Sabellius

Sabellius was a priest and theologian of the early third century, active around the year 215 and most likely teaching in Rome, although some ancient writers called him a Libyan from the Pentapolis. His name is attached to Sabellianism, the belief that there is only one person in the Godhead rather than three distinct persons, a view the wider Christian churches rejected as heresy. His opposition to the idea of the Trinity led to his excommunication. What is known of him is drawn mostly from the polemical writings of his opponents, so his actual teaching has to be reconstructed from hostile accounts, and the Greek Fathers used his name for the whole Monarchian movement.