A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SABELLIUS. SABELLIUS. 685
(Paus. x. 12. ~ 5; Aelian, V. II. xii. 35, with paring it to the union of body, soul, and spirit, in
Perizonius' note.) [L. S.] man, " so that the Father, so to speak, was the
L. SABE'LLIUS, accused by L. Caesulenus. body, the Son the soul, and the Spirit the spirit, of
(Cic. Brut. 34.) man." He appears not to give this as an illusSABE'LLIUS, an heresiarch of the third cen- tration of his own, but as one employed by the
tury. Of this man, who has given name to one of Sabellians themselves, who also compared the
the most enduring modifications of belief in the Deity to the Sun, " which is one hypostasis, but
Christian Church, hardly anything is known. Phi- has three operations (Evepyeias): —that of impartlastrius (De Haeres. c. 26) and Asterius of Amaseia ing light (t6 QWorTLKOd'), which they compared to
(apud Phot. Bibl. cod. 271), call him a Libyan, the Son; of imparting warmth (r aadx7rov), which
and Theodoret repeats the statement, with the they compared to the Spirit; and its orbicular
addition that he was a native of the Libyan Penta- form, the form of its whole substance (To el1os
polis (Haeretic. Fabul. Comnpend. lib. ii. 9). Diony- a7ra'as'THs 67roordaeews), which they compared to
sius of Alexandria (apud Euseb. H.E. vii. 6) the Father. And that the Son having been once
speaks of the Sabellian doctrine as originating in on a time (caLp.p 7rorTe) sent forth as a ray, and
the Pentapolitan Ptolemais, of which town, there- having wrought in the world all things needful to
fore, we may conclude that Sabellius was a resident, the Gospel economy and the salvation of men, had
if not a native. Timotheus, the presbyter of Con- been received up again into heaven, like a ray
stantinople, in his work De Triplici Receptione emitted from the sun, and returning again to the
Haereticorumo (apud Coteler. Eccles. Graec. AIionum. sun. And that the Holy Spirit is sent into the
vol. iii. p. 385), distinguishes Sabellius the Libyan world successively and severally to each' one who
from Sabellius of the Pentapolis, but without is worthy (Kal KaOeaOS s Kal icaO' tcaYTra eLs E'Kareason: and his inaccuracy in this respect throws er7ov v'v Kmaratiov1.'twv), to impart to such a one
doubt on his unsupported assertion that Sabellius new birth and fervour (daoanoyovev He Tn'v
was bishop of the Pentapolis. Abulpharagius T010oTOV Kical davnaevY), and to cherish and warm
(Hist. Dynastiar. p. 81, vers. Pocock) calls him a him, so to speak, by the power and co-operation
presbyter of Byzantium, and places him in the (Gu-sVi ecoEs) of the Holy Spirit" (ibid.). Accordreign of Gallus and Volusianus, A. D. 252, 253. ing to Basil (Ep. 214), Sabellius spoke of persons
That he was of Byzantium is contradicted by all in God, but apparently only in the sense of
other accounts; but the date assigned is sufficiently characters or representations-" that God was one
in accordance with other authorities to be received. in hypostasis, but was represented in Scripture
Philastrius (ibid.) calls him a disciple of Noetus, under different persons:" an RE eeat d vOrrobut it does not appear that this means anything aTaUer ndi O~Edv, 7rpoaw7ro7roeOra1 Be 0o r To'rs
more than that he embraced views similar to those ypa(pcs Bacpo'pcvs. Epiphanius charges them with
of Noetus, who was of Asia Minor; either of deriving their opinions from Apocryphal writings,
Smyrna (Theodoret. ibid. iii. 3) or of Ephesus and especially from the spurious Gospel of the
(Epiphan. Haeres. lvii.), and flourished about the Egyptians; and Neander (Church Hist. by Rose,
middle of the third century. When Sabellius vol. ii. p. 276) thinks this statement is by no
broached his doctrines they excited great commotions means to be rejected. However this may be (and
among the Christians of the Pentapolis; and both we think the authority of Epiphanius in such a
parties appealed to Dionysius of Alexandria, and case of little moment), their main reliance in arguendeavoured to secure him to their side. Dionysius ment was upon passages in the Canonical Scripwrote letters to them, which are not extant. There tures, especially on that in Deut. vi. 4, " Hear O
can be no doubt that he embraced the side of the Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord," and on Ex.
opponents of Sabellianism, which he brands as "an xx. 3, Is. xliv. 6, John, x. 30, 38, and xiv. 10.
impious and very blasphemous dogma:" but it They dwelt also on the obvious difficulties in the
does not appear that he wrote to Sabellius himself, popular view of the Godhead, asking the simpler
nor do we even know whether Sabellius was then and less-informed believers, " What shall we say
living (Euseb. H. E. vii. 6). From the manner then, have we one God or three?" And thus,
in which Athanasius (ELpistol. de Sententia Dionysii, says Epiphanius, they led the perturbed Christian
c. 5) relates the matter, Dionysius was not engaged " unconsciously to deny God, that is, unconsciously
in controversy with Sabellius himself, but with to deny the existence of the Son and the Holy
some bishops of his party; from which it is not Spirit." It is evident, however, that this denial
improbable that Sabellius was already dead. The was only the denial of their existence as distinct
intervention of Dionysius is placed by Tillemont hypostases from the Father. The heresy of Sain A. D. 257, and by the Benedictine editors of bellius approximated very nearly to that of Noituss,
Athanasius (1. c.) in A. D. 263. Indeed it is pro- so that Augustin wonders that Epiphanius should
bable, from the scanty notices we have of Sabellius, have distinguished the Sabellian heresy from the
that his heresy was not broached till just before No'tian: but Sabellius did not affirm that the
his death. His opinions were widely diffused, and Father suffered, though the name of Patripassions
Epiphanius (Haeres. lxii.) found many who held was given to his followers (Athanas. De Synodis, c.
them both in the East and West, in the plains of 7; Augustin, De Haeres. xli.): and Mosheim has
Mesopotamia, and in the busy population of Rome. well observed that Sabellius did not, like Noetus,
The characteristic dogma of Sabellius related to hold that the divine hypostasis was absolutely one,
the Divine Nature, in which he conceived that and that it assumed and united to itself the human
there was only one hypostasis or person, identify- nature of Christ; but contended that " a certain
ing with each other the Father, the Son, and the energy (vim) emitted from the Father of all, or, if
Spirit, " so that in one hypostasis there are three you choose, a part of the person and nature of the
desiynations," hs ebat i v A.'q V'7roTr0d5oE'pES Father, was united to the man Christ." (Basil,
ovosacrias (Epiphan. Haeres. lxii. 1). Epiphanius Elistol. 210, 214, ed. Benedictin, 64, 349, editt.
further illustrates the Sabellian hypothesis by com- prior.; comp. Epiphan. 1. c.; Augustin, De Ilaercs.