View source for Elipandus

{{Short description|Spanish theologian and archbishop}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2012}}
[[File:Clm 14510, fol. 78r.jpg|thumb|A letter dated to 792 from [[Charlemagne]] to Elipandus concerning Adoptionism, from a manuscript of 821 commissioned by Bishop [[Baturich]].]]
'''Elipandus'''{{efn|Sometimes anglicized '''Elipand'''; in Spanish, '''Elipando'''.}} (717–805) was a Spanish [[Christian theology|theologian]] and the [[archbishop of Toledo]] from 782. He was condemned by the [[Catholic Church]] as an [[Spanish Adoptionism|Adoptionist]].

Six letters written by Elipandus survive, including one to [[Migetius]] and another on behalf of the bishops of Spain to the bishops of [[Francia]]. All in all, three of his letters address the Migetian controversy. He credited Bishop [[Ascaric (bishop of Braga)|Ascaric of Braga]] with also fighting the "Migetians".{{sfn|Cavadini|1988|p=19}}{{sfn|Bullough|1962}}

Although he affirmed [[Catholicism|Catholic]] teaching that [[Jesus]] is true Son of God, eternally begotten from God the Father and thus of one divine nature with the Father, he also proposed that Jesus, as the son of [[David]], according to his human nature was the adopted rather than the begotten son of [[God]].  Elipandus's assertion seemed to suggest that Christ's human nature existed separately from His divine personhood.  Thus, it seemed to be a nuanced form of [[Nestorianism]] and came to be known as Adoptionism.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

Elipandus's teaching was condemned as [[heresy]] by the Councils of Ratisbon in 792 and of Frankfurt in 794.  The heresy was rejected by the [[English people|English]] theologian [[Alcuin]] who wrote, among many other works against adoptionism, a ''Treatise against Elipandus'' in four books.  [[Paulinus II of Aquileia|Paulinus II]] of Aquileia also composed a book refuting Elipandus unorthodox teachings for the Council of Frankfort.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

==Notes==
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==References==
*{{cite journal |author-link=Donald A. Bullough |first=Donald A. |last=Bullough |title=The Dating of Codex Carolinus Nos. 95, 96, 97, Wilchar, and the Beginnings of the Archbishopric of Sen |journal=Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters |volume=18 |year=1962 |pages=223–230 |url=http://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/resolveppn/?PID=GDZPPN000353000}}
*{{cite thesis |first=John C. |last=Cavadini |title=The Last Christology of the West: Adoptionism in Spain and in Gaul, AD 785–817 |institution=Yale University |year=1988 |type=Doctoral thesis}}
*[[Jaroslav Pelikan|Pelikan, Jaroslav]]. ''The Growth of medieval Theology (600–1300).'' University of Chicago: Chicago, 1978.
* Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. [https://www.aymennjawad.org/2021/07/archive-the-complete-works-of-bishop-elipandus "Archive: The Complete Works of Bishop Elipandus of Toledo"], aymennjawad.org, July 2021. Corpus of Elipandus' surviving works in English translation. 

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{{succession box | before=[[Cixila]] | title=[[Archbishop of Toledo]] | years= 783-c.808| after=[[Gumesind]] }}
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[[Category:717 births]]
[[Category:805 deaths]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Toledo]]
[[Category:Spanish Christian theologians]]
[[Category:8th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:9th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:Nontrinitarian Christians]]

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