On the reasons of the long-term viability of the donatist schism

In this article, we have tried to consider the different views of researchers on the problem of the prolonged existence of the Donatist schism. For quite a long time, in the works devoted to this page of the history of North Africa, Donatism was considered as an ethnic or social, or political movement. The reasons for this were the processes of secularization of science that began in the 17th century and the popularity of Marxist ideas in the European academic environment in the 20th century. To a large extent, these hypotheses were later refuted, however, an explanation for this phenomenon, in fact, has not been found. Therefore, we tried to suggest those possible reasons that, in total, can lead to such an explanation. It seems to us that two key categories of these reasons can be distinguished: historical and religious, which, of course, overlap with each other in one form or another. It seems to us that, having carefully considered the historical circumstances of the emergence and development of the schism, as well as the religious ideas that fed its followers, one can, first, find an explanation for some of the social, ethnic and political differences that arose against their background, and, second, understand the long-term success of the Donatist movement in North Africa.