A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

§ 40. The Monarchian Controversies 191He has redeemed, it is proper that those who after the grace ofbaptism have become foul can once more be cleansed.Ch. 5. The remedies for propitiating God are given in thewords of God himself. The divine instructions have taught sinnerswhat they ought to do; that by works of righteousness Godis satisfied, and with the merits of mercy sins are cleansed.… He[the angel Raphael, cf. Tobit. 12:8, 9] shows that our prayers andfastings are of little avail unless they are aided by almsgiving;that entreaties alone are of little force to obtain what they seek,unless they be made sufficient by the addition of deeds and goodworks. The angel reveals and manifests and certifies that ourpetitions become efficacious by almsgiving, that life is redeemedfrom dangers by almsgiving, that souls are delivered from deathby almsgiving.§ 40. The Monarchian ControversiesMonarchianism is a general term used to include all the unsuccessfulattempts of teachers within the Church to explain thedivine element in Christ without doing violence to the doctrineof the unity of God, and yet without employing the Logos christology.These attempts were made chiefly between the latter partof the second century and the end of the third. They fall intoclasses accordingly as they regard the divine element in Christas personal or impersonal. One class makes the divine elementto be an impersonal power (Greek, dynamis) sent from God intothe man Jesus; hence the term “Dynamistic Monarchians.” Theother class makes the divine element a person, without, however,making any personal distinction between Father and Son, only adifference in the mode in which the one divine person manifests [172]Himself; hence the term “Modalistic Monarchians.” By some theDynamistic Monarchians have been called Adoptionists, becausethey generally taught that the man Jesus ultimately became theSon of God, not being such by nature but by “adoption.” The