Abstract

The pro-Homoean religious policy intermittently carried out by the Vandal kings led to the exile and deportation of many African Christians. Among the long-term consequences of this phenomenon was the dissemination of the rich cultural heritage of African Christianity within the European continent. Many of these African expats came to be venerated as confessors of the Nicene faith and saints by their host communities. In contrast to this, however, other refugees were treated by the ecclesiastical authorities as a threat to the doctrinal orthodoxy and the ritual purity of their flock. In the construction of the image of these African expatriates as saints and heretics, their alien status within the communities which hosted them played a very important role