Sabellius

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Sabellius (fl. ca. 215) was a third-century priest and theologian who most likely taught in Rome, but may have been a North African from Libya. Basil and others call him a Libyan from Pentapolis, but this seems to rest on the fact that Pentapolis was a place where the teachings of Sabellius thrived, according to Dionysius of Alexandria, c. 260. [1] What is known of Sabellius is drawn mostly from the polemical writings of his opponents.

Contents

History

The Catholic Encyclopedia writes:

It is true that it is easy to suppose Tertullian and Hippolytus to have misrepresented the opinions of their opponents, but it cannot be proved that Cleomenes was not a follower of the heretical Noetus, and that Sabellius did not issue from his school; further, it is not obvious that Tertullian would attack Callistus under a nickname. [1]

Sabellius' opposition to the idea of the Trinity led to his excommunication as a heretic by Callixtus in AD 220. Wace and Bunsen have both suggested that Calixtus' action was motivated more by a desire for unity rather than by conviction. [2]

Theology

Sabellius taught that God was single and indivisible, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being three modes or manifestations of one divine Person.

Modalism

This understanding has been called Sabellianism or modalistic monarchianism . [3] A Sabellian modalist would say that the One God successively revealed Himself to man throughout time as the Father in Creation; the Son in Redemption; and the Spirit in Sanctification and Regeneration. (Because of this focus on God's revelation of himself to man, Modalism is often confused with economic Trinitarianism).

It has been noted also that the Greek term "homoousios", which Athanasius of Alexandria favored, was actually a term that was reported to be put forth and favored also by Sabellius, and was a term that many followers of Athanasius took issue with and were uneasy about. Their objection to the term "homoousios" was that it was considered to be "un-Scriptural, suspicious, and of a Sabellian tendency." [6] Athanasius, however, used the term differently than Sabellius, affirming oneness of the Divine Essence while maintaining the distinctions between the Divine Persons.

The term "homoousios" was accepted, however, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., using the Athanasian formula and doctrine, of the Father and Son being distinct persons, though co-eternal, co-equal, and con-substantial. The objections to using the term were addressed by clarifying that it was not being used in the Sabellian sense of oneness of Person, but rather to denote oneness of Essence while affirming the distinctions of the Persons or "hypostases".

Persona

According to Epiphanius of Salamis, Sabellius used the sun's characteristics as an analogy of God's nature. Just as the sun has "three powers" (warmth, light, and circular form), so God has three aspects: the warming power answers to the Holy Spirit; the illuminating power, to the Son; and the form or figure, to the Father. [7] Sabellius used the term "prosopa" which is Greek for "faces" to describe how the person of God has three faces, this idea is found in 2 Corinthians 4:6 "...God’s glory displayed in the face (prosopon - singular form of prosopa) of Christ.

God in essence

Johann Lorenz von Mosheim described Sabellius' views:

"But while Sabellius maintained that there was but one divine person, he still believed the distinction of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, described in the Scriptures, to be a real distinction, and not a mere appellative or nominal one. That is, he believed the one divine person whom he recognized, to have three distinct forms, which are really different, and which should not be confounded". [8]

Non-Trinitarian

The Teachings of Sabellius were most vigorously opposed by Tertullian in North Africa and Hippolytus in Rome, who both proposed a hierarchical trinity of subordinate persons. [9] Tertullian is reported to have given Sabellius' doctrine the name Patripassianism, meaning ‘the father suffered’, since Sabellius made no true distinction of persons between the Father and the Son. The term is from the Latin words pater for "father", and passus from the verb "to suffer", because it implied that the Father suffered on the cross. Tertullian coined the term in his work Adversus Praxeas, Chapter I: "By this Praxeas did a twofold service for the devil at Rome: he drove away prophecy, and he brought in heresy; he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father." This charge he applied to Sabellius as well. [10] This is a distortion of Sabellius' teaching according to Clissold, who quotes scholars who have appealed to Epiphanius' writings. [11] Epiphanius (died 403) says that in his time Sabellians were still numerous in Mesopotamia and Rome - a fact confirmed by an inscription discovered at Rome in 1742, evidently erected by Sabellian Christians. [12]

Modern movements

Although there are some doctrinal characteristics shared by a modern group called Oneness Pentecostals with those of Sabellius, the former do not teach the exact doctrine of Dispensational Modalism as purportedly taught by Sabellius. Some consider this, however, an unfounded assertion, as we have no writings of Sabellius to definitively prove for one way or another.

So it cannot be certain whether Sabellius taught a dispensational Modalism or taught what is known today as the Oneness Pentecostal theology since all we have of his teaching comes through the writing of his enemies. All of his original works were destroyed. For example, the doctrines that were purportedly believed by the Templars have recently been shown to be falsifications. The following excerpts demonstrate some of the known doctrinal characteristics of ancient Sabellians which may compare with the doctrines in the modern Oneness movement. Both movements hold that the Biblical God is one Person, not Three. And that Father, Son, and Spirit are different aspects or manifestations of that one Person, and not three distinct persons.

Sabellianism was doctrine adhered to by a sect of the Montanists. The Montanists are the same sect that Tertullian himself was a member of when he wrote (the anti-Sabellian) Against Praxeas. [13] Apparently then, there were both Trinitarian and modalist participants in the Montanism which was later condemned. Cyprian wrote of Sabellians "How, when God the Father is not known-nay, is even blasphemed-can they who among the heretics are said to be baptized in the name of Christ only, be judged to have obtained the remission of sins?" [14] In 225 AD Hippolytus spoke of them saying "Some of them assent to the heresy of the Noetians, affirming the Father Himself is the Son." Victorinus had this to say of them "Some had doubts about the baptism of those who appeared to recognize the same Father with the Son with us, yet who received the new prophets."

It is reported that some Sabellians experienced glossolalia (speaking in tongues) and baptized in the "shorter formula" because of their denial of the Trinity. [15] Sabellians were referred to by the following Church fathers: Dionysius (c.200-265 AD) wrote "Those baptized in the name of three persons...though baptized by heretics...shall not be rebaptized. But those converted from other heresies shall be perfected by the baptism of the Holy Church." [16] "Sabellius...blasphemes in saying that the Son Himself is the Father and vice versa." [17] "Jesus commands them to baptize into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-not into a unipersonal God." [18]

Sabellianism teaching of Modalism and singular name baptism was also accompanied by glossolalia and prophecy among the above-mentioned sect of Montanists.[ citation needed ] In 225 AD Tertullian speaks of "those who would deserve the excellent gifts of the spirit-and who...by means of the Holy Spirit would obtain the gift of language, wisdom, and knowledge." However, none of these practices were the source of controversy concerning the Sabellians - - it was simply their Christology which proved most offensive. In any case, unlike many others deemed as heretics, the Sabellians were never excommunicated from the Church at large.[ citation needed ] One hundred years later, the Deacon Arius would compare Bishop Alexander to Sabellius, in effect accusing Alexander and Athanasius of reviving an old heresy, that at the very least had Sabellian leanings.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

Arianism is a Christological doctrine considered heretical by all modern mainstream branches of Christianity. It is first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter who preached and studied in Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before time by God the Father; therefore, Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father, but nonetheless Jesus began to exist outside time.

In Christian theology, historically patripassianism is a version of Sabellianism in the Eastern church. Modalism is the belief that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three different modes or emanations of one monadic God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within the Godhead and that there are no real or substantial differences between the three, such that the identity of the Spirit or the Son is that of the Father.

In Christian theology, Sabellianism is the belief that there is only one Person in the Godhead. For example, Hanson defines Sabellianism as the "refusal to acknowledge the distinct existence of the Persons" and "Eustathius was condemned for Sabellianism. His insistence that there is only one distinct reality (hypostasis) in the Godhead, and his confusion about distinguishing Father, Son and Holy Spirit laid him open to such a charge." Condemned as heresy, Sabellianism has been rejected by the majority of Christian churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montanism</span> 2nd-century Christian movement

Montanism, known by its adherents as the New Revelation, was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology similar to those of the wider Christian Church, but it was labelled a heresy for its belief in new prophetic figures. The prophetic movement called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic.

Monarchianism is a doctrine that emphasizes God as one indivisible being, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism, which defines the Godhead as three co-eternal, consubstantial, co-immanent, and equally divine hypostases.

Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence. Certain religious groups that emerged during the Protestant Reformation have historically been known as antitrinitarian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eustathius of Antioch</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alogi</span> Group of heterodox Christians in the Asia Minor region

The Alogi, also called Alogoi or Alogians, were a group of heterodox Christians in Asia Minor that flourished c. 200 CE, and taught that the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse of John were not the work of the Apostle, but his adversary Cerinthus. What we know of them is derived from their doctrinal opponents, whose literature is extant, particularly Epiphanius of Salamis. It was Epiphanius who coined the name "Alogi" as a word play suggesting that they were both illogical and they were against the Christian doctrine of the Logos. While Epiphanius does not specifically indicate the name of its founder, Dionysius Bar-Salibi, citing a lost work of Hippolytus, writes in his commentary on the Apocalypse,

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Noetus was a presbyter of the church of Asia Minor about AD 230. He was a native of Smyrna, where he became a prominent representative of the particular type of Christology now called modalistic monarchianism or patripassianism.

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It must be regarded as certain that the council which condemned Paul rejected the term homoousios; but naturally only in a false sense used by Paul; not, it seems because he meant by it a unity of Hypostasis in the Trinity, but because he intended by it a common substance out of which both Father and Son proceeded, or which it divided between them, — so St. Basil and St. Athanasius; but the question is not clear. The objectors to the Nicene doctrine in the fourth century made copious use of this disapproval of the Nicene word by a famous council.

Hypostasis, from the Greek ὑπόστασις (hypóstasis), is the underlying, fundamental state or substance that supports all of reality. It is not the same as the concept of a substance. In Neoplatonism, the hypostasis of the soul, the intellect (nous) and "the one" was addressed by Plotinus. In Christian theology, the Holy Trinity consists of three hypostases: that of the Father, that of the Son, and that of the Holy Spirit.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinitarianism in the Church Fathers</span>

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Paterology, or patriology, in Christian theology, refers to the study of God the Father. Both terms are derived from two Greek words: πατήρ and λογος. As a distinctive theological discipline, within Theology proper, Paterology is closely related to Christology and Pneumatology.

Arian creeds are the creeds of Arian Christians, developed mostly in the fourth century when Arianism was one of the main varieties of Christianity.

References

  1. 1 2 Monarchians, New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia
  2. ↑
    • Wace, H., A Dictionary of Christian Biography: And Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D. With an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies, Hendrickson Publishers, 1994. ISBN   1-56563-057-2. Partly reproduced online at CCEL
    • Bunsen, C. C., Hippolytus and His Age, Kessinger Publishing, 2007. Originally published by Longmans, 1852. Partly reproduced online at Google Book Search
  3. ↑ Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), The University of Chicago Press, 1975, pp.179-181
  4. ↑ pgs 51-55Vladimir Lossky The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. ( ISBN   0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. ( ISBN   0-227-67919-9)
  5. ↑ pgs 51-55 Vladimir Lossky The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. ( ISBN   0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. ( ISBN   0-227-67919-9)
  6. ↑ Select Treatises of St. Athanasius - In Controversy With the Arians - Freely Translated by John Henry Cardinal Newmann - Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911, footnote, page 124
  7. ↑ Von Mosheim, J. L., Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity During the First Three Hundred and Twenty-Five Years from the Christian Era, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006, p220. ISBN   1-59752-704-1 Originally published by Trow & Smith Book Manufacturing Co, 1868. Partly reproduced online at Google Book Search
  8. ↑ Mosheim, Johann Lorenz (1851). Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity During the First Three Hundred and Twenty-five Years from the Christian Era. S. Converse. p. 218.
  9. ↑ Mattison M. M., Jesus and the Trinity, Auburn University, Alabama Retrieved Oct 7, 2007.
  10. ↑ St. Athanasius (1911), "In Controversy With the Arians", Select Treatises, Newman, John Henry Cardinal trans, Longmans, Green, & Co, p. 124, footn.
  11. ↑ Clissold, A., The Creeds of Athanasius, Sabellius and Swedenborg, Adamant Media Corporation, 2001 (originally published by Longmans Green and Co, 1873) Partly reproduced online at The Creeds of Athanasius, Sabellius and Swedenborg: Examined and Compared With Each Other
  12. ↑ Northcote, J. S., Epitaphs of the Catacombs, 1878, p. 102. Cited by Christian Classics Ethereal Library
  13. ↑ Tertullian, of Carthage. "Against Praxeas". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  14. ↑ Cyprian, c. 250, W, 5.383,484
  15. ↑ J.H. Blunt, p.332,Heik, p 150, kelsey, pp. 40,41
  16. ↑ St. Dionysius, Letters and Treatises, p.54
  17. ↑ Dionysius of Rome, c.264,W, 6.365
  18. ↑ Tertullian, C. 213,W,3.623
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