Sabellianism
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In Christianity, Sabellianism is the belief that the Heavenly Father, Resurrected Son and Holy Spirit three modes or aspects of the one God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons in God Himself. This theology, later declared heretical, developed out of the earlier teaching know as Modalistic Monarchianism, with which it is sometimes identified. Its proponent, Sabellius lived in the early third century CE and was probably a Roman presbyter.
Sabellianism differed from classical trinitarians by insisting that the three persons of the Godhead did not constitute permanent distinctions but functioned instead as modes of God's being and activity. More particularly, the God the Father was active in the principle of creation, God the Son in the act of redemption, and God the Holy Spirit in in process of sanctification.
Sabellianianism's most outspoken critic was Hippolytus of Rome, who accused Pope Zephyrinus for not taking a stand against the "heresy" and later became an antipope rather than submit the Zephyrinius' successor Callixtus I, whom he held in particular contempt.
Although Callixtus eventually rejected the teaching, it became popular among the African churches in the mid-third century, which it was opposed by Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria. The doctrine continued to play a role during the Arianism|Arian controversy and persisted in some parts until at least the eight century.
During the Reformation, the Spanish theology Michael Servetus, was accused of Sabellianism, as was the great eighteenth century philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
Meaning and origins
During the development of trinitarian theology, it was often proposed that the Christian God had three "faces" or "masks" (Grk. prosopa). The question thus arose, is this threeness a matter of essence or perception? Sabellianianism did not actual begin with Sabellius, but with the earlier Monarchianism which emphasized the oneness of God over the the threeness of the Trinity. In this view, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are view as modes of God's being and operation, rather than essences or permanently distinct persons.
A certain Noetus of Smyrna was one of the first know to have taught this doctrine. Because of his insistence on denying permanent distinctions within the Godhead, he was accused by the elders of his church of teaching that "the Father suffered" (and died on the cross). He denied this but, after gaining disciples, was later interrogated again, and expelled from the Church. Noetus died soon after, and did not receive Christian burial.
His pupil Epigonus came to Rome. According to Hippolytus (Philos. 9:7), Cleomenes, a follower of Epigonus, was allowed by Pope Zephyrinus to establish a school, which flourished with the pope's approval and that of his deacon and successor Callixtus I, a fact that led Hyppoltyus himself to form a schism and become an antipope rather that submit to Callixtus' leadership.
Sabellius' career an oppostion
Sabellius soon became the leader of the Monarchians in Rome, perhaps even before the death of Zephyrinus (c. 218). Sabellius or his followers may have considerably amplified the original Noetianism. He is accusted by Epiphanius to have founded his views on the Gospel of the Egyptians, (not to be confused with the Gnostic Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians). Hippolytus indicates that he hoped to convert Sabellius to his own views, and attributed his failure in this to the influence of Callixtus. Later, around 220, Callixtus excommunicated Sabellius ("fearing me", says Hippolytus). However, Hippolytus accuses Callixtus of inventing a new heresy by combing the views of Theodotus and those of Sabellius, a view which is unlikely sin Callixtus actually excommunicated them both.
Tertullian seems to suggest that the majority of believers at that time favored the Sabellian view of the oneness of God: "The simple," he says, "who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the ground that their very rule of faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God..." [1]
Tertullian, labelled the Sabellian heresy "Patripassianism", from the Latin words pater for "father", and passus from the verb "to suffer," because it implied that God the Father suffered on the Cross. The term was coined by Tertullian in his work Adversus Praxeas (chapter 1), in which he accused Praxeas of the dual sins of persecuting Montanism and teaching Sabellianism: "By this Praxeas did a twofold service for the devil at Rome: he drove away prophecy (meaning Montanism), and he brought in heresy (meaning Sabellianism); he put to flight the Paraclete, and he crucified the Father."
Sabellius was apparently still in Rome when Hippolytus wrote his Philosophumena (between 230 and 235), and it may be presumed that his ideas still had a following. A number of Montanists, led by Aeschines, were Modalists against whom Tertullian, himself a Montanist, had occasion to writer.
It is important to note that our only sources extant for our understanding of Sabellianism are from it detractors. Scholars today are not in agreement as to what exactly Sabellius taught. It is easy to suppose Tertullian and Hippolytus exaggerated or misrepresented the opinions of their opponents.[2]
In any case, Sabellianism also became an issue during the debates over heretical baptism. Generally the Roman Catholic church came to teach that baptism by ordained priests in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was valid, even if the priest himself were a heretic. However, in the case of certain Sabellians who baptized in one name only, the baptism would have to be repeated.
Patriarch Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 200-265 C.E.) 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."
At Rome Pope Dionysius called a synod about 260 for the settlement of the matter of Sabellianism. The pope issued, in his own name and that of the council, a doctrinal stating in part: "Sabellius... blasphemes in saying that the Son Himself is the Father and vice versa." (Pope Dionysius c. 264)
Later Sabellianism
Sabellianism by no means disappeared by this decisions, however. It was still much in evidence in the fourth century. During the Arian controversy, supporters of Arian theology often accused those who insisted that Christ and the Father were of the "same substance" of Sabellianism. Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra, in opposition to Arius, indeed developed a Monarchianism of his own, which was carried much further by his disciple, Photinus.
"Monarchian Prologues" to the Gospels were found in most old manuscripts of the Vulgate version, possbly the work of Priscillian, who was the first person in the history of Christianity to be executed for heresy. Beryllus, Bishop of Bostra, is vaguely said by Eusebius (H. E., 6:33) to have taught that the Savior had no distinct pre-existence before the Incarnation, and had no divinity of his own, but that the divinity of the Father dwelt in him. Origen disputed with Beryllus in a council and convinced him of his error, and the minutes of the debate were known to Eusebius.
Although the Arians accused their opponents of Sabellianism, the Nicaean Creed which was adopted in opposition to Arianism may also be seen as a rejection of Sabellianism, in that it emphasizes the distinct "persons" in the Godhead. An even more direct refutation of Sabellianism may be seen in the Athanasian Creed, although this formula is not as universally recognized.
The doctrine was still alive in the late fourth century at Neocaesarea, where it was attacked by Basil the Great. Epiphanius (Haeres 62) about 375 C.E. notes that the adherents of Sabellius were still to be found in great numbers, both in Mesopotamia and at Rome. The Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 533 C.E. declared the baptism of Sabellius to be invalid, which indicates that Sabellianism was still extant at that time as well.
Later manifestations
Both Michael Servetus and Emanuel Swedenborg have been interpreted as being proponents of Sabellian modalism.
Oneness Pentecostalism is also sometimes accused of Sabellianism. However, although Oneness Pentecostalism admits to being Nontrinitarian, it rejects the accusation of Sabellianism.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Tertullian, Against Praxeas, III
- ↑ Monarchians. www.newadvent.org. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
Notes
External links
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sabellianism - Retrieved October 30, 2007.
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