Christianity in the Roman Africa province
The name early African church is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region known politically as Roman Africa, and comprised geographically somewhat around the area of the Roman Diocese of Africa, namely: the Mediterranean littoral between Cyrenaica on the east and the river Ampsaga on the west; that part of it that faces the Atlantic Ocean being called Mauretania, in addition to Byzacena. Thus corresponding somewhat to contemporary Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The evangelization of Africa followed much the same lines as those traced by Roman civilization. From the late fifth and early sixth century, the region included several Christian Berber kingdoms.
Informal primacy was exercised by the Archdiocese of Carthage, a metropolitan archdiocese also known as "Church of Carthage". The Church of Carthage thus was to the early African church what the Church of Rome was to the Catholic Church in Italy. The archdiocese used the African Rite, a variant of the Western liturgical rites in Latin language, possibly a local use of the primitive Roman Rite.
Famous figures include Saint Perpetua, Saint Felicitas, and their Companions, Tertullian, Cyprian , Caecilianus, Saint Aurelius, and Eugenius of Carthage. Tertullian and Cyprian are both considered Latin Church Fathers of the Latin Church. Tertullian, a theologian of part Berber descent, was instrumental in the development of trinitarian theology, and was the first to apply Latin language extensively in his theological writings. As such, Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity" and "the founder of Western theology." Carthage remained an important center of Christianity, hosting several councils of Carthage.
History
First centuries
The delimitation of the ecclesiastical boundaries of the African Church is a matter of great difficulty. Again and again the Roman political authority rearranged the provincial divisions, and on various occasions the ecclesiastical authorities conformed the limits of their respective jurisdictions to those of the civil power. These limits, however, were not only liable to successive rectification, but in some cases they were not even clearly marked. Parts of Mauretania always remained independent; the mountainous region to the west of the Aurès Mountains, and the plateau above the Tell never became Roman. The high lands of the Sahara and all the country west of the Atlas range were inhabited by the nomad tribes of the Gaetuli, and there are neither churches nor definite ecclesiastical organizations to be found there. Christianity filtered in, so to speak, little by little.Bishoprics were founded among the converts, as the need for them arose; were moved, possibly, from place to place, and disappeared, without leaving a trace of their existence. The historical period of the African Church begins in 180 with groups of martyrs. At a somewhat later date the writings of Tertullian tell us how rapidly African Christianity had grown. It had passed the Roman military lines, and spread among the peoples to the south and southeast of the Aure. About the year 200 there was a violent persecution at Carthage and in the provinces held by the Romans. We gain information as to its various phases from the martyrdom of St. Perpetua and the treatises of Tertullian. Christianity, however, did not even then cease to make distant conquests; Christian epitaphs are to be found at Sour El-Ghozlane, dated 227, and at Tipasa, dated 238. These dates are assured. If we rely on texts less definite we may admit that the evangelization of Northern Africa began very early.
By the opening of the 3rd century there was a large Christian population in the towns and even in the country districts, which included not only the poor, but also persons of the highest rank. A council held at Carthage about the year 235 was presided over by the earliest known bishop of Carthage, Agrippinus, and was attended by eighteen bishops from the province of Numidia. Another council, held in the time of Cyprian, about the middle of the 3rd century, was attended by eighty-seven bishops. At this period the African Church went through a very grave crisis.
The Emperor Decius published an edict that made many martyrs and confessors, and not a few apostates. A certain bishop, followed by his whole community, was to be seen sacrificing to the gods. The apostates and the timid who had bought a certificate of apostasy for money became so numerous as to believe they could lay down the law to the Church, and demand their restoration to ecclesiastical communion, a state of affairs that gave rise to controversies and deplorable troubles.
Yet the Church of Africa had martyrs, even at such a time. The persecutions at the end of the third, and the beginning of the fourth, century did not only make martyrs; they also gave rise to a minority that claimed that Christians could deliver the sacred books and the archives of the Church to the officers of the State, without lapsing from the faith.
After Constantine
The accession of Constantine the Great found the African Church torn apart by controversies and heresies; Catholics and Donatists contended not only in polemics, but also in a violent and bloody way. A law of Constantine deprived the Donatists of their churches, most of which they had taken from the Catholics. They had, however, grown so powerful that even such a measure failed to crush them. They were so numerous that a Donatist Council, held at Carthage, in 327, was attended by 270 bishops. Donatism mainly spread among the indigenous Berber population, and Donatists were able to blend Christianity with many of the Berber local customs. A number of new ceremonies and doctrines were added to Christian practices. Donatist Christianity was source of unity among its member and indigenous Berber nationalism.Attempts at reconciliation, suggested by the Emperor Constantius II, only widened the breach and led to armed repression, an ever-growing disquiet, and an enmity that became increasingly embittered. Yet, in the very midst of these troubles, the Primate of Carthage, Gratus, declared : "God has restored Africa to religious unity." Julian's accession and his permission to all religious exiles to return to their homes added to the troubles of the African Church. A Donatist bishop sat in the seceded see of Carthage, in opposition to the orthodox bishop.
One act of violence followed another and begat new conflicts. About this period, Optatus, Bishop of Milevum, began to combat the sect by his writings. A few years later, St. Augustine, converted at Milan, returned to his native land, and entered the lists against every kind of error. Paganism had by that time ceased to be a menace to the Church; in 399 the temples were closed at Carthage. Nevertheless, the energy and genius of Augustine were abundantly occupied in training the clergy and instructing the faithful, as well as in theological controversy with the heretics. For forty years, from 390 to 430, the Councils of Carthage, which reunited a great part of the African Episcopate, public discussions with the Donatists, sermons, homilies, scriptural commentaries, followed almost without interval; an unparalleled activity that had commensurate results.
Pelagianism, which had made great strides in Africa, was condemned at the Council of Carthage. Donatism, also, and semipelagianism were stricken to death at an hour when political events of the utmost gravity changed the history and the destiny of the African Church. Conflict between Carthage and Rome on the regulation of the African Church came to the fore when Apiarius of Sicca appealed his excommunication to Rome and thus challenged the authority of Carthage. Count Boniface had summoned the Vandals to Africa in 426, and by 429 the invasion was completed. The barbarians advanced rapidly and made themselves masters of cities and provinces. In 430 St. Augustine died, during the siege of Hippo; nine years later Genseric, king of the Vandals, took possession of Carthage. Then began for the African Church an era of persecution of a kind hitherto unknown. The Vandals were Arians, and were bent on establishing Arianism.
Churches the invasion had left standing were either transferred to the Arians or withdrawn from the Catholics and closed to public worship. The intervention of the Emperor Zeno and the conclusion of a treaty of peace with Genseric, were followed by a transient calm. The churches were opened, and the Catholics were allowed to choose a bishop, but the death of Genseric, and the edict of Huneric, in 484, made matters worse than before. A contemporary writer, Victor of Vita, has told us what we know of this long history of the Vandal persecution. In such a condition of peril, the Christians of Africa did not display much courage in the face of oppression.
File:Tunisie Basilique Damous el Karita 7.jpg|thumb|240px|Ruins of Basilica of Damous El Karita west view in Carthage.
During the last years of Vandal rule in Africa, St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, exercised a fortunate influence over the princes of the Vandal dynasty, who were no longer completely barbaric, but whose culture, wholly Roman and Byzantine, equalled that of their native subjects. Yet the Vandal monarchy, which had lasted for nearly a century, seemed less firmly established than at its beginning. Hilderic, who succeeded Thrasamund in 523, was too cultured and too mild a prince to impose his will on others. Gelimer made an attempt to deprive him of power, and, proclaimed King of the Vandals in 531, marched on Carthage and dethroned Hilderich. His cause appeared to be completely successful, and his authority firmly established, when a Byzantine fleet appeared off the coast of Africa. The battle of Ad Decimum won the initiative for the invading Byzantines. The taking of Carthage, the flight of Gelimer, and the battle of Tricamarum, about the middle of December, completed their destruction and their disappearance.
The victor, Belisarius, had but to show himself in order to reconquer the greater part of the coast, and to place the cities under the authority of the Emperor Justinian. A Council held at Carthage in 534 was attended by 220 bishops representing all the churches. It issued a decree forbidding the public exercise of Arian worship. The establishment of Byzantine rule, however, was far from restoring unity to the African Church. The Councils of Carthage brought together the bishops of Proconsular Africa, Byzacena, and Numidia, but those of Tripolitania and Mauretania were absent. Mauretania had, in fact, regained its political autonomy, during the Vandal period. A native dynasty had been set up, and the Byzantine army of occupation never succeeded in conquering a part of the country so far from their base at Carthage.
The reign of Justinian marks a sad period in the history of the African Church, due to the part taken by the clergy in the matter known as the Three-Chapter Controversy. While one part of the episcopate wasted its time and energies in fruitless theological discussions, others failed of their duty. It was under these circumstances that Pope Gregory the Great sent men to Africa, whose lofty character contributed greatly to increase the prestige of the Roman Church. The notary Hilarus became in some sense a papal legate with authority over the African Bishops. He left them in no doubt as to their duty, instructed or reprimanded them, and summoned councils in the Pope's name. With the help of the metropolitan of Carthage, he succeeded in restoring unity, peace, and ecclesiastical discipline in the African Church, which drew strength from so fortunate a change even so surely as the See of Rome regained in respect and authority.