Do Eastern Catholics accept the filioque?

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The Catholic Church cannot teach contrary to her doctrine in order to create a false ecumenism between churches.
What is the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the filioque? It was expressed by the Council of Florence, which is binding upon Eastern Catholics in communion with the Roman Pontiff.

How do you square this with the statements made by Cardinal Ratzinger that nothing must be required for belief by the East that wasn’t already believed in the first millenium? The statements of Florence were not believed in the first millenium.
Also Pope Paul VI referred to Lyons and Florence as “general councils of the West”.
 
The CCEO predated this 1998 document. The CCEO says nothing about some specific Professio Fidei
.

Universal ecclesiastical laws are promulgated by publication in the ‘Acta Apostolicae Sedis’ (AAS).

According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Roman Pontiff promulgated three documents together on June 29, 1998 within the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, which made it binding in universal ecclesial law. These document are:
  1. Professio Fidei
  2. Ad Tuendam Fidem
  3. CDF’s Doctrinal commentary on Professio Fidei
According to the Holy See, these document are contained in Acta Apostolica Sedis (AAS), 90 (1998), 542-551.

With regard to your comment about the CCEO, John Paul II stated in Ad Tuendam Fidem:
To protect the faith of the Catholic Church against errors arising from certain members of the Christian faithful, especially from among those dedicated to the various disciplines of sacred theology, we, whose principal duty is to confirm the brethren in the faith (Lk 22:32), consider it absolutely necessary to add to the existing texts of the*** Code of Canon Law and the ***Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, new norms which expressly impose the obligation of upholding truths proposed in a definitive way by the Magisterium of the Church, and which also establish related canonical sanctions.
Consequently, these Acta have modified universal ecclesiastical laws

As I already stated, the conditions for omitting the *filioque *in the creed or the Professio fidei as allowed by the Council of Florence (and understood by at least the Melkite hierarchy) are described by Pope Benedict XIV’s encyclical Allatae Sunt. If anyone dissents with Catholic dogma as professed by the Roman Pontiff, then their oath of fidelity necessarily lacks integrity.

You are welcome to submit a dubium on this matter to the Holy See, but you may not like the result. Nonetheless, if integrity means anything, any claim to “full communion” ought to be congruent with professing the same Catholic dogma and doctrine, or else such ecumenism is false.
 
Universal ecclesiastical laws are promulgated by publication in the ‘Acta Apostolicae Sedis’ (AAS).

According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Roman Pontiff promulgated three documents together on June 29, 1998 within the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, which made it binding in universal ecclesial law. These document are:
  1. Professio Fidei
  2. Ad Tuendam Fidem
  3. CDF’s Doctrinal commentary on Professio Fidei
According to the Holy See, these document are contained in Acta Apostolica Sedis (AAS), 90 (1998), 542-551.

With regard to your comment about the CCEO, John Paul II stated in Ad Tuendam Fidem:

Consequently, these Acta have modified universal ecclesiastical laws

As I already stated, the conditions for omitting the *filioque *in the creed or the Professio fidei as allowed by the Council of Florence (and understood by at least the Melkite hierarchy) are described by Pope Benedict XIV’s encyclical Allatae Sunt. If anyone dissents with Catholic dogma as professed by the Roman Pontiff, then their oath of fidelity necessarily lacks integrity.

You are welcome to submit a dubium on this matter to the Holy See, but you may not like the result. Nonetheless, if integrity means anything, any claim to “full communion” ought to be congruent with professing the same Catholic dogma and doctrine, or else such ecumenism is false.
Anyone know what the current Melkite Patriach Gregory III stance is on the subject of the filioque clause?

U-C
 
How do you square this with the statements made by Cardinal Ratzinger that nothing must be required for belief by the East that wasn’t already believed in the first millenium? …
Cardinal Ratzinger believes as John Paul II taught, “Specific reference to this doctrine is not lacking in the great Fathers and Doctors of the East (Ephraim, Athanasius, Basil, Epiphanius, Cyril of Alexandria, Maximus, John Damascene).” [General Audience Address, “The Spirit and the Filioque Debate,” November 7, 1990].

Consequently, he believes as his predessesor John Paul II affirmed, that the sense in which the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son is "‘by way of will,’ ‘in the manner of love’ (per modum amoris). This is a sententia certa…and therefore *sure and binding." ***(General Audience Address, “The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the Father and the Son,” November 20, 1985).

The filioque doctrine doesn’t contradict the Greek creed, but complements it, because it expounds upon the ancient creed in the sense that the early Church fathers described the Holy Spirit as the mutual love between Father and Son, and which is given by Father and Son.

** John Paul II** explains:
Code:
            The Son loves the Father with a love which is identical with that of the Father. ***In                 the unity of the divinity, love is on one side paternal and on the other, filial.***                 At the same time the Father and the Son are not only united by that mutual love as                 two Persons infinitely perfect. But ***their mutual gratification, their reciprocal                 love, proceeds in them and from them as a person. The Father and the Son "spirate"                 the Spirit of Love consubstantial with them.*** In this way God, in the absolute unity                 of the divinity, is from all eternity Father, Son and Holy Spirit....  The ***"procession" is per                 modum amoris***, as already said. Because of this the Fathers of the Church call the                 Holy Spirit "Love, Charity, Spiritual Love, Bond of Love, Kiss of Love." All these                 expressions testify to the way in which the Holy Spirit "proceeds" from the Father                 and the Son. [ibid.]
Furthermore, Cardinal Ratzinger defends the filioque, as St. Maximus of Constantinople did in the 7th century, as a legitimate variation of the Eastern formula that the Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son.

According to Easter Orthodox Metropolitan Damaskinos of Switzerland, to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 30 October 2000: Together we arrived at the conclusion that our differences are to be understood in the sense of varying legitimate developments of one and the same apostolic faith in East and West, and not as divisions in the tradition of the faith itself.

the main obstacle to the restoration of full communion is the pope’s primacy of jurisdiction
Consequently, neither Cardinal Ratzinger nor Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Damskinos of Switzerland understand this doctrine to be incompatible with the same Catholic faith believed by both East and West in the first millenium.

Our Catholic Creed in Greek has mode of origin in mind, and our Catholic Creed Latin describes the Blessed Trinity with respect to internal relationship (paternal and filial love), and the Gift of Love that proceeds from Father and Son. The Greek and Latin creedal affirmations are complementary in expressing the Catholic faith.
 
How do you square this with the statements made by Cardinal Ratzinger that nothing must be required for belief by the East that wasn’t already believed in the first millenium? The statements of Florence were not believed in the first millenium.
Also Pope Paul VI referred to Lyons and Florence as “general councils of the West”.
Alethiaphile, thank you for injecting some much-needed praxis into this discussion. There is the famous account (witnessed) of Madame Ushakova, a convert from the Muscovite Church to the Russian Greek Catholic Church. She directly asked St. Pius X in an audience what else was needed for her practice of faith other than that she had inherited from her own Russian Church. His famous reply was “nec plus, nec minus, nec aliter”. This has worked wonderfully for me as well.

Frankly Article I of the Union of Brest got it right - we don’t agree because we do not wish to - as the English translation of the Union states " which greatly impede unity really for no other reason than that we do not wish to understand one another."
FDRLB
 
Alethiaphile, thank you for injecting some much-needed praxis into this discussion. There is the famous account (witnessed) of Madame Ushakova, a convert from the Muscovite Church to the Russian Greek Catholic Church. She directly asked St. Pius X in an audience what else was needed for her practice of faith other than that she had inherited from her own Russian Church. His famous reply was “nec plus, nec minus, nec aliter”. This has worked wonderfully for me as well.

Frankly Article I of the Union of Brest got it right - we don’t agree because we do not wish to - as the English translation of the Union states " which greatly impede unity really for no other reason than that we do not wish to understand one another."
FDRLB
Pravda!👍

Ung
 
What do the East Ortho and East Catholics say when it comes to filioque part? Please give me a refresher on why they say something different in the Latin Rite? What is the problem?
 
What a great thread! I’ve gone through all of it, and as a Latin, I can see there is a definite difference in emphasis with respect to the understanding of the filioque doctrine. There were some very illuminating posts, (to me.) I still have to digest it all, but I do believe it would be helpful if the Latin church used Through the Son as opposed to And the Son. Not that I disagree with And the Son, but as Latins can sometimes be somewhat less nuanced in their thinking (when compared to the Easterns) there might be too much of a tendency to put the wrong construction on the words And the Son.

It would be great if the East and the West could agree on this wording, as there seems to be, at bottom, no substantial difference in doctrine.

For my part I will be thinking “Through” the Son, when we say “And” the Son at the Eucharistic Liturgy, as I feel that more correctly identifies my own Latin theology as well. 🙂
 
For a perspective from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the following article is excellent:
www.catholicukes.org.au/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=7

Let us also remember that Pope Leo III criticized Charlemagne for his use of the insertion of a new word to the universal Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. He forbade its insertion, and had the plates engraved in Rome without the addition to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. I would also consider that Magisterial.

I also recall Leo’s own inscription following the Creed read something like “These words I, Leo, have set down for love and as a safeguard of the orthodox faith (Haec Leo posui amore et cautela fidei orthodoxa).”

I suppose it is really much ado about nothing since one of the latest Magisterial documents, Dominus Iesus, not only omits the insertion to the traditional Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed but has no accompanying clarification or defense of the insertion.
The fundamental contents of the profession of the Christian faith are expressed thus: “I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come”.1
There you have it. “The fundamental contents of the profession of the Christian faith” says it all. And this from the hand of who is now the Holy Father himself. (As an aside, no “inclusive language”, either).

As Eastern Catholics we have no problem at all with this “development of doctrine”. As I mentioned before, I believe the first article of the Union of Brest got it right - “which greatly impede unity really for no other reason than that we do not wish to understand one another”
FDRLB
 
To answer the original question in the thread’s title, I believe if one is Catholic, one must profess filioque. As the Nicene Creed states “…qui ex Patre filioque procedit…”
 
As the Nicene Creed states “…qui ex Patre filioque procedit…”
The Nicene Creed did not state this, as promulgated by the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople I. It was added much later, and not by a universal Council of the Church. A good study of Church history (especially the controversy of Leo III and Charlegmane) will indeed show that even in the Latin Church the insertion was controversial and remained so for centuries.
FDRLB
 
The Nicene Creed did not state this, as promulgated by the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople I. It was added much later, and not by a universal Council of the Church. A good study of Church history (especially the controversy of Leo III and Charlegmane) will indeed show that even in the Latin Church the insertion was controversial and remained so for centuries.
FDRLB
Thank you for clearing that up for me.
 
To answer the original question in the thread’s title, I believe if one is Catholic, one must profess filioque. As the Nicene Creed states “…qui ex Patre filioque procedit…”
Two data errors:
  1. the actual creed of nicea is in greek, not latin
  2. The creed used in the east is the Nicene-Constantinoplean, not the Nicene, even tho’ it is oft referred to simply as the Nicene Creed. The Credo Romano is an amended version of that creed, also mislabeled frequently as the Nicene Creed.
several non-catholic sources point this out…
here are a few…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed
crcna.org/pages/nicene_creed.cfm
kencollins.com/why-07.htm
columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/sbrandt/nicea.htm
theologicallycorrect.com/studycenter/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=54

And some Catholic Ones…
home.inreach.com/~bstanley/creeds.htm
ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/CECREED.TXT
catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35116

The Original 325AD Nicene Creed lacks even the ekporousis from the Father!
 
I am misrepresenting nothing. I am stating what is clearly stated in the definitions of Lyons and Florence. I know full well that the Catholic Church NOW teaches both “Father AND the Son” and “Father THROUGH the Son” and claims these are equivalent expressions, but claiming doesn’t make it so.
I am sure that the “official” teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is “through the son” so as to preserve the monarchy of the Father. However, the alternative teaching found throughout the Roman Catholic Church that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as if they were from one person is found everywhere and even seems to be what Augustine of Hippo taught. It appears to me that this “western” prayer came about from this alternative teaching: “Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end”. You will note that, for those who adhere to this alternative and exceedingly common teaching concerning the filioque, that unity in the Godhead is no longer based on the monarchy of the Father, but rather is based on the Holy Spirit. This only makes logical sense, unity cannot be based on two as if they were one, unity can only proceed from one - this is the real “heresy” of the filioque - the transference of unity based on the Father to unity based on the Holy Spirit. This is not an “official” heresy of the Roman Catholic Church as it doesn’t “officially” teach this alternative view of the filioque. The error of the Roman Catholic Church, that ends up inadvertently promoting a heresy, is the adding of the word filioque officially to the Latin Creed. If the filioque was never added this chaos would never have occurred. That great Council that was held at the time of Photius that called itself the “Eighth Ecumenical Council” didn’t get to become the “Eighth Ecumenical Council” because Pope John VIII did not confirm the Council, but there is one part of that council that he did confirm and that he did agree with, therefore that one part is of ecumenical force. That one part that I speak of him be anathema that was issued against anyone who would change any part of the wording of the Nicene Creed. So you see, if only successive popes built upon the authoritative decrees of previous popes, instead of trying to destroy and discredit the authority of previous popes and their official decrees, there never would have been an issue; only peace and harmony in the Universal Church.😉
 
However, the alternative teaching found throughout the Roman Catholic Church that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as if they were from one person is found everywhere and even seems to be what Augustine of Hippo taught.
From my understanding of the Latin teaching, the Latin Church has NEVER taught that “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son AS IF THEY WERE ONE PERSON.”

The more exact expression/teaching is “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one PRINCIPLE.”

and

"the Holy Spirit proceeds FROM the PERSON of the Father, and THROUGH the PERSON of the Son.

I’ve never heard of your idea that the unity of the Trinity is based on the Spirit (of course, I’m not Latin, but Coptic, though I have had cause to study the Latin Church heartily in my translation to the Catholic Church). I HAVE heard that the unity of the Body of Christ is based on the Spirit. The Latins do explicitly teach that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son JUST AS MUCH as the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father. But if you extrapolate from this the idea that the Spirit is the source of Trinitarian unity (instead of the Essence that is from the Father alone, and shared equally within the Trinity), then you might as well assign your extrapolated idea to the Church Fathers themselves.

I suspect that the Catholic Church does not “officially” teach what you claim only because the idea really does not exist in the theology of the Catholic Church. It is nothing more than an extrapolation of solid Catholic teaching. I’m sure I can extrapolate wierd teachings from Eastern theology as well, but what good would that do?

Blessings,
Marduk
 
The more exact expression/teaching is “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one PRINCIPLE.”
Your right on target… Jesus sends the Holy Spirit from The Father hence The Holy Spirit comes From The Ftaher and The Son.

Logic, folks…sheer logic…:rolleyes:
 
Wow! I’ve been a Roman Catholic all my life. A year ago I started attending a Byzantine Catholic Church. I never knew that anyone understood what used to be called “The mystery of the Holy Trinity.” Unless someone can explain it to me, I’m afraid I may not qualify being a Catholic of either rite.
 
From my understanding of the Latin teaching, the Latin Church has NEVER taught that “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son AS IF THEY WERE ONE PERSON.”

The more exact expression/teaching is “the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one PRINCIPLE.”
Please do me a favor and explain exactly what is the difference between “as from one PRINCIPLE” and “as from one PERSON”?
I’ve never heard of your idea that the unity of the Trinity is based on the Spirit (of course, I’m not Latin, but Coptic, though I have had cause to study the Latin Church heartily in my translation to the Catholic Church).
So, please explain, is the unity of the Holy Trinity based on the Father and the Son as from one principle? If so, please explain how that works.
I suspect that the Catholic Church does not “officially” teach what you claim only because the idea really does not exist in the theology of the Catholic Church.
I will confess to you that I don’t know in this regard what the Roman Catholic Church officially teaches. I made my assertions based on what people have posted in this forum.🤷

Could you also do me a favor and please explain the theology behind that prayer that I quoted: " … Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end."

Thank you and God bless!
 
In summary, Yes, Eastern Catholics accept the filioque.

moving on with life now.
 
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