The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313 · External witness
Munatius Felix
fl. 19 May 303 (death unrecorded) · Flamen perpetuus and curator of the colony of Cirta · Cirta (Constantina), Numidia
External witness
Who Munatius Felix was
The pagan magistrate who executed Diocletian’s edict at Cirta — perpetual priest of the imperial cult and curator of the colony. He conducted the search himself, house by house, and his conduct is the most detailed picture surviving of how the Great Persecution actually worked on the ground: correct, procedural, uninterested in blood, and relentless about the books. Every refusal he met he had entered in the acts.
Named once, in the Gesta apud Zenophilum — the Cirta records of 19 May 303 and 13 December 320; no other ancient source names him.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When was Munatius Felix active?
Munatius Felix is dated fl. 19 May 303 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Munatius Felix in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313).
Which early sources mention Munatius Felix?
Munatius Felix is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Municipal acts of Cirta. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Munatius Felix from?
The archive associates Munatius Felix with Cirta (Constantina), Numidia. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Munatius Felix’s contemporaries?
The archive links Munatius Felix to 4 other figures, including Paul of Cirta, Edusius, Junius and Emperor Diocletian. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The Acts of Munatius Felix, 19 May 303 — read into evidence before Zenophilus
c. AD 303Felix the flamen and guardian of the state said to Paul the Bishop: ‘Bring out the Scriptures of the Law, and anything else that you may have here, as has been commanded, that you may obey the order.’Municipal acts of Cirta · Gesta apud Zenophilum, Acts of 19 May 303 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Munatius Felix in the sources
These figures are placed with Munatius Felix by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Munatius Felix naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Munatius Felix, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.