Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross)
E26589
Christological doctrine
early Christian heresy
nontrinitarian doctrine
theological doctrine
view about the Trinity
Patripassianism is a nontrinitarian early Christian theological view that identifies the Father so closely with the Son that it holds the Father Himself suffered and died in Christ’s crucifixion.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Patripassianism | 3 |
| Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross) canonical | 2 |
| Patripassian Modalism | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T207770 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross) Context triple: [Modalism, accusedOf, Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross)]
-
A.
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine, historically deemed heretical by the mainstream church, that emphasizes a distinction between the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ to the point of effectively positing two persons in Christ.
-
B.
Christus Victor theory of atonement
The Christus Victor theory of atonement is a Christian theological view that portrays Jesus’ death and resurrection primarily as a cosmic victory over the powers of sin, death, and the devil, liberating humanity from their bondage.
-
C.
Tritheism
Tritheism is a theological doctrine that interprets the Christian Godhead as three distinct and separate gods rather than one God in three persons.
-
D.
Christology
Christology is the branch of Christian theology that studies the person, nature, and work of Jesus Christ.
-
E.
Consubstantiation
Consubstantiation is a Christian theological doctrine, often linked with some Protestant traditions, that holds Christ’s body and blood to be present alongside the unchanged bread and wine in the Eucharist.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross) Target entity description: Patripassianism is a nontrinitarian early Christian theological view that identifies the Father so closely with the Son that it holds the Father Himself suffered and died in Christ’s crucifixion.
-
A.
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine, historically deemed heretical by the mainstream church, that emphasizes a distinction between the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ to the point of effectively positing two persons in Christ.
-
B.
Christus Victor theory of atonement
The Christus Victor theory of atonement is a Christian theological view that portrays Jesus’ death and resurrection primarily as a cosmic victory over the powers of sin, death, and the devil, liberating humanity from their bondage.
-
C.
Tritheism
Tritheism is a theological doctrine that interprets the Christian Godhead as three distinct and separate gods rather than one God in three persons.
-
D.
Christology
Christology is the branch of Christian theology that studies the person, nature, and work of Jesus Christ.
-
E.
Consubstantiation
Consubstantiation is a Christian theological doctrine, often linked with some Protestant traditions, that holds Christ’s body and blood to be present alongside the unchanged bread and wine in the Eucharist.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Christological doctrine
ⓘ
early Christian heresy ⓘ nontrinitarian doctrine ⓘ theological doctrine ⓘ view about the Trinity ⓘ |
| addressesQuestion |
how divine unity relates to the persons of the Trinity
ⓘ
whether the Father can suffer ⓘ |
| affirmsDoctrine |
strict unity of Father and Son
ⓘ
that the one God suffered in Christ ⓘ |
| classifiedAs | heresy by mainstream Christianity ⓘ |
| consideredErrorBy |
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
ⓘ
surface form:
Eastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholicism ⓘ
surface form:
Roman Catholic Church
most Protestant traditions ⓘ |
| contradicts |
Nicene Christianity
ⓘ
surface form:
Nicene Trinitarianism
doctrine of three distinct divine persons ⓘ |
| coreClaim |
the Father Himself suffered and died on the cross in Christ’s crucifixion
ⓘ
the Father is so closely identified with the Son that their suffering is the same event ⓘ the Father suffered in the passion of Christ ⓘ |
| criticizedFor |
confusing the persons of the Trinity
ⓘ
implying passibility of the divine nature of the Father ⓘ undermining the distinction between Father and Son ⓘ |
| deniesDoctrine |
classical doctrine of the impassibility of God the Father
ⓘ
distinct personal subsistence of Father and Son in the Trinity ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
divine suffering in the crucifixion
ⓘ
relationship between Father and Son ⓘ |
| geographicContext |
Roman Empire
ⓘ
early Christian Church ⓘ |
| hasAlternativeName |
Patripassian heresy
ⓘ
Patripassian teaching ⓘ Patripassian view ⓘ |
| hasEtymology | from Latin 'patri' (father) and 'passio' (suffering) ⓘ |
| historicalCategory | early Christian doctrinal controversy ⓘ |
| historicalInfluenceOn |
later Trinitarian controversies
ⓘ
later discussions of divine impassibility ⓘ |
| isFormOf |
Modalism
ⓘ
surface form:
Modalistic Monarchianism
Modalism ⓘ
surface form:
Monarchianism
|
| isRelatedTo |
Modalism
ⓘ
Modalism ⓘ
surface form:
Nontrinitarianism
Sabellianism ⓘ |
| opposedBy |
Saint Hippolytus
ⓘ
surface form:
Hippolytus of Rome
Tertullian ⓘ proto-orthodox Christian theologians ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
2nd century
ⓘ
3rd century ⓘ |
| viewOfCrucifixion | the Father was crucified in the Son ⓘ |
| viewOfFather | Father is numerically identical with the Son in the incarnation ⓘ |
| viewOfSon | Son is not a distinct person from the Father ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross) Description of subject: Patripassianism is a nontrinitarian early Christian theological view that identifies the Father so closely with the Son that it holds the Father Himself suffered and died in Christ’s crucifixion.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Patripassian Modalism
this entity surface form:
Patripassianism
Sabellianism
→
hasAlternativeName
→
Patripassianism (teaching that the Father suffered on the cross)
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Patripassianism
this entity surface form:
Patripassianism