301:(speaking in tongues) and baptized in the "shorter formula" because of their denial of the Trinity. 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." "Sabellius...blasphemes in saying that the Son Himself is the Father and vice versa." "Jesus commands them to baptize into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-not into a unipersonal God."
163:, 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. 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 "...Godâs glory displayed in the face (prosopon - singular form of prosopa) of Christ.
202:âAs Sabellius held to the simple unity of the person and nature of God, and yet supposed the Father, Son, and holy Spirit, to differ really from each other, and not to be three names of the one God, acting in different ways; we are obliged to believe, that he considered the Father, Son, and holy Spirit, as being three portions of the divine nature, severed, as it were, from God, and differing from each other, yet not subsisting as three persons, but all dependent on the one individual divine nature.â (p220)
290:. Apparently then, there were both Trinitarian and modalist participants in the Monatism 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?" In 225 AD Hippolytus spoke of them saying "Some of them assent to the heresy of the
251:, and he crucified the Father." This charge he applied to Sabellius as well. This is a distortion of Sabellius' teaching according to Clissold, who quotes scholars who have appealed to Epiphanius' writings. 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.
199:"Sabellius, therefore, believed that, as a man is but one person, and yet in his one person three things may be discriminated ⌠the body, the soul, and the spirit, so, also, although there is but one undivided person in God, yet in that person, the Father, the Son, and the holy Spirit can be discriminated, not in thought only, but they must be really discriminated and kept distinct." (p219-220)
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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.
56:
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
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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
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Reason and
Scripture teach God to be âa perfectly simple unity.â To prevent the teaching of âa plurality of Gods,â Sabellius denied âthe distinction of persons in the divine nature.â (p217/218) But while Sabellius maintained that there was but one divine person, âhe still believed the distinction of
206:
On page 221 and later, Von
Mosheim mentions that "the ancients sometimes speak as if they would represent Sabellius to believe that the Father, Son, and holy Spirit, differ from each other only as three modes of acting." He continues to show examples of how Epiphanius, Basil the Great and Theodoret
146:
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
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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
100:. 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
33:
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. What is known of
138:
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
178:âThe majority say: He taught that the Father, Son, and holy Spirit, are only three names of the one God.â Others denied that, claiming that Sabellius taught that "the Son is a divine virtue that descended from the Father upon the man Christ," which is similar to what the Socinians taught.
174:, in his book - The State of Christianity during the first 320 years - translated and published in English in 1851, described Sabellius' views. On page 217, Von Mosheim explains that different people had different views of what Sabellius taught:
294:, 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."
139:
Sabellian tendency." Athanasius, however, used the term differently than
Sabellius, affirming oneness of the Divine Essence while maintaining the distinctions between the Divine Persons.
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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.
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proved most offensive. In any case, unlike many others deemed as heretics, the Sabellians were never excommunicated from the Church at large. One hundred years later, the Deacon
115:
It also stood in contrast to the position of distinct persons existing within a single godhead by representing Father, Son and Spirit as different âmodesâ (hence the term "
196:âSabellius held to a Trinityâ (p218) (The purpose of this statement seems to be to confirm that there are real distinctions between the Father, Son and holy Spirit.)
304:
Sabellianism teaching of Modalism and singular name baptism was also accompanied by glossolalia and prophecy among the above-mentioned sect of Montanists. In 225 AD
190:âAlthough Sabellius made a distinction between the Father and the Son, yet he would not admit that the Son was a divine person, begotten by the Fatherâ (p218).
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231:, meaning âthe father sufferedâ, since Sabellius made no true distinction of persons between the Father and the Son. The term is from the Latin words
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Sabellius taught that God was single and indivisible, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being three modes or manifestations of one divine Person.
790:
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392:
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
193:âSabellius ... did not confound the Son and holy Spirit with the Father, but clearly discriminated the two former from the latterâ (p218).
148:
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More importantly it stood against the Trinitarian teaching that "God was one God in Father" rather than One in the Father's essence only.
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in AD 220. Wace and Bunsen have both suggested that Calixtus' action was motivated more by a desire for unity rather than by conviction.
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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
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Father, Son, and holy Spirit, described in the Scriptures, to be a real distinction, and not a mere appellative or nominal oneâ (p218).
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Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity During the First Three Hundred and Twenty-Five Years from the Christian Era
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from the verb "to suffer", because it implied that the Father suffered on the cross. Tertullian coined the term in his work
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As from the last paragraph on page 217, Von Mosheim explains his own understanding of what Sabellius taught. He wrote:
667:, Adamant Media Corporation, 2001 (originally published by Longmans Green and Co, 1873) Partly reproduced online at
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So it cannot be certain whether Sabellius taught a dispensational Modalism or taught what is known today as the
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History of the Doctrine Concerning the Nature of God in the Early Centuries of Christianity: Sabellius (part 8)
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The History of Christian Thought (Lecture 12): Monarchianism. Sabellius. The Arian Controversy. Nicaea.
507:- Freely Translated by John Henry Cardinal Newmann - Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911, footnote, page 124
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The suggestion of development and change within the Godhead was seen as contradicting the concept of
412:, Kessinger Publishing, 2007. Originally published by Longmans, 1852. Partly reproduced online at
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Originally published by Trow & Smith Book Manufacturing Co, 1868. Partly reproduced online at
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The Creeds of Athanasius, Sabellius and Swedenborg: Examined and Compared With Each Other
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649:, Newman, John Henry Cardinal trans, Longmans, Green, & Co, p. 124, footn
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Although there are some doctrinal characteristics shared by a modern group called
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This article is about the third-century theologian. For the Finnish composer, see
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denote oneness of Essence while affirming the distinctions of the Persons or "
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of reviving an old heresy, that at the very least had Sabellian leanings.
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with those of Sabellius, the former do not teach the exact doctrine of
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227:. Tertullian is reported to have given Sabellius' doctrine the name
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Select Treatises of St. Athanasius - In Controversy With the Arians
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477:
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. (
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The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. (
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Sabellius' opposition to the idea of the Trinity led to his
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himself was a member of when he wrote (the anti-Sabellian)
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The Teachings of Sabellius were most vigorously opposed by
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St. Athanasius (1911), "In Controversy With the Arians",
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in Latin) that God presented successively to the world.
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Sabellianism was doctrine adhered to by a sect of the
142:
The term "homoousios" was accepted, however, at the
778:, Compendium of the History of Doctrines, pp262-265
433:, The University of Chicago Press, 1975, pp.179-181
665:The Creeds of Athanasius, Sabellius and Swedenborg
431:The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)
735:J.H. Blunt, p.332,Heik, p 150, kelsey, pp. 40,41
297:It is reported that some Sabellians experienced
317:to Sabellius, in effect accusing Alexander and
776:The Theories of Sabellius and Paul of Samosata
29:(fl. ca. 215) was a third-century priest and
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130:It has been noted also that the Greek term "
119:"), âaspectsâ or âfacesâ, ârolesâ, "masks" (
520:, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006, p220.
225:hierarchical trinity of subordinate persons
744:St. Dionysius, Letters and Treatises, p.54
282:. The Montanists are the same sect that
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606:"Was Sabellius the first Trinitarian?"
581:"Was Sabellius the first Trinitarian?"
556:"Was Sabellius the first Trinitarian?"
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207:contradict themselves in this regard.
16:Third-century presbyter and theologian
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485:) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (
454:) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (
793:Oneness Believers in Church History
707:Christian Classics Ethereal Library
690:Christian Classics Ethereal Library
378:, New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia
89:This understanding has been called
34:Sabellius is drawn mostly from the
604:Andries van Niekerk (2021-12-09).
579:Andries van Niekerk (2021-12-09).
554:Andries van Niekerk (2021-12-09).
57:attack Callistus under a nickname.
14:
840:3rd-century Christian theologians
795:, The Oneness of God (chapter 10)
753:Dionysius of Rome, c.264,W, 6.365
394:, Hendrickson Publishers, 1994.
402:. Partly reproduced online at
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726:Cyprian, c. 250, W, 5.383,484
223:in Rome, who both proposed a
835:3rd-century Christian clergy
633:, Auburn University, Alabama
38:writings of his opponents.
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762:Tertullian, C. 213,W,3.623
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701:Tertullian, of Carthage.
688:, 1878, p. 102. Cited by
686:Epitaphs of the Catacombs
610:From Daniel to Revelation
585:From Daniel to Revelation
560:From Daniel to Revelation
172:Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
136:Athanasius of Alexandria
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635:Retrieved Oct 7, 2007.
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516:Von Mosheim, J. L.,
261:Oneness Pentecostals
219:in North Africa and
349:Oneness Pentecostal
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818:Views of Sabellius
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