Donatist charges centered on the fact that certain Catholic bishops had handed over the Scriptures to be burned during the persecution under Diocletian. Such an act, the Donatists insisted, was a serious sin of apostasy. Since the Catholic pastors were ordained by bishops who had sinned so grievously, the Donatists believed they, rather than the Catholics, constituted the true Church of Christ. They argued that the validity of the sacrament depends upon the moral standing of the minister. Augustine became Donatisms’s chief rival.
[tags]Augustine, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Diocletian, Donatism, history[/tags]
