Circumcellions

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The Circumcellions, also known as the "agonistici", were a donatist sect in North Africa that overvalued martyrdom and had a special devotion for the martyrs, rendering honors to their graves.

The Circumcellions had come to regard martyrdom as the true Christian virtue (as the early Church Father Tertullian said, "a martyr's death day was actually his birthday"), and thus came to disregard chastity, sobriety, humility, charity, and other virtues. Instead, they focused on bringing about their martyrdom-- by any means possible.

Since Jesus had told Peter to put down his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:11), the Circumcellions piously avoided bladed weapons and instead opted for the use of blunt clubs, which they called "Israelites." Using their "Israelites", the Circumcellions would attack random travelers on the road, while shouting "Praise the Lord!" in Latin. The object of these random beatings was the death of the intrepid martyr, who hoped that hitting someone over the head with the club would provoke the victim to attack and kill them.

They survived until the fourth century in Africa, when their desire for martyrdom was fulfilled due to persecution.