African Synods

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There was no general council of the entireChurch held at any time in North Africa. There were, however, many national or plenary assemblies ofbishops representing the North African Church. These are commonly called African or Carthaginian Synods, and are not to be confounded with the district or provincial assemblies, of which there were also very many in the separate provinces of North Africa. These Roman provinces lay between the Sahara and the Mediterranean and extended fromCyrenaica on the east to the Atlantic on the west, corresponding roughly to the part of the continent occupied by modern Tripoli, Algeria, andMorocco. TheChurch entered into history there at the end of the second century, and disappeared in the beginning of the eighth.

Ecclesiastical organizations

About the middle of the third century thebishops of the three civil provinces (Proconsular Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania) formed but oneecclesiastical province, but asdioceses were multiplied, they came to be grouped into divisions corresponding to the prevailing political divisions of the country.Diocletian re-districted North Africa into six civil provinces, and by the end of the fourth century theChurch had adjusted her organization to these lines. Thus there came to be six ecclesiastical provinces:

This organization lasted till theArab invasion in the seventh century. Because of its civil importance, Carthage was theprimatial see and held control of these suffragan provinces, except perhaps during the period of the Byzantine domination in Africa (534-646), when Tripoli and the two Mauretanias seem to have been independent of Carthage. TheBishop ofCarthage was in rank and privilege, though not in name, thePatriarch of the African Church. It was he who called and presided over the generalsynods, and early in the fifth century, it was his wont to sign the decrees in the name of all. Thesesynods were held, with but few exceptions (e.g. Hippo, 393; Milevum, 402) at Carthage. In several instances we are able to name the church where the meeting took place: as "the Church of the Second District", or the "Ecclesia Restituta", or the "Secretarium Basilicae Fausti."

Number of synods

In the time ofTertullian there were nosynods held inAfrica. But about 220,Agrippinus called together seventybishops from Proconsular Africa and Numidia. From the time ofSt. Cyprian generalsynods came to be the wonted resource of Church administration, and they were held in Africa with greater frequency and regularity than elsewhere inChristendom. Weknow from the letters ofSt. Cyprian that, except in time ofpersecution, the Africanbishops met at least once a year, in the springtime, and sometimes again in the autumn. Six or sevensynods, for instance, were held underSt. Cyprian's presidency during the decade of his administration (249-258), and more than fifteen under Aurelius (391-429). The Synod ofHippo (393) ordered a general meeting yearly. But this was found too onerous for thebishops, and in the Synod of Carthage (407) it was decided to hold a general synod only whennecessary for the needs of all Africa, and it was to be held at a place most convenient for the purpose. As a matter of fact, the needs were so persistent that generalsynods were held with perhaps equal frequency up to theVandal invasion (429), and Carthage continued to be the meeting-place. TheChurch of Africa then entered on "penal times". Towards the end of theVandal domination there was a cessation ofpersecution, andsynods were resumed. The general Synod of Carthage in 525, though numerously attended, shows in reality ahumble and diminished church. There was an improvement under the Byzantine control (533-647), and the Synod of 534 (perhaps the only general one for this period) is the second largest in point of numbers of all the Africansynods. In 646 we still find thebishops meeting inprovincial synods, on the very eve of the final dissolution of their ancient organization. TheArab domination spread in successive waves from 647 up to 698, when Carthage fell. Within the following half century theChurch of Roman Africa had ceased to be.

Attendance and representation

Elsewhere inChristendom onlybishops attended generalsynods; but in North Africa there was, at least for a time, a departure from this custom. In thesynods held underSt. Cyprian, to deal with the lapsed, and in the synod of 256, which considered the question of re-baptism, there were present not only thebishops, but manypriests anddeacons, and even a very large representation of thelaity. Only thebishops, however, had a vote in the final determinations. Not all thebishops of the country were required to assist at the general synod. At the Synod ofHippo (393) it was ordered that "dignities" should be sent from eachecclesiastical province. Only one was required from Tripoli, because of the poverty of thebishops of that province. In thesynod held in Carthage in September, 401, it was decreed that each province should be divided into two or three districts, and that each of them should send deputies to the general synod. Attendance was urgently insisted on. There were ninetybishops in attendance at the synod that condemned Privatus (236-248), and more than two hundred and twenty-three, the largest recorded for Africa, at the Synod of 418. It has been through her literature, the writings ofTertullian,St. Cyprian, and, more than all, ofSt. Augustine, rather than by her synodal action that the great Church of Africa has modified the world's history. The Africansynods dealt for the most part, as was natural, with matters of localdiscipline, and today are chiefly of interest to students of Church History and Canon Law. Nevertheless, at times, their decrees transcended their immediate and local scope and helped, in concert withRome, to fix thediscipline and to define thedoctrine of theChurch Universal. The penitential decrees drawn up after theDecianpersecution and the decrees againstPelagianism are instances in point.

Brief analysis of synodal acts

The synodal decrees show how restless and factional the national temper was, and how ready to break out into violentschism. Those who lapsed underDecius formed a party strong enough to withstand thehierarchy, and thesynods of the fourth and fifth centuries are constantly engaged with the bitter and persistentDonatist Schism, which upset all Africa and perplexed bothChurch and State. Civil intervention was invoked in the Synod of 404. Thepersecution ofDecius left inAfrica, as elsewhere, many who had denied or compromised theirfaith under fear of death. TheChurch was now called upon to determine whether she might forgive so grave asin. In the Synod of May, 251, under the presidency ofSt. Cyprian, it was decided that the lapsed should be admitted to penance, and should be reconciled at least at the moment of death. The next year (Synod of 252) further grace was shown them in view of thepersecution of Gallus, and all who had entered seriously upon a course of penance were to be restored to fellowship at once. TheChurch of Africa was not equally fortunate in finding the solution for the difficult problem of the worth of Baptism as administered outside theChurch. The earliest synod (about 220) took the matter up and declared such Baptism invalid, and this decision was reaffirmed insynods held in 255-256 underSt. Cyprian. All converts should be re-baptized.St. Cyprian strove to press the African views onRome, butPope Stephen menacedexcommunication. At the celebrated September Synod of 256 the eighty-sevenbishops assembled from the three provinces still maintained their attitude against Baptism byheretics. Thiserror was finally retracted in the Synod (345-348) under Gratus.

These records show how the close relations between Africa andRome were several times troubled during the course of five centuries. Thebaptismal controversy put theChurch into a state of passive resistance toRome. In the Synod of September, 256,St. Cyprian was placed in a painful dilemma. While maintaining the right ofbishops to think for themselves, he still clung to the necessity of unity in theChurch, and would not break the revered bond withRome. Again, early in the fifth century, the appeal toRome of Apiarius, adeposedpriest, stirred up strong feeling among the Africanbishops, and appeals ofpriests andlaics "over sea" (toRome) were forbidden in the Synod of 418. Legates came fromRome to adjust the difference. In the Synods of 419 an enquiry was made into the canonical warrant for such appeals. The Romanlegates cited by mistake, as canons passed at Nicea (325), the canons ofSardica (343) regulating the appeals ofbishops. This led to a tedious delay, and the whole matter was dropped for the moment. It was reopened a few years later, when Apiarius, who had beendeposed a second time, on new charges, again appealed toRome for reinstatement. Faustinus, the Romanlegate, reappeared at the Synod of 424 and demanded the annulment of the sentence passed on thepriest. Apiarius, however, broke down under examination, and admitted his guilt. So nothing further could be done for him. A synodal letter toRome emphasized how needful it was thatRome should not lightly credit all complainants fromAfrica, nor receive into fellowship such as had beenexcommunicated.

At the Synod ofHippo (393), and again at the Synod of 397 atCarthage, a list of the books ofHoly Scripture was drawn up. It is theCatholic canon (i.e. including the books classed byProtestants as "Apocrypha"). The latter synod, at the end of the enumeration, added, "But let Church beyond sea (Rome) be consulted about confirming this canon".St. Augustine was one among the forty-fourbishops who signed the proceedings. Celestius, the friend ofPelagius, came to Carthage to beordained apriest; Paulinus, thedeacon ofMilan, warned theBishop ofCarthage against him; and thus, in 411, began the series ofsynods againstPelagianism. They had a most important influence in checking its spread. The earlier ones seem to have been provincial. The important Synod of 416, under Sylvanus, atMilevum urgedInnocent I to stop theheresy, and in the synod of all Africa held at Carthage in 420 thebishops, intensely convinced that vital issues were involved, passed a series ofdoctrinal utterances with annexedanathemas against thePelagians.St. Augustine was present. It was, in respect ofdoctrine, the most important of all thesynods of Africa. It is no longer possible from the meagre remains to attempt a complete list of the generalsynods of Africa; nor is it any longer possible to determine, with exactness in every instance, whatsynods were general. The following approximate enumeration is made therefore with all due reserve:

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