Episode 46: The Circumcellions (and the Donatists)
Travel back to fourth-century Roman North Africa—a world of intense regional tension, economic hardship, and a church tearing itself apart. Following the brutal Diocletianic Persecution, a massive schism erupted over a fiery question: Can a bishop who surrendered scripture to the Roman empire still administer valid sacraments?
For the radical Donatists, the answer was a fierce no. But out of this volatile cocktail of religious purity and rural anger emerged one of the strangest, most terrifying movements in early Christian history: the Circumcellions.
Calling themselves the "Agonistici" (the…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.