Catholic, you regarded it with contempt, nevertheless, to aid you in seeking his welfare if his folly be not incurable, we beg you to forward to him the following reply. He wrote that an angel had enjoined him to decl...

Augustine to Generosus, greetings. You have asked me for a clear account of why we — the Catholic communion — believe that ours is the true Church and that the Donatists are in schism. I will give you the clearest account I can, and I will try to do it without rancor, because the truth does not need anger to defend it. The first and most important thing to understand is this: the Church of Christ is not confined to North Africa. The Lord said to his apostles: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" [Acts 1:8]. The Church is spread throughout the world — in Rome, in Constantinople, in Antioch, in Alexandria, in Spain, in Gaul, in the islands of the sea. All of these communities are in communion with one another. They recognize each other's baptism, share each other's bread, receive each other's letters of commendation. The Donatists are in communion with none of them. Their community exists only in Africa. Now ask yourself: is it more likely that the entire world is wrong and one province is right? Or that one province has separated itself from the whole and calls its separation purity? Second: the origins of the schism. The Donatists claim that Caecilian, Bishop of Carthage, was invalidly ordained because one of his consecrators was a traditor. This claim was investigated by councils at Rome and Arles and by the Emperor Constantine himself. In every case, the charges against Caecilian were found to be either unproven or fabricated. The Donatists rejected these verdicts — but rejecting a verdict is not the same as overturning it. Third: the theological principle. Even if the charges against Caecilian's consecrator had been true — even if Felix of Aptunga had been the worst of the traditores — it would not have invalidated Caecilian's ordination. The sacraments do not depend on the worthiness of the minister but on the faithfulness of God. Otherwise, as I keep saying, no one could ever be certain of anything. I lay these things before you, brother, not to win an argument but to clear a path. The path leads back to unity, and unity is where Christ is. Farewell.

Letter 53 (A.D. 400) To Generosus, Our Most Loved and Honourable Brother, Fortunatus, Alypius, and Augustine Send Greeting in the Lord. Chapter 1 1. Since you were pleased to acquaint us with the letter sent to you by a Donatist presbyter, although, with the spirit of a true Catholic, you regarded it with contempt, nevertheless, to aid you in seeking his welfare if his folly be not incurable, we beg you to forward to him the following reply. He wrote that an angel had enjoined him to declare to you the episcopal succession of the Christianity of your town; to you, forsooth, who hold the Christianity not of your own town only, nor of Africa only, but of the whole world, the Christianity which has been published, and is now published to all nations. This proves that they think it a small matter that they themselves are not ashamed of being cut off, and are taking no measures, while they may, to be engrafted anew; they are not content unless they do their utmost to cut others off, and bring them to share their own fate, as withered branches fit for the flames. Wherefore, even if you had yourself been visited by that angel whom he affirms to have appeared to him — a statement which we regard as a cunning fiction; and if the angel had said to you the very words which he, on the warrant of the alleged command, repeated to you — even in that case it would have been your duty to remember the words of the apostle: Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:8 For to you it was proclaimed by the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, that His gospel shall be preached unto all nations, and then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14 To you it has moreover been proclaimed by the writings of the prophets and of the apostles, that the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed, which is Christ, Galatians 3:16 when God said to him: In your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Having then such promises, if an angel from heaven were to say to you, Let go the Christianity of the whole earth, and cling to the faction of Donatus, the episcopal succession of which is set forth in a letter of their bishop in your town, he ought to be accursed in your estimation; because he would be endeavouring to cut you off from the whole Church, and thrust you into a small party, and make you forfeit your interest in the promises of God. 2. For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it! Matthew 16:18 The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these:— Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, reversing the natural course of things, the Donatists sent to Rome from Africa an ordained bishop, who, putting himself at the head of a few Africans in the great metropolis, gave some notoriety to the name of mountain men, or Cutzupits, by which they were known. 3. Now, even although some traditor had in the course of these centuries, through inadvertence, obtained a place in that order of bishops, reaching from Peter himself to Anastasius, who now occupies that see — this fact would do no harm to the Church and to Christians having no share in the guilt of another; for the Lord, providing against such a case, says, concerning officers in the Church who are wicked: All whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. Matthew 23:3 Thus the stability of the hope of the faithful is secured, inasmuch as being fixed, not in man, but in the Lord, it never can be swept away by the raging of impious schism; whereas they themselves are swept away who read in the Holy Scriptures the names of churches to which the apostles wrote, and in which they have no bishop. For what could more clearly prove their perversity and their folly, than their saying to their clergy, when they read these letters, Peace be with you, at the very time that they are themselves disjoined from the peace of those churches to which the letters were originally written? Chapter 2 4. Lest, however, he should congratulate himself too much on the succession of bishops in Constantina, your own city, read to him the records of proceedings before Munatius Felix, the resident Flamen [heathen priest], who was governor of your city in the consulship of Diocletian for the eighth time, and Maximian for the seventh, on the eleventh day before the calends of June. By these records it is proved that the bishop Paulus was a traditor; the fact being that Sylvanus was then one of his sub-deacons, and, along with him, produced and surrendered certain things belonging to the Lord's house, which had been most carefully concealed, namely a box and a lamp of silver, upon seeing which a certain Victor is reported to have said, You would have been put to death if you had not found these. Your Donatist priest makes great account of this Sylvanus, this clearly convicted traditor, in the letter which he writes you, mentioning him as then ordained to the office of bishop by the Primate Secundus of Tigisis. Let them keep their proud tongues silent, let them admit the charges which may truly be brought against themselves, and not utter foolish calumnies against others. Read to him also, if he permits it, the ecclesiastical records of the proceedings of this same Secundus of Tigisis in the house of Urbanus Donatus, in which he remitted to God, as judge, men who confessed themselves to have been traditors — Donatus of Masculi, Marinns of Aquæ Tibilitanæ, Donatus of Calama, with whom as his colleagues, though they were confessed traditors, he ordained their bishop Sylvanus, of whose guilt in the same matter I have given the history above. Read to him also the proceedings before Zenophilus, a man of consular rank, in the course of which a certain deacon of theirs, Nundinarius, being angry with Sylvanus for having excommunicated him, brought all these facts into court, proving them incontestably by authentic documents, and the questioning of witnesses, and the reading of public records and many letters. 5. There are many other things which you might read in his hearing, if he is disposed not to dispute angrily, but to listen prudently, such as: the petition of the Donatists to Constantine, begging him to send from Gaul bishops who should settle this controversy which divided the African bishops; the Acts recording what took place in Rome, when the case was taken up and decided by the bishops whom he sent there: also you might read in other letters how the Emperor aforesaid states that they had made a complaint to him against the decision of their peers — the bishops, namely, whom he had sent to Rome; how he appointed other bishops to try the case over again at Arles; how they appealed from that tribunal also to the Emperor again; how at last he himself investigated the matter; and how he most emphatically declares that they were vanquished by the innocence of Cæcilianus. Let him listen to these things if he be willing, and he will be silent and desist from plotting against the truth. Chapter 3 6. We rely, however, not so much on these documents as on the Holy Scriptures, wherein a dominion extending to the ends of the earth among all nations is promised as the heritage of Christ, separated from which by their sinful schism they reproach us with the crimes which belong to the chaff in the Lord's threshing-floor, which must be permitted to remain mixed with the good grain until the end come, until the whole be winnowed in the final judgment. From which it is manifest that, whether these charges be true or false, they do not belong to the Lord's wheat, Matthew 13:30 which must grow until the end of the world throughout the whole field, i.e. the whole earth; as we know, not by the testimony of a false angel such as confirmed your correspondent in his error, but from the words of the Lord in the Gospel. And because these unhappy Donatists have brought the reproach of many false and empty accusations against Christians who were blameless, but who are throughout the world mingled with the chaff or tares, i.e. with Christians unworthy of the name, therefore God has, in righteous retribution, appointed that they should, by their universal Council, condemn as schismatics the Maximianists, because they had condemned Primianus, and baptized while not in communion with Primianus, and rebaptized those whom he had baptized, and then after a short interval should, under the coercion of Optatus the minion of Gildo, reinstate in the honours of their office two of these, the bishops Felicianus of Musti and Prætextatus of Assuri, and acknowledge the baptism of all whom they, while under sentence and excommunicated, had baptized. If, therefore, they are not defiled by communion with the men thus restored again to their office — men whom with their own mouth they had condemned as wicked and impious, and whom they compared to those first heretics whom the earth swallowed up alive, — let them at last awake and consider how great is their blindness and folly in pronouncing the whole world defiled by unknown crimes of Africans, and the heritage of Christ (which according to the promise has been shown unto all nations) destroyed through the sins of these Africans by the maintenance of communion with them; while they refuse to acknowledge themselves to be destroyed and defiled by communicating with men whose crimes they had both known and condemned. 7. Wherefore, since the Apostle Paul says in another place, that even Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and that therefore it is not strange that his servants should assume the guise of ministers of righteousness: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 if your correspondent did indeed see an angel teaching him error, and desiring to separate Christians from the Catholic unity, he has met with an angel of Satan transforming himself into an angel of light. If, however, he has lied to you, and has seen no such vision, he is himself a servant of Satan, assuming the guise of a minister of righteousness. And yet, if he be not incorrigibly obstinate and perverse, he may, by considering all the things now stated, be delivered both from misleading others, and from being himself misled. For, embracing the opportunity which you have given, we have met him without any rancour, remembering in regard to him the words of the apostle: The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26 If, therefore, we have said anything severe, let him know that it arises not from the bitterness of controversy, but from love vehemently desiring his return to the right path. May you live safe in Christ, most beloved and honourable brother!

EPISTOLA 53 Scripta circa a. 400. Confutatur epistola presbyteri cuiusdam donatistae, qui Generosum, catholicum Constantiniensem, seducere moliebatur simulans ab Angelo se monitum ut ipsum ad Donati partem adduceret (n. 1-3), demonstrans haereticam factionem nullum vinculum habere cum Petri sede, a qua nulla iusta causa discessisset (n. 4-7).   Dilectissimo et honorabili fratri Generoso, Fortunatus, Alypius et Augustinus, in Domino salutem Gravissimum malum esse schisma etsi ab Angelo proponatur. 1. 1. Quoniam nobis notam esse voluisti epistolam quam ad te Donatistarum presbyter dedit, quanquam eam tu quoque catholico animo deriseris: tamen ut ei potius si non disperate desipit, consulas, haec ad eum rescripta petimus perferas. Ille enim ordinem Christianitatis civitatis vestrae tibi ut insinuaret, iussisse sibi angelum scripsit, cum tu teneas Christianitatem, non civitatis tuae tantum, nec tantum Africae vel Afrorum, sed totius orbis terrae, quae annuntiata est et annuntiatur omnibus gentibus. Unde illis parum est, quod praecisos esse non pudet, nec sibi subveniunt, ut cum possunt, redeant ad radicem, nisi etiam secum alios praecidere, et sicut ligna arida in ignem destinare conentur. Quapropter si tibi ipsi angelus astitisset, quem sibi ille propter te astitisse, quantum arbitramur, astuta vanitate confingit, et haec ipsa tibi dixisset, quae iste mandato illius tibi se insinuare dicit, oporteret te apostolicae sententiae memorem fieri, qui ait: Licet si nos, aut angelus de caelo vobis evangelizaverit, praeter id quod evangelizavimus vobis anathema sit 1. Evangelizatum est enim tibi per vocem ipsius Domini Iesu Christi, quod omnibus gentibus annuntiabitur Evangelium eius, et tunc finis erit 2. Evangelizatum tibi est per propheticas et apostolicas Litteras, quod Abrahae dictae sunt promissiones et semini eius quod est Christus 3, cum ei diceret Deus: In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes 4. Has ergo promissiones tenenti, si tibi angelus de coelo diceret: Dimitte Christianitatem orbis terrae, et tene partis Donati, cuius ordo tibi exponitur in epistola episcopi tuae civitatis, anathema esse deberet; quia te a toto praecidere, et in partem contrudere conaretur, et alienare a promissis Dei. Nullus Donatista inter Petri successores. 1. 2. Si enim ordo episcoporum sibi succedentium considerandus est, quanto certius et vere salubriter ab ipso Petro numeramus, cui totius Ecclesiae figuram gerenti Dominus ait: Super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferorum non vincent eam 5. Petro enim successit Linus; Lino, Clemens; Clementi, Anacletus; Anacleto, Evaristus; Evaristo, Sixtus; Sixto, Telesphorus; Telesphoro, Iginus; Igino, Anicetus; Aniceto, Pius; Pio, Soter; Soteri, Alexander; Alexandro, Victor; Victori, Zephirinus; Zephirino, Calixtus; Calixto, Urbanus; Urbano, Pontianus; Pontiano, Antherus; Anthero, Fabianus; Fabiano, Cornelius; Cornelio, Lucius; Lucio, Stephanus; Stephano, Xystus; Xysto, Dionysius; Dyonisio, Felix; Felici, Eutychianus; Eutychiano, Gaius; Gaio, Marcellus; Marcello, Eusebius; Eusebio, Miltiades; Miltiadi, Sylvester; Sylvestro, Marcus; Marco, Iulius; Iulio, Liberius; Liberio, Damasus; Damaso, Siricius; Siricio, Ariastasius. In hoc ordine successionis nullus donatista episcopus invenitur. Sed ex transverso ex Africa ordinatum miserunt, qui paucis praesidens Afris in urbe Roma Montensium vel Cutzupitarum vocabulum propagavit. Pax post epistolas missas ad Ecclesias quibuscum pax non servatur. 1. 3. In illum autem ordinem episcoporum qui ducitur ab ipso Petro usque ad Anastasium, qui nunc eamdem cathedram sedet, etiamsi quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepisset, nihil praeiudicaret Ecclesiae et innocentibus christianis, quibus Dominus providens, ait de praepositis malis: Quae dicunt, facite; quae autem faciunt, facere nolite: dicunt enim, et non faciunt 6. Ut certa sit spes fidelis, quae non in homine, sed in Domino collocata, nunquam tempestate sacrilegi schismatis dissipetur; sicut isti dissipati sunt, qui legunt in codicibus sanctis Ecclesias quibus Apostoli scripserunt, et nullum in eis habent episcopum. Quid autem perversius et insanius, quam lectoribus easdem Epistolas legentibus dicere: Pax tecum, et ab earum Ecclesiarum pace separari, quibus ipsae Epistolae scriptae sunt? Episcopi ac diaconi quidam Donatistae traditores. 2. 4. Tamen ne sibi etiam de Constantinensi, hoc est civitatis vestrae episcoporum ordine blandiatur, recita illi Gesta apud Munatium Felicem Flaminem perpetuum curatorem tunc eiusdem civitatis vestrae, Diocletiano octavum, et Maximiano septimum consulibus, undecimo calendas iunias, quibus liquido constitit ita Paulum episcopum tradidisse, ut Sylvanus tunc eius subdiaconus fuerit, et cum illo tradiderit proferens instrumenta dominica, etiam quae diligenter fuerant occultata, capitulatam argenteam, et lucernam argenteam, ita ut ei diceret Victor quidam: Mortuus fueras, si non illas invenisses. Hunc iste Sylvanum, manifestissimum traditorem, pro magno commemorat in epistola quam tibi scribit, a Secundo Tigisitano primae sedis episcopo episcopum tunc ordinatum. Quiescat ergo superba eorum lingua, et cognoscat crimina sua, ne delirans loquatur aliena. Recita illi etiam, si voluerit, Gesta ecclesiastica eiusdem Secundi Tigisitani in domo Urbani Donati habita, ubi confessos traditores iudici Deo dimisit, Donatum Masculitanum Marinum ab Aquis Tibilitanis, Donatum Calamensem, cum quibus confessis traditoribus memoratum traditorem Sylvanum eis ordinavit episcopum. Recita illi Gesta apud Zenophilum consularem, ubi Nundinarius quidam diaconus iratus Sylvano, quod ab eo fuerit excommunicatus, haec omnia iudiciis prodidit, quae certis documentis et responsionibus testium, et recitatione Gestorum et multarum epistolarum, luce clarius constiterunt. Constantini iudicium a Donatistis imploratum ac reiectum. 2. 5. Multa sunt alia quae illi recites, si non contentiose agere, sed prudenter audire voluerit: preces Donatistarum ad Constantinum, ut propter ipsam causam inter Afros episcopos dirimendam iudices ex Gallia episcopos mitteret. Litteras etiam eiusdem imperatoris, ubi episcopos misit ad urbem Romam. Gesta quoque in urbe Roma, ubi ab episcopis quos ille miserat, causa cognita atque discussa est. Itemque alias litteras, ubi declarat memoratus imperator eos apud se de collegarum suorum iudicio, id est episcoporum quos ad urbem Romam miserat, fuisse conquestos; ubi etiam alios episcopos voluit apud Arelatum iudicare; ubi isti et ab ipsorum iudicio ad eumdem imperatorem appellaverunt; ubi potremo causam inter partes ipse cognovit; ubi eos vehementissime detestatur innocentia Caeciliani fuisse superatos. Quae si voluerit, audiet, et tacebit, et desinet insidiari veritati. Promissa Ecclesiae suae a Christo facta. 3. 6. Quanquam nos non tam de istis documentis praesumamus, quam de Scripturis sanctis, ubi haereditas Christi usque ad terminos terrae promissa est in omnibus gentibus 7: unde isti nefario schismate separati, iactant crimina in paleam messis dominicae; quae necesse est usque ad finem permixta toleretur, donec ultimo iudicio tota area ventiletur 8. Unde manifestum est ista crimina seu vera seu falsa non pertinere ad frumenta dominica, quae per totum agrum, id est istum mundum usque in finem seculi oportet crescere, sicut non falsus angelus in huius errore, sed Dominus in Evangelio loquitur 9. Ideoque in christianos innocentes, qui per totum orbem malis christianis tanquam paleae suae vel zizaniis permixti sunt, multa falsa crimina et vana iactantibus his miseris Donatistis merito Deus reddidit, ut Maximianistas apud Cartaginem schismaticos suos Primiani damnatores, extra Primianum baptizatores, post Primianum rebaptizatores universali concilio suo damnarent: ut ex eorum numero post non parvum tempus quosdam in honoribus episcopatus sui, Felicianum Mustitanum et Praetextatum Assuritanum cogente Optato Gildoniano susciperent, cum omnibus quos damnati extra baptizaverant. Quod si ab eis, quos ore proprio tanquam sceleratos et sacrilegos damnaverunt, et quos illis primis schismaticis, quos vivos terra obruit 10, compararunt, non maculantur, cum eis rursus in honore suo receptis communicant; evigilent aliquando, cogitent quanta caecitate et quanta insania dicant orbem terrarum ignotis Afrorum criminibus esse maculatum, et haereditatem Christi, quae promissa exhibita est in omnibus gentibus, peccatis Afrorum per contagionem communicationis fuisse deletam, quando se nolunt deletos et maculatos videri, dum eis communicant, quorum crimina cognita iudicarunt. Satanam in angelum lucis converti ut fallat homines. 3. 7. Quapropter cum Paulus apostolus iterum dicat quia ipse satanas transfigurat, se in angelum lucis, unde non esse mirum si ministri eius transfigurant se sicut ministros iustitiae 11; si vere iste aliquem angelum vidit erroris nuntium, et de unitate catholica Christianos separare cupientem, ipse passus est angelum satanae transfigurantem se velut angelum lucis. Si autem mentitur, et nihil tale vidit, ipse est minister satanae, transfigurans se velut ministrum iustitiae. Et tamen ista omnia considerans, si nimium perversus et pertinax esse noluerit, poterit ab omni vel aliena vel sua seductione liberari. Nos enim per occasionem tuam sine aliquo odio convenimus, hoc circa eum servantes quod Apostolus dicit: Servum autem Domini litigare non oportet, sed mitem esse ad omnes, docibilem, patientem, in modestia corripientem diversa sentientes; ne forte det illis Deus poenitentiam ad cognoscendam veritatem, et resipiscant de diaboli laqueis, captivati ab ipso in ipsius voluntatem 12. Si ergo aliquid aspere diximus, non ad amaritudinem dissensionis, sed ad correptionem dilectionis valere cognoscat. Incolumis vivas in Christo, dilectissime et honorabilis frater. Amen.