Dictionary.net

(Eccl. Hist.) The followers of Sabellius in the third century, who regarded the Father as the sole Person, and the Son and the Holy Spirit as attributes or emanations from Him. This scheme has been known in later times as that of the Modal Trinity. The followers of Praxeas, who adopted these views, asserted that the Father had united to Himself the human nature of Christ, and were hence called Monarchians; while, as holding that the Father suffered in the death of Christ, they were called Patripassians.