Sabellius

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Sabellius is mentioned in Paradiso XIII, 127, in the passage in which Saint Thomas recalls how many have distorted the meaning of the Scriptures. The note to the verse presents him as one of the most famous heretics of the early Christian era, who lived in the third century, whose doctrine was condemned at the Council of Alexandria in 261. The note specifies that Sabellius denied the dogma of the Trinity, recognizing in God only one person, that of the Father. The note places him alongside Arius as the author of opposing errors regarding the Trinity: Sabellius upheld the unity of persons and of essence, whereas Arius affirmed the trinity of persons and of substances. The Dantean text defines him as foolish together with Arius and with those who followed them.