s now time to explain what the actual heresy advocated by Elipandus
and Felix was. Some have held the opinion that Adoptionism was merely a
revival of the Bonosian errors, which had long taken root in Spain;[1]
others, that it was a revival of the Nestorian[2] heresy, a new phase of
the controversy between the schools of Antioch and Alexandria;[3] or
that it was an attempt to reform Christianity, purging it from later
additions.[4] Alcuin, however, speaks of its followers as a new sect,
unknown to former times.[5] Stated briefly, the new doctrine was that
Jesus, in so far as His manhood was concerned, was son of God by
adoption. This error had been foreseen and condemned in advance by Cyril
of Alexandria (348-386):[6] by Hilary of Arles (429-449).[7] The
Eleventh Council of Toledo had also guarded against this same error a
hundred years before this (675), affirming that Christ the Son of God
was His Son by nature, not by adoption.

[1] Enhueber, Diss., sec. 25. The errors of Bonosus were
condemned at Capua in 389. For their development in Spain, see
"Isidore of Seville."

[2] Condemned at Ephesus, 431. For connection of Adoptionism
with this, see letter of Adrian to bishops of Spain (785?).

[3] Neander, v., p. 216.

[4] _Ibid._, vi., p. 120, see letter of Alvar to Speraindeo.

[5] Alcuin contra Felicem, i., sec. 7. Elipandus denied that it
had anything to do with other heresies. "Nos vero
anathematizamus Bonosum, qui filium Dei sine matre genitum,
adoptivum fuisse adfirmat. Item Sabellium, qui ipsum esse
Patrem, quem Filium, quem et Spiritus sanctus (_sic_) et non
ipsud, delirat. Anathematizamus Arium, qui Filium et Spiritum
Sanctum creaturas esse existimat. Anathematizamus Manichaeum
qui Christum solum Deum et non hominem fuisse praedicat.
Anathematizamus Antiphrasium Beatum carnis lasciviae deditum,
et onagrum Etherium, doctorem bestialem ...," etc.

[6] "Lectures on the Catechism," xi. "Christ is the Son of God
by nature, begotten of the Father, not by adoption."

[7] De Trinit, v., p. 7, "The Son of God is not a false God--a
God by adoption, or a God by metaphor (nee adoptivus, nec
connuncupatus)."

It is a mistake to suppose Adoptionism to be a mere resuscitation of
Nestorianism.[1] It agreed with the latter in repudiating the term
"Mother of God" as applied to the Virgin Mary,[2] but it differed from
it in the essent