Long before modern borders and flags, before colonial tongues redefined faith and history, the people of Kabylia—the proud Amazigh—lived close to the earth. Theirs was a land of mountains, olives, wind, and fire. But not the fire of empire. The fire of spirit.

Kabylia, nestled in the mountains of northern Algeria, has always been a land of resistance. But it’s also a land of remembrance.

And what we are remembering now is this:

There were early Christians among the Kabyle. And there is reason to believe that some of them—like others across early North Africa—walked a peaceful, plant-based path.

Not because it was trendy.

Not because it was imposed.

But because it was sacred.

Early Christianity in North Africa: A Lost Legacy of Compassion

Most people know North Africa as a battleground between empires and religions. But before Christianity was weaponized by Rome, before Islam was institutionalized, there existed radical spiritual movements rooted in simplicity, nonviolence, and reverence for life.

St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential Christian thinkers of all time, was born in what is now modern-day Algeria. Before his conversion to mainstream Christianity, he spent nearly a decade with the Manichaeans, a group known for their mystical teachings and strict vegetarian lifestyle.

He later rejected them, but their influence—along with that of the Desert Fathers and the ascetic communities scattered across Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria—cannot be erased from the region’s spiritual memory.

It is entirely possible, even likely, that Kabyle Christians, living on the edges of empire and close to the land, were influenced by these early expressions of faith that valued compassion over ritual, and inner purity over outward display.

Before Christianity, Berber (Amazigh) spirituality was animistic and deeply respectful of nature. Some scholars believe there were plant-based rituals, herbal medicine practices, and a reverence for animal life that may have influenced how Berbers related to food, even after converting.

Vegetarianism as Resistance, Not Restriction

To abstain from killing animals in a time of sacrifice-based religion was not weakness. It was revolutionary.

It was a refusal to participate in systems of domination.

A reclaiming of harmony with creation.

A return to something original, something Edenic.

And for many early followers of Christ—especially those who read his temple-cleansing not as a temper tantrum, but as a liberation of the innocent—vegetarianism was a natural extension of the gospel.

This wasn’t about legalism.

It was about love.

Kabylia Still Remembers

Modern history has buried these truths. The dominant religions have rewritten the story, often sidelining those who practiced gentleness as naive or heretical.

But the mountains of Kabylia remember.

They remember the footsteps of those who fasted not just from food, but from violence.

Who refused to make offerings of blood.

Who lived simply, because they believed the divine dwelled in stillness.

I write this not just as a seeker of forgotten wisdom, but as someone whose heart is connected to Algeria through my fiancé—a man whose roots trace back to that same resilient soil.

And I believe part of our healing, part of our return to truth, lies in recovering these stories.

Stories of Amazigh who followed the Way—not the way of conquest, but the way of peace.

The way of the Christ who freed the doves.

The way of the soul who wrestles with God and walks away changed.