Modalism is the belief that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three different modes or emanations of one monadic God, as perceived by the believer, rather than three distinct persons within the Godhead and that there are no real or substantial differences between the three, such that the identity of the Spirit or the Son is that of the Father.
[2] From the standpoint of the doctrine of the Trinity, with one divine being existing in three persons, patripassianism is considered heretical by some Christian churches since "it simply cannot make sense of the New Testament's teaching on the interpersonal relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit.
Full-orbed[jargon] patripassianism denies Trinitarian distinctions, yet it does not contradict Christianity as defined in the Creeds to say that God feels or experiences things, including nonphysical forms of suffering.
Sabellius, considered a founder of an early movement, was a priest who was excommunicated from the Church by Pope Callixtus I in 220 and lived in Rome.
Because the writings of Sabellius were destroyed, it is difficult to know if he actually believed in Patripassianism, but one early version of the Apostles' Creed, recorded by Rufinus, explicitly states that the Father is 'impassible.'