I don’t think there can be any doubt that amongst the most damaging things to the Church and the Christian faith are the hypocrisy of some of the Church’s members, and the disputes that go on and divisions that exist between various people and parties within the Church. And these things are very often linked. The hypocrisy of Church members is, obviously, a failure of those people to practice what they preach. This brings not just them, but the whole Church and the Christian faith into disrepute and so it’s very often the cause of disagreements and fallouts, and ultimately, divisions within the Church. And whether that’s in a single Church congregation or a much wider dispute that leads to major divisions, and even splits the Church into different denominations, the result is the same; it shows the Church, and all Christians, in a bad light. It leads to the accusation that all Christians are hypocrites, and it makes it much harder for people outside the Church to take the Christian faith, the Church or individual Christians seriously because, if we who profess to be Christians don’t seem to take our faith seriously, why should they?
The Church Fathers, whom I’ve spoken about from time to time, regarded this kind of dispute and division in the Church very seriously, far more seriously than we seem to do today. And I think they were quite right in doing so. For the Church Fathers, dispute and division between Christians, and especially schism, a clear split in the Church between people of differing opinions and beliefs, was the worst of all sins because it was a failure of Christians to do the very thing they’re called to do above all else; it was a failure of Christians to love one another. But, unfortunately, and as we know, this kind of thing has happened throughout the Church’s history and continues to happen today. And perhaps one of the worst examples of this, certainly in terms of the damage it did to the Church, was the so-called Donatist controversy that began in the early 4th Century in the Church in North Africa. The dominant faith in North Africa today is Islam, so it might seem strange to place such importance on a Church dispute in that part of the world. But at one time North Africa was a very staunchly Christian area of the world and the growth of Islam in the area was in no small way aided by the damage done to the Church by the Donatist controversy.
The Donatist controversy began after a period of Church persecution under the Roman emperor, Diocletian. During the persecution, many Christians renounced their faith and obeyed the imperial order to hand over Christian literature for destruction. After the persecution had ended, however, many of these people returned to the Church but the Donatists (named after one of their bishops, Donatus) wouldn’t accept them. Things came to a head when one of these traditores (literally, ‘those who handed over’ and where we get the word ‘traitor’ from) was consecrated as the Bishop of Carthage. The Donatists wouldn’t accept his consecration, and so they consecrated their own, rival bishop. And so, a schism resulted between the exclusivist, Donatist part of the Church, and the inclusivist Catholic part of the Church.
At the height of the Donatist controversy, one of the Donatist’s main opponents was St Augustine of Hippo and, in opposing them, he came up with, what was then, a new understanding of the Church.
What Augustine said was that, rather than the exclusive society of perfect, holy people the Donatists thought it should be and wanted it to be, the Church can only ever be a mixture of saints and sinners. Augustine said this is inevitable because sin is inevitable. And he used the parable we read this morning, the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, to show that. Augustine said this parable was a metaphor for the Church, as it must exist in the world. And he said that, just as the wheat and the weeds grow side by side in the parable until they’re separated at harvest time, so saints and sinners will live side by side in the Church until they are separated by God at the end of time. And Augustine also had the extremely useful weapon of the Donatist’s own hypocrisy to aid him in his argument. Far from the perfect people they claimed to be, among the Donatists was a group of thugs, and they really seem to have been nothing more, who roamed the area beating up their Catholic opponents with clubs that they called ‘Israels’ because they were used for ‘smiting the foe’.
Eventually, and greatly helped by Augustine, the Catholic side of the Church gained the upper hand in this dispute, but it took the intervention of the Roman state to finally settle matters officially, and by then, the Donatist controversy had been a major problem for the Church in North Africa for over 100 years. Even so, the Donatist movement persisted for much longer and died out completely only when Islam replaced Christianity as the dominant faith in North African during the 7th and 8th Centuries.
There can’t be any doubt that the Donatist controversy was very damaging to the Church in North Africa between the 4th and 8th Centuries, and one of the most damaging disputes in the Church’s history. But, if we think about the underlying causes of the Donatist controversy, it’s a dispute that isn’t really confined to the early Church in North Africa; it’s still with us and it’s still damaging the Church today.
The Donatists were exclusivists; they believed the Church should be made up of solely of the people whom they thought were worthy to be members of the Church. But do we not see that same thing in the Church today in the ‘We don’t want their sort here’ attitude we sometimes come across in Church members? Don’t we see it, in extreme cases, where we see some Church members actively trying to drive others away from the Church simply because they don’t like them or disagree with them about something? And isn’t this attitude also what lies behind the very common problem of people treating the Church as little more than a social club for themselves and their friends, and in which only they and their friends ought to have a voice in running? And isn’t that the attitude that leads to that bane of the Church, the ‘clique’?
The Donatists also refused to accept the authority of a legitimately consecrated bishop because they thought he wasn’t worthy to be a member of the Church. But do we not see that same attitude in the Church today in places where problems are caused within Churches because one or more people disagree with, or simply don’t like, the bishop’s lawfully appointed representatives, the clergy?
Some of the Donatists, at least, were thugs and bullies who went around beating up their opponents. Thankfully, it’s very rare to come across instances of physical violence perpetrated by one or more Church members on any other, or others, but do we not see psychological and emotional bullying in the Church today? Do we not see that in cases where people use their position in the Church to throw their weight around and ‘Lord it over others’ as Jesus put it? Physical violence between Church members may be rare, but how many instances are there of people being reduced to tears, being made ill, or being driven away from the Church, by the behaviour of others in the Church. And isn’t it those who think of themselves as the most worthy, the members of the ‘club’ or the ‘clique’ and those who don’t see themselves as accountable to anyone, who are most often responsible for this kind of thing?
And, despite their own highly exalted view of themselves, perhaps above all, the Donatists were unforgiving, that after all, is why and how the controversy began. But don’t we see that same lack of forgiveness in the Church today? How many problems are caused in Churches because people are unwilling, or unable, to put old arguments and animosities behind them and so, can’t draw a line under the past and move on? And isn’t it very often those who think they’re just that little bit better than others, those of what’s often referred to as the ‘holier than thou brigade’ who are the most unwilling or unable to do these things? And, ultimately, what is a lack of forgiveness by and amongst Christians, other than that arch-hypocrisy, that worst of all sins, a failure of Christians to love one another as Jesus has loved us?
If you were to read about the Donatist controversy in a book of Church History, you’d probably read that it was confined to the Church in North Africa and ended well over 1,000 years ago. But the beliefs and attitudes that caused it, and caused so much damage to the Church, are still very much alive and with us today, and so we have to be on our guard against them at all times. We can’t allow ourselves to think that we are examples of perfect holiness, nor that we’re a member of some kind of holy elite because we’re neither. St Augustine said the Church was a mixture of saints and sinners and that’s exactly what it is. But that’s not because some of us are saints and some of us are sinners, but rather because each and everyone of us is a mixture of saint and sinner within ourselves. That doesn’t mean however, that we shouldn’t point out and try to correct obvious wrongdoing in others, the Gospel gives us ample evidence that we should do that, and Jesus gives us clear instructions on how to do it, but it does mean that we shouldn’t be too hasty, or willing, to judge others. It means we shouldn’t see ourselves as better than others. It means we should recognise our own faults and failings and wrongdoings as well as those of others. It means we should see ourselves as sinners too and, in seeing that, to be forgiving of others when they sin. And, no matter what, we must love one another. Jesus told us to love our neighbour as ourselves and, if we really do see ourselves honestly, as a mixture of saint and sinner, it means that when we look at others, we’ll see that we’re just looking at a reflection of ourselves. And, in that case, how can we think any less of our neighbour than we do of ourselves?
The only way we can be better than someone else, is to be better than them in God’s eyes. But we don’t see through God’s eyes so we have to guard against the self-righteous pride that will allow us to think that we’re better than others. If we don’t do that but instead set ourselves up as those in the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds who would go out and remove the weeds from amongst the wheat and burn them, as the Donatists and so many others have done during the Church’s history, we might find ourselves in for a very nasty surprise when the time for gathering God’s harvest comes. Despite what we might think of ourselves, we might well find that, far from being amongst the righteous gathered into God’s kingdom, we’re amongst those who are bundled up and thrown into the fire.
Amen.
You will find the Propers for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Trinity 6) here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 