monarchianism

monarchianism [Gr.,=belief in the rule of one], the concept of God that maintains his sole authority even over Christ and the Holy Spirit. Its characteristic tenet, that God the Father and Jesus are one person, was developed in two forms in early Christianity. Dynamistic monarchians, such as the Theodotians and Paul of Samosata , held that Jesus was born a man and received the Christ as a power from God at a later time (see adoptionism ). Modalistic monarchians taught that God is unknowable, except for his manifestations, or modes; Christ is one of these. Because of the consequent implication that God the Father must have died on the cross, they were called Patripassians [Lat.,= the Father suffering]. Sabellius fully developed modalism.

Monarchianism. A Christian understanding of God, of the 2nd–3rd cents. Concerned to uphold monotheism and the unity (‘monarchy’) of God, it was condemned as heretical for threatening the independence of the Son. The modalist monarchians held that within the Godhead there was no difference of persons, only a succession of transitory modes of operation. Modern scholars also speak of those adoptianists who held that Christ was a mere man, endued with God's power at his baptism, as ‘dynamic’ monarchians.

Monarchianism. A 2nd-and 3rd-cent. theological movement. Its adherents, in their attempts to safeguard Monotheism and the Unity (‘Monarchy’) of the Godhead, failed to do justice to the independent subsistence of the Son. There were two groups. The ‘Adoptionist’ Monarchians held that Jesus was God only in the sense that a power or influence from the Father rested upon His human person. The ‘Modalist’ Monarchians held that in the Godhead the only differentiation was a succession of modes or operations; they were also called ‘Patripassians’, as their doctrine implied that the Father suffered as the Son.