04-26-2021, 12:51 AM
In the fourth and fifth centuries, a Christian cult called the Circumcellions roamed Northern Africa, killing, torturing, pillaging, and burning, all in the name of Christianity.
Augustine sez:
"And those men also belong to this same heresy [i.e. of the Donatists] in Africa who are called Circumcellions, a rough and primitive type of men most notorious for their outrages — not just for the savage crimes that they perpetrate against others, but also because in their insane fury they do not spare even themselves.
For they are accustomed to killing themselves by various kinds of deaths, but especially by throwing themselves off heights, by drowning, or by self-immolation.
And they seduce others whom they can, of either sex, to join them in this same mad behavior. In order that they might be killed by others, sometimes they threaten these other persons with death if they do not kill them as ordered.
It is true, however, that such things are very displeasing to many Donatists. But for some reason they do not believe that they are polluted by association with such men — these Donatists who crazily blame the Christian world in general for the crime of these unknown Africans.
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MAGA!
from here=> https://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/26/the...l-martyrs/
The Circumcellions were mostly lower-class peasants, many of whom were illiterate. Most kept watch over and took care of the graves of martyrs, and, thanks to the Circumcellions themselves, there were certainly plenty of those.
Being a martyr was just one of the things that they aspired to. Known for their tendency to gravitate toward extreme violence, members of the sect carried massive clubs that they called Israelites. Those that were completely ready to become martyrs would attack people on the streets with the goal of forcing these random people to fight back and to kill them, fulfilling a lifelong goal of martyrdom. It was the ultimate way into heaven, after all, and it was considered especially good if the person doing the killing was a member of the church or any variety of town official.
And if that failed, they weren’t above crashing a pagan sacrifice party and getting themselves killed that way, either.
It wasn’t just random attacks trying to provoke suicide-by-traveler that the Circumcellions were known for. The order absolutely hated Rome and the authority figures that had been officially sanctioned by the church. They also hated slavery, and soon became widely hated by slave owners not only because of their insistence that slaves had rights, too, but because of their seemingly random attacks that freed slaves and gave them the chains that now secured their former masters.
Other Donatists first saw them as the selfless martrys they so badly wanted to be, but as the movement got more and more out of hand, they became increasingly unpopular. Righteous indignation turned into an increasingly violent crime wave fueled by lust, religious ecstasy, and not a little bit of alcohol. They roamed the land armed with not just their massive clubs but an array of other weapons, soon targeting anyone who belonged to the more mainstream branches of Christianity. They stole from the church, blinded clergy, and tortured those who didn’t believe as they did, all the while proclaiming that they were the only true form of Christianity.
MAGA!
Augustine sez:
"And those men also belong to this same heresy [i.e. of the Donatists] in Africa who are called Circumcellions, a rough and primitive type of men most notorious for their outrages — not just for the savage crimes that they perpetrate against others, but also because in their insane fury they do not spare even themselves.
For they are accustomed to killing themselves by various kinds of deaths, but especially by throwing themselves off heights, by drowning, or by self-immolation.
And they seduce others whom they can, of either sex, to join them in this same mad behavior. In order that they might be killed by others, sometimes they threaten these other persons with death if they do not kill them as ordered.
It is true, however, that such things are very displeasing to many Donatists. But for some reason they do not believe that they are polluted by association with such men — these Donatists who crazily blame the Christian world in general for the crime of these unknown Africans.
--
MAGA!
from here=> https://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/26/the...l-martyrs/
The Circumcellions were mostly lower-class peasants, many of whom were illiterate. Most kept watch over and took care of the graves of martyrs, and, thanks to the Circumcellions themselves, there were certainly plenty of those.
Being a martyr was just one of the things that they aspired to. Known for their tendency to gravitate toward extreme violence, members of the sect carried massive clubs that they called Israelites. Those that were completely ready to become martyrs would attack people on the streets with the goal of forcing these random people to fight back and to kill them, fulfilling a lifelong goal of martyrdom. It was the ultimate way into heaven, after all, and it was considered especially good if the person doing the killing was a member of the church or any variety of town official.
And if that failed, they weren’t above crashing a pagan sacrifice party and getting themselves killed that way, either.
It wasn’t just random attacks trying to provoke suicide-by-traveler that the Circumcellions were known for. The order absolutely hated Rome and the authority figures that had been officially sanctioned by the church. They also hated slavery, and soon became widely hated by slave owners not only because of their insistence that slaves had rights, too, but because of their seemingly random attacks that freed slaves and gave them the chains that now secured their former masters.
Other Donatists first saw them as the selfless martrys they so badly wanted to be, but as the movement got more and more out of hand, they became increasingly unpopular. Righteous indignation turned into an increasingly violent crime wave fueled by lust, religious ecstasy, and not a little bit of alcohol. They roamed the land armed with not just their massive clubs but an array of other weapons, soon targeting anyone who belonged to the more mainstream branches of Christianity. They stole from the church, blinded clergy, and tortured those who didn’t believe as they did, all the while proclaiming that they were the only true form of Christianity.
MAGA!