Donatism – RCS

Nikita Dmitrievich Lakhtinen Bachelor of History, bachelor of Theology, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
niko.lahtinen18@gmail.com

Lakhtinen N. S. Review on the monograph by V. I. Guerrier «Blessed Augustine», Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2022, vol. 11, pp. 288–303.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2022-11-288-303

Language: Russian

The review deals with the monograph by V. I. Guerrier «Blessed Augustine», which is devoted to the study of his personality, works and activities. The life path, worldview and ideas of Augustine as a fighter against heresies, an advocate for the offended, an opponent of the arbitrariness of the authorities and a spiritual mentor are described. Guerrier highlights the struggle of Augustine with pagans and Donatists, his works concerning world history, the teachings of Christ and the position of the Church, as well as his ideas, which not only largely determined the activities of the Church for centuries to come, but also had significance for the entire European Christian culture. The main idea is the doctrine of the «City of God».

Key words: St. Augustine, paganism, donatism, heresy, state, church, philosophy of history, City of God

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-lahtinen-2022/

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Andrei Leonidovich Mamontov PhD-student, the Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034) , almamontov1992@mail.ru

Mamontov A. L. The Donatist Hagiography and the Roman State, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 126–149.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00007

Language: Russian

With the Donatist hagiography being not well studied yet, especially in the Russian scholarship, the article attempts to fill the gap. Seven martyr stories are considered in the research, and some of them prove to be spuriously attributed to the dissident church (especially, The Passion of Cyprian). Other texts, undoubtedly Donatist, were written not by eye-witnesses (except, possibly, The Passion of Marculus), but after the actual martyrdom. These texts are notable for their fervent polemics against the Catholic Church («traitors») and the cruel assistant, the Roman state.
The author is particularly interested in the polemics against the Roman Empire. After the Constantinian revolution the pagan state turned into a Christian one, therefore we might expect from believers, even from Donatists, a certain «bonhomie» towards it. Still the Donatist church preferred the rhetoric of exclusion and filled their martyr stories with it. Military and civil servants were accused of cruelty, greediness, adultery, helping the false (Catholic) church, hating the true (Donatist) church, lawlessness and being employed by the devil.
Though some scholars suppose, that Donatists produced special political theology, criticizing secular interventions in religious affairs, the author concludes that dissidents themselves did not act fitting to such a theory. They used every chance to gain the help of the Empire. The polemics against it could have a more practical goal: to save the people from leaving the schism under pressure of the anti-donatist legislation.

Key words: Donatism, hagiography, martyrs, North-African Christianity

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/mamontov-2017-en/