by Giuseppe Monno
Subordinationism is a theological doctrine regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church, since it denies the consubstantiality and full equality of the three Persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. According to subordinationism, the Son (Jesus Christ) is inferior to the Father in nature or in being, and the Holy Spirit is subordinate both to the Father and to the Son. This view stands in opposition to Trinitarian doctrine, which affirms the equality and consubstantial unity of the three divine Persons.
This conception has taken various historical forms, often connected with other Christological or Trinitarian heresies:
Adoptionism: It taught that Jesus was not divine by nature, but was “adopted” by God as Son at the time of his baptism. This theory implies a form of subordination of the Son to the Father.
Docetism: This denied the true humanity of Christ, claiming that his body was only apparent. Although not always explicitly subordinationist, it often presented a Christ who was divine but not consubstantial with the Father.
Monarchianism: Particularly in its modalist form, it emphasized the absolute unity of God at the expense of the distinction between the divine Persons, going so far as to regard the Son and the Holy Spirit as different “modes” of the Father. However, some forms degenerated into an implicit subordinationism, denying the personal distinctiveness of the Son.
Arianism: One of the most well-known and influential expressions of subordinationism. According to Arius (fourth century), the Son was the first and most exalted creature made by the Father, not eternal nor of the same divine substance. Within this framework, the Holy Spirit occupied an even lower position.
Pneumatomachianism: A heretical movement that denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, considering Him subordinate to the Father and the Son, or even a creature. The name literally means “fighters against the Spirit,” from pneuma (spirit) and machomai (to fight).
Subordinationism was vigorously opposed in the early centuries of Christianity and was formally condemned at the major ecumenical councils:
First Council of Nicaea (325): This council proclaimed the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father against Arianism, defining Jesus Christ as “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father.”
First Council of Constantinople (381): This council reaffirmed the divinity of the Son and explicitly proclaimed the divinity and consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit as well, in opposition to the Pneumatomachians.
These councils laid the foundation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, which remains to this day the doctrinal basis of Trinitarian faith for the majority of Christian traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant).