The impact of martyrdom on the Christian identity did not disappear with the end of the persecutions. The 4th century saw many transformations of the classical conception of martyrdom as a testimony for Christ; one of these took place in Donatist literature. Everything started during the years of the Great Persecution (303-313). Under the threat of execution, the clergymen were behaving very diff erently, which made the discourse about martyrdom and apostasy more active. Numidian bishops and particularly Secundus of Tigisi took a stricter position. When a schism began among the African Christians, the adherents of Donatus adopted this view; after a while, the Donatist conception of martyrdom came to be different from the traditional, as its bearers were persecuted in a Christian empire. Apart from the Great Persecution, the milestone in the history of the schism was the persecution in the time of Constans (337-350) or, as it is termed according to the executioner, the “times of Macarius”. All Donatis
