# Monarchianism

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/monarchianism — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

Monarchianism was an early Christian movement in controversies over the Trinity, comprising two distinct groups: Modalist Monarchians and Adoptionist or Dynamic Monarchians.[^1][^3]

## Definition and forms

Monarchianism was a movement in the early church’s trinitarian controversy that denied the distinction of Persons between Father and Son within the Godhead and came to be regarded as heretical. The sources distinguish two separate groups: Modalist Monarchians and Adoptionist or Dynamic Monarchians.[^1][^3]

**Modalist Monarchians** understood the Son and the Holy Spirit not as having individual existences but as modes or aspects of the Father. The doctrine attracted significant attention in Rome around 200 through Christians from western Asia Minor, notably Noetus, Polemon, and Praxeas.[^2]

**Adoptionist or Dynamic Monarchians**, according to their opponent Hippolytus, regarded Jesus as entirely human, born of a virgin, and exceptionally religious. In this account, he received “the Christ” at baptism in the form of a dove, thereby acquiring miraculous powers, and was adopted into the Godhead after death. Whether he should be worshiped as God remained questionable within this account of their teaching.[^3]

## Sabellianism

Sabellianism was a developed form of modalist monarchian teaching, named after Sabellius, who flourished around 220. Sabellius taught that God was one substance with three activities: as Father in creation and the giving of the law, as Son in redemption, and as Holy Spirit in sanctification and grace. These were understood as different manifestations of the one Godhead rather than independent activities.[^4]

## Controversies in Rome

The early third-century Roman bishops Zephyrinus and Calixtus tended to favor a modalist form of Christology while strongly opposing Dynamic Monarchianism. The Dynamic group included two Greek-speaking Christians named Theodotus, one a tanner from Byzantium and the other a banker. Despite excommunication, the group continued, and Artemon was carrying on its tradition in Rome around 230.[^5]

## Egypt and the later trinitarian debates

In Egypt, Origen opposed both forms of Monarchianism in developing his doctrine of the Logos, reserving particularly strong criticism for the Adoptionists’ denial of Christ’s divinity. In the mid-third century, Sabellianism took root in Cyrenaica, where Dionysius of Alexandria opposed it; his own terminology, however, suggested that Christ belonged to the created order.[^6] An appeal from Cyrenaica led to an inconclusive exchange of letters between Dionysius of Rome and Dionysius of Alexandria around 263.[^7]

Suspicion of modalist tendencies was an underlying factor in Eastern bishops’ objections to Athanasius and his firm adherence to the Nicene Creed. The Creed of Constantinople in 381, with wording safeguarding the distinct individuality of the Persons of the Trinity, was a turning point after which fear of Monarchianism as a concealed threat to orthodoxy diminished.[^8]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 709)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 709)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 709)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 93)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 710)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 710)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 711)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 711)