Over the last couple of sessions, we’ve looked at the shameful battle between egalitarians and subordinationists. Both parties believed Jesus pre-existed but couldn’t agree on whether he was eternal and equal with the Father or not. However, at the same time, another stream of Christians fought for another view – a theology they thought was more biblical and less fraught with philosophical conundrums—the dynamic Monarchians.
Paul of Samosata’s Life (200-275)
• 260 - Ordained Bishop of Antioch
• 264 - Synod at Antioch
• 268 - Synod at Antioch, debate w/ Malchion
• 272 - Emperor Aurelian deposed Paul.
Robert Lynn Sample: “Paul’s particular brand of Christianity had an ecstatic or spontaneous character, with a stress on spiritual power.”1
Artemon of Rome (fl. 230)
• Claimed that non-pre-existence dominated throughout the time of Bishop Victor of Rome (d. 199)
• Artemon taught that though Christ was born of a virgin, he was a “mere man”.
• Theodotus of Byzantium was Artemon’s predecessor.
Paul of Samosata’s Beliefs
• Lumped in with Artemon and Ebionites by Eusebius
• Epiphanius accused Paul of importing Judaism (though not circumcision or Sabbath observance).
• Paul said the logos was homoousios with the Father.
• The Son is what the logos became when it was made flesh.
• Christ did exist prophetically before he was born.
• Paulinians or Paulianists continued to hold a unitarian faith long after Paul died.
Photinus of Sirmium’s Life (d. 376)
• From Ancyra in Galatia
• 343 - Ordained Bishop of Sirmium
• 344 - Council at Antioch (Macrostitch Creed)
• 345 - Council at Milan condemned him.
• 347 - Council at Rome condemned him.
• 351 - After a debate, Constantius deposed him.
• 351 - Council at Sirmium denounced Photinian doctrine.
• 361 - Returned to Sirmium as Bishop
• 364 - Valentinian I deposed him.
Photinus’ Beliefs
• Jerome accused him of reviving the Ebionite heresy.
• Very biblical; quoted 1 Corinthians 15.47; 1 Timothy 2.5; John 8.40
• Christ only existed from Mary’s time when she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
• The Son did exist, but only according to foreknowledge or predestination.
• Photinians persisted in the Roman Empire for another century and a half.
Review
• From 260 - 272, Paul of Samosata was the bishop of Antioch, one of the four most important churches in the world.
• He was a charismatic preacher whose animated congregation participated with applauding, waving handkerchiefs, shouting, and even jumping.
• Paul prevented singing the newer hymns to Jesus, probably because they differed from his beliefs.
• Other bishops challenged him in 264 and tried to depose him in 268. Paul did not leave his church.
• In 272, Emperor Aurelian took back the region for Rome from Queen Zenobia of Palmyra and deposed Paul.
• Like Artemon a generation before him and Theodotus before him, Paul taught that Jesus was the Christ, but that he did not exist before his birth, though he agreed that he "existed prophetically."
• Paul taught that the logos was of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father.
• Photinus was bishop of Sirmium in the middle of the fourth century until emperors Constantius and Valentinus I deposed him.
• Like Paul, he believed that the logos was "in the Father" but was not equivalent to the Son, though the Son is what the logos became when it became flesh.
• Photinus placed a heavy emphasis on scripture and said he had a hundred prooftexts for his Christology.
• After Photinus died, Photinians persisted in the Roman Empire for another century and a half in small pockets.
1. Robert Lynn Sample, “The Messiah as Prophet: The Christology of Paul of Samosata,” PhD diss., Northwestern University, June 1977, 5.
PhD diss., Catholic University of America, Washington D. C., March 1990, 145.
