The Gnostic-Manichaean Tradition in Roman North Africa

W. H. C. Frend

doi:10.1017/S0022046900025628

The Gnostic-Manichaean Tradition in Roman North Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

W. H. C. Frend

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W. H. C. Frend: Affiliation:
S. A. Cook By-Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

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Throughout its history one may detect three principle tendencies at work in the African Church. First, and probably the strongest, was the traditional Cyprianic and Donatist view of Christianity. This was a Biblical religion, rejecting the culture and society of the surrounding pagan world and exalting the qualities of the prophet and the martyr. Its ideas can be traced in unbroken sequence through the Montanists of Tertullian's time and the confessor party during the primacy of Cyprian down to the Donatists themselves. This religion interpreted the ideas of the majority of the North Africans at least as late as the first decades of the fifth century, and in particular it appealed to the labouring population of Numidia for whom it provided means of voicing hostility to the Roman taxes and Roman institutions.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 1953 , pp. 13 - 26

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900025628 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1953

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^{page 13 note 1} The writer has worked out these views in detail in The Donatist Church, Oxford 1952 particularly in chapters v and xx.

^{page 13 note 2} Augustine, Contra Litteras Petiliani, ii. 18. 40: P. L., xliii. 271.

^{page 13 note 3} For the reaction against Catholicism on the arrival of the Vandals see Victor of Vita, Historia Persecutionis Africanae Provinciae (ed. Petschenig, C.S.E.L., vii), 1.1, and Possidius, Vita Augustini, xxviii: P. L., xxxii. 58.

^{page 14 note 1} Augustine, De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum, xlvi and lxix: P. L., xlii. 34–38 and 43–44.

^{page 14 note 2} Augustine, Contra Cresconium, ii. 7. 9: ‘haeresis autem, schisma inveteratum’.

^{page 14 note 3} The only doctrinal issue was the tendency remarked on by Augustine for the Donatists to take the Arian view of the Trinity (Augustine, Ep. clxxxv. 1), but the Catholics had fallen into the same error at Sirmium and Ariminum.

^{page 14 note 4} Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, xciii. Gennadius, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, iv, v and xviii: P. L., lix. 1060 and 1071.

^{page 14 note 5} Augustine, Ep. xciii. 31.

^{page 14 note 6} Augustine, Contra Faustum, xx. 4: P. L., xlii. 370.

^{page 14 note 7} Tertullian, Scorpiace, i. and x.

^{page 14 note 8} Augustine, Contra Faustum, xiii. 1 and xv. 1, and De Haeresibus, xlvi. Cf. Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones, vi. 25. 10 (ed. Brandt, C.S.E.L., xix. 579).

^{page 14 note 9} See the important article by H. J. Polotsky on Manichaeism in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-enzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Supplement vi, cols. 240–271 at col. 267.

^{page 15 note 1} Felix's statement during his debate with Augustine in 405. Augustine, Acta cum Felice, i. 9 (P. L., xlii. 525); cf. Poimandres i. 4 (ed. Scott, W., Corpus Hermeticum, Oxford 1924, i. 114Google Scholar).

^{page 15 note 2} Augustine, Soliloquies, i. 7; cf. Confessions, i. 1.

^{page 15 note 3} For this view, see Carcopino, J., Aspects mystiques de la Rome païenne, Paris, Artisan du livre 1942, 293Google Scholar; cf. Lactantius, Div. Inst., ii. 15 and iv. 9 on Hermetism and Christianity.

^{page 15 note 4} Tertullian, De Praescriptione, i.

^{page 16 note 1} Tertullian, De Monogamia, xii; De Fuga, ix and xiv.

^{page 16 note 2} Even in Mauretania: Cyprian, Ep., lxxiii. 4; Philastrius, Panarion, liv.

^{page 16 note 3} See articles, ‘Abrasax’ and ‘Adjuration’ in Tome i. 1, and ‘Jao’ in Tome vii. 2, of the Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie.

^{page 16 note 4} J. Carcopino, loc. cit., 310. Hermetism was not regarded as in any way incompatible with Christian Gnosticism. Hermetic works were among those most in use by the Egyptian Gnostics of Nag Hammadi. See Puech, H. C., ‘Les Ecrits Gnostiques Decouverts en Haute-Egypte’, in Coptic Studies in Honour of Walter Ewing Crum, Byzantine Institute, Boston 1950, 91–154 at p. 143.Google Scholar

^{page 16 note 5} Optatus, De Schismate Donatistarum (C.S.E.L., xxvi. p. 11), i. 9.

^{page 16 note 6} Dating, Puech, H. C., Le Manichéisme, Publications du Musée Guimet, (Bibl. de Diffusion), lvi, Paris 1949, 53Google Scholar.

^{page 16 note 7} Text of the rescript in Krüger-Mommsen, Collectio libr. Juris antejustin., 1890, 187. Commentary Alfaric, P., Les Ecritures Manichéens, Paris, Nourry 1918, i. 61Google Scholar and Seston, Wm., Mélanges H. Ernout, Paris 1940, 345–54.Google Scholar

^{page 16 note 8} Augustine, Breviculus Collationis cum Donatistis, iii. 13. 25; P. L., xliii. 638.

^{page 16 note 9} Alexander of Lycopolis, De Placitis Manichaeorum, ii; P.G., xviii. 413. Dating, p. xv of Brinkmann's edition. Leipzig 1895.

^{page 16 note 10} In the pontificate of Miltiades, 311–314. See L. Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, i. 169, No. 3.

^{page 17 note 1} We know of the persecution of the Manichees in the Vandal period (Victor Vitensis, ii. 1), their survival under pope Gregory I (Ep. ii. 37) and their arrival in Italy under pope Gregory II (Ep. iv). In the mid-eighth century a Manichee ‘Imam’ arrived in Baghdad from Africa. See P. Alfaric, op. cit., 62.

^{page 17 note 2} See also Augustine, De Moribus Manichaeorum, ii. 2.

^{page 17 note 3} Augustine, Contra Fortunatum, i. 6; P.L., xlii. 115.

^{page 17 note 4} Excerpta ex Theodoto, lxxviii; P.G., ix. 694–695.

^{page 17 note 5} In the great Christian cemeteries, such as at Timgad, the body was placed at burial in liquid plaster so that its exact outline should be observed. For the literal belief in bodily resurrection see Tertullian, Apologeticus, xviii and xxiii.

^{page 17 note 6} The Manichee view of baptism was stated by Augustine. ‘Baptismum … quod Manichaei dicunt in omne aetate superfluum’: Contra Duas Epistolas Pelagianorum, iv. 4.5; P.L., xliv. 613, and cf. De Haeresibus xlvi; P.L., xlii. 38. For Manichaean denial of the resurrection of the body, Evodius, De Fide, xl; P.L., xlii. 1151.

^{page 18 note 1} See Festugière, R. P., La Révelation d'Hermes Trismégiste, Paris 1944, iGoogle Scholar, ‘Le Déclin de Rationalisme.’

^{page 18 note 2} See Possidius, Vita Augustini, vi. 15 and 16.

^{page 18 note 3} Cf. Tertullian, De Praescriptione, vii.

^{page 18 note 4} Alexander of Lycopolis, De Placitis Manichaeorum, ii.

^{page 18 note 5} Augustine, Confessions, vii. 9, 13.

^{page 18 note 6} J. Carcopino, op. cit., 214 and 224; and de Faye, E., Gnostiques et Gnosticisme, Paris 1925, 263–264Google Scholar.

^{page 18 note 7} J. Carcopino, op. cit., 279–81.

^{page 18 note 8} Tertullian, De Idololatria, ix.

^{page 19 note 1} Westermarck, E., Ritual and Belief in Morocco, London 1926, i. 417–478, at p. 475.Google Scholar

^{page 19 note 2} See article ‘Oeil’ in Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, xii. 2, cols. 1936–43. Also, L. Poinssot, ‘Les Mosaïques d'el Haouria’ in the proceedings of Premier Congrès de Soc. savantes de l'Afrique du Nord, 1935, 183–206, and Merlin, A. and Poinssot, L., ‘Deux mosaïques de Tunisie’, Monuments Piot, xxxiv, 1934, 129–176.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 19 note 3} E. Westermarck, op. cit., 414. For the ‘eye’ on Romano-Punic funerary urns see Missonier, F., ‘Fouilles dans la Nécropole Punique de Gouraya’, Mélanges de l'école française de Rome, l (1933) 104.Google Scholar

^{page 19 note 4} Bousset, W., Hauptprobleme der Gnosis, Leipzig 1907, 351–355Google Scholar. See also Murray, Gilbert, Five Stages of Greek Religion, London 1935, 147.Google Scholar

^{page 19 note 5} Gautier, E. F., Le Passé de l'Afrique du Nord, Payot 1937, 147Google Scholar. The writer has seen these in the Bardo Museum.

^{page 19 note 6} C.I.L., viii. 20437 and 20442.

^{page 19 note 7} Arnobius, Adv. Gentes, vi. 10.

^{page 19 note 8} Tertullian, Adv. Marcionem, i. 6, and iii. 21.

^{page 19 note 9} Augustine, De Consensu Evangelistarum, i. 21. 29–36; P. L., xxxiv. cols. 1055–1058; cf. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei, viii. 2.

^{page 20 note 1} Augustine, Contra Faustum, xx. 2; Evodius, De Fide, xxxiv, and see also Jonas, W., Gnosis und spätantiker Geist, Göttingen 1934, 303–312Google Scholar (some Gnostic parallels).

^{page 20 note 2} See F. Cumont, ‘La Propagation du Manichéisme dans l'Empire Romain’, in Revue d'Hist. et de Littérature religieuses, Nouv. serie, i. 1910, 31–43, and P. Monceaux, ‘Le Manichéen Faustus de Milev. Restitution de ses Capitula’ in Mémoires de l'Institut National de France, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, t. xliii, Part i, 1933, 20.

^{page 20 note 3} The Acta Archelai (ed. Beeson, Leipzig 1906) are used here as corroborative evidence to Contra Faustum and Contra Adimantium. Hegemonius's Epilogue, with its dating of Mani as ‘post dormitionem sancti martyris Cypriani, modicum ante Diocletianum’, and his detailed reference to the Donatists in Rome (Montenses), suggests that he may have been himself an African, perhaps one of the African colony in Rome.

^{page 21 note 1} Augustine, Contra Adversarium Legis et Prophetarum, i. 20. 43: P.L., xlii. 629.

^{page 21 note 2} Ibid., i. 14. 18.

^{page 21 note 3} Ibid., i. 21. 45.

^{page 21 note 4} Ibid., i. 1. 1; cf. i. 3. 4. and ii. 12. 40: ‘nam non eum puto esse Manichaeum.’

^{page 21 note 5} Tertullian, De Baptismo, xvii, shows that Marcionites were quoting these Acta to justify women participating in the Church as ministers. Faustus (Contra Faustum, xxx. 4) quotes the same Acta in defence of the ideal of virginity. The Leucian Acta of Andrew, Peter and John, together with the Acts of Thomas and Acts of Paul and Thecla formed part of a pentateuch used in Africa by both the Manichees and their ‘fellow-travellers’, such as the disciple of Fabricius.

^{page 21 note 6} Acta Scillitanorum (ed. Rendel Harris, Cambridge Texts and Studies, 1. ii, 1891, 106).

^{page 21 note 7} Contra Fortunatum, i. 7.

^{page 21 note 8} Ibid., i. 16.

^{page 22 note 1} Contra Fortunatum, i. 19.

^{page 22 note 2} Ibid., i. 21.

^{page 22 note 3} P. Alfaric, ‘Un Manuscript manichéen’, Rev. de l'Hist. et de Litt. rel., nouv. ser. vi. 1920), 62–98. Alfaric argues in favour of this remarkable manuscript being a translation of one of Mani's own works (p. 93). It seems, however, too full of Pauline quotations for this to be likely, and, moreover, the dropping of the senior Manichaean grades in favour of two categories only, Elect and Hearers, is an African expedient.

^{page 22 note 4} Breviarium Hipponense, 36 (ed. Bruns, , Canones Conciliorum Apostolorum Selecti, Berlin 1839, ii. 138Google Scholar). That this canon was intended to refer to apocryphal works used by the Manichees, see Augustine, Ep. lxiv. 3 (to Quintasius).

^{page 22 note 5} Augustine, Confessions, vi. 7. 12; De Unico Baptismo, xvi. 29; Contra Acad. i. 1. 3.

^{page 22 note 6} Augustine, Contra Litteras Petiliani, iii. 17. 20. The name too, Genethlius (i.e. skilled in casting horoscopes), of the Catholic bishop of Carthage (died 391) may be interesting in this connection.

^{page 23 note 1} Ep. ccxxxvi. 1–3: C.S.E.L., lvii. 524. Cf. Pope Leo I, Sermo, xlii. 5: P.L., liv. 279.

^{page 23 note 2} Contra Fulgentium, xiii: P.L., xliii. 768. It is interesting that Tertullian aligns Gnostics and Catholics (‘Psychics’) as enemies of the church of the martyrs.

^{page 23 note 3} Augustine, De Libero Arbitrio, i. 4: ‘eam quaestionem quae me admodum adolescentem vehementer exercuit et fatigatum in haereticos impulit atque dejecit’ (P.L., xxxii. 1311). Cf. K. Holl, ‘Augustins innere Entwicklung’, Gesammelte Aufsätze, iii. 54–116.

^{page 23 note 4} Conf. v. 12–20.

^{page 23 note 5} Contra Faustum, xxxiii. 1 and 2, and De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae, i. 2.

^{page 23 note 6} See Alfaric's, P. chapter on Augustine's Manichaeism in his L'Evolution intellectuelle de St. Augustin, Paris 1918, 65 f.Google Scholar

^{page 23 note 7} Courcelle, P., Recherches sur les Confessions de Saint Augustin, Paris 1950, 60–67Google Scholar. See also De Duabus Animis, ix.

^{page 23 note 8} Evodius, De Fide, xii; see also H. C. Puech, Le Manichéisme, 154n. 275.

^{page 23 note 9} Confessions, iii. 11, 19. See also Contra Faustum, v. 1, and xiii. 1, and the Coptic Manichee Psalm, No. CCLXIX, lines 29–32 (ed. Allberry, Stuttgart 1938, 87.).

^{page 24 note 1} Confessions, iv. 3, 4; Contra Academicos, i. 17.

^{page 24 note 2} Optatus of Milevis, in his second edition of De Schismate Donatistarum, admits the weakness of Catholicism in Numidia. It existed ‘licet in paucis’, vii. 1 (Ziwsa, p. 159). Also, Possidius, Vita Augustini, vii.

^{page 24 note 3} See Kephalaion 154 in the Coptic Manichee writings, described and published by K. Schmidt and H. J. Polotsky; ‘Ein Mani-Fund in Aegypten’, Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1933, Phil.-Hist. Kl. 4–89, at pp. 41–42.

^{page 24 note 4} This is suggested among other things by the title of his work which he wrote while a Manichee, De Apto et Pulchro; cf. K. Holl, Augustins innere Entwicklung, 75.

^{page 24 note 5} Augustine, De Moribus Manichaeorum, lxviii.

^{page 24 note 6} De Util. Cred., ii.

^{page 24 note 7} The Manichaean monasteries in the West were a mixture of a seminary and a hostel in which the Elect might practise religion in preparation for their lives as missionaries. Augustine's aim at Hippo seems to have been similar; cf. De Moribus Manichaeorum, lxxiv and Possidius, Vita v.

^{page 25 note 1} The De Genesi ad Litteram, which was designed as a complete refutation of Manichaeism, and the De Trinitate. See Bardy, G., Saint Augustin: l'Homme et l'Oeuvre, Bruges 1948, 328Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 2} Augustine's view of the Pelagian case can be indicated by his question, ‘Quid eis hoc prodest, per verum seducere ad falsum’? Contra duas Epist. Pel., iv. 5. 9: P.L., xliv. 615.

^{page 25 note 3} Julian, cited by Augustine in Contra Julianum, opus Imperfectum, iv. 126; cf. Augustine, Contra Fortunatum, i. 21.

^{page 25 note 4} Julian in Contra Julianum, vi. 5. 11.

^{page 25 note 5} Julian in Contra Julianum, vi. 2. 3.

^{page 25 note 6} For instance, when he has to refute the Pelagian thesis, ‘omne peccatum non de natura sed de voluntate descendere’ (Contra duas Epist. Pelagianorum iv. 4. 5; P. L., xliv. 612). This had been the point he had tried to prove against the Manichees 30 years before in De Duabus Animis, xii. 16–18 and De Moribus Manichaeorum vii f.

^{page 25 note 7} There is a contrast here between Augustine's immediate Post-Manichee ideas. In De Ordine, ii. 10. 29 he rebukes Alypius for not understanding how liberally God's grace was spread throughout all nations. Grace was not restricted to the few predestined ones, as in Cont. Jul., vi. 24. 75 and v. 4. 14.

^{page 26 note 1} Cited from Polotsky, and Ibscher, , Manichäische Handschriften (Stuttgart 1934), p. 3, l. 25.Google Scholar

^{page 26 note 2} Buonaiuti, E., ‘Manichaeism and Augustine’, Harvard Theol. Review, xx. (1927) 117–127CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 3} Augustine, De Nuptiis et Concupiscentia, i. 21; also Contra Julianum, vi. 2. 3, and Ep., clxxxvi.

^{page 26 note 4} De Gratia Christi et de Peccato originali, ii. 33. 38; P.L., xliv. 404: cf. E. Buonaiuti, op. cit., 125n. 16.

^{page 26 note 5} De Civitate Dei, xi. 33.

^{page 26 note 6} Contra Julianum, opus Imperf. iv. 42; cf. de Plinval, G., Pélage, Fribourg 1945, 363Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 7} For the general continuity between the Gnostic and Marcionite communities in the West with Manichaeism, see Harnack's, classic, Marcion: das Evangelium vom fremden Gott, Leipzig 1921, 193 f. and 272*.Google Scholar

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