Traditor, or traditore, is term meaning 'people who had handed over.' This refers to bishops and other church leaders who betrayed their fellow Christians to the Roman Empire under threat of persecution. During the Persecution (303–305 AD) of Diocletian, many church leaders had gone as far as turning in Christians to the Roman authorities and had handed over sacred religious texts to authorities to be burned. Later these traditors would be returned to positions of authority under Constantine, sparking the Donatist movement.

While many church members would eventually come to forgive the traditors, the Donatists were much less forgiving. They proclaimed that any sacraments celebrated by these priests

The sect had particularly developed and grown in North Africa. Constantine, as emperor, began to get involved in the dispute, and in 314 he called a council at Arles in France; the issue was debated and the decision went against the Donatists. The Donatists refused to accept the decision of the council. Their distaste for bishops who had collaborated with Rome came out of their broader view of the Roman empire.

See also

• Agonistici
• Donatist
• Anabaptist