The Filoque

[Mike_C]

One could argue from Scripture from both points of view. Its not scripture that one argues the case but from a point in history. Yes, Charlemagne introduced the clause “and the Son”. No Pope ever authorized it.

We Eastern Catholics do not include it in our Nicean creed.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

St. Athanasius, while Bishop of Alexandria, wrote *Four Letters to Serapion of Thmuis, *AD 359-360.

St. Athanasius wrote:

The peculiar relationship of the Son to the Father, such as we know it–we will find that the Spirit has this, to the Son. And since the Son says, “everything whatsoever that the Father has is mine (Jn 15:16),” we will discover all these things also in the Spirit, through the Son. And just as the Son was announced by the Father, who said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matt 3:17),” so also is the Spirit of the Son; for, as the Apostle says, “He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father (Gal 4:6)!’” … Hence, if the Son, because of His peculiar relationship to the Father, and because of His being the Offspring of the Father’s own substance, is not a creature, but is of the same substance of the Father, then neither is the Holy Spirit a creature. To say otherwise were impious, because of His peculiar relationship to the Son, and because out of Him He is given to all, and what He has is of the Son. [St. Athanasius, *Four Letters to Serapion of Thmuis,

3, 1, cited in Jurgen’s *Faith of the Early Fathers, *Vol 1 , par. 783, p. 336]

 

[itsjustdave1988]

St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, in his *Catechetical Lectures *(AD 350), wrote:

The Father gives to the Son, and the Son shares with the Holy Spirit. For it is Jesus Himself, not I, who says, “Everthing is delivered to Me by My Father (Matt 11:27);” and of the Holy Spirit, He says, “When He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come,” and so forth "He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of what is Mine, and shall announce it to you (John 16:13-14). The Father through the Son with the Holy Spirit gives every gift. [St. Cyril of Jerusalem, *Catechetical Lectures,

15, 11, cited in Jurgen’s *Faith of the Early Fathers, *Vol 1 , par. 832, p. 356]

 

[itsjustdave1988]

Mike C said:

Yes, Charlemagne introduced the clause “and the Son”. No Pope ever authorized it.

Yet Pope Damasus decreed in AD 382:

**The Holy Spirit is not of the Father only, or the Spirit of the Son only, but He is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. **[Pope St. Damasus I, *Decree of Damasus,

1, cited in Jurgen’s *Faith of the Early Fathers, *Vol 1 , par. 910s, p. 405]
Furthermore, Pope Urban VI, on Aug 1, 1385, gave the following profession of faith to be affirmed by the orthodox Greeks returning to the Church:

 

[itsjustdave1988]

oops … continued …

From Pope Urban VI, profession of faith for Greek Orthodox returning to the Catholic Church:

We believe also that the Holy Spirit is complete and perfect and true God, proceeding from the Father and the Son [Denziner 463]

 

[itsjustdave1988]

CatholicBerean,

With regard to the following:

Leads to the subordination of the Holy Spirit, which RCC does not teach, but artificially maintains equality of the hypostases of the Godhead.

The Catholic Church rejects “essential” subordination of the Son and Holy Spirit to the Father. But **the Catholic Church does teach hypostatic (person) subordination, and economic (economy of redemption) subordination. **

In other words, according to Catholic theology, only the Father is not “begotten” and does not “proceed.” Yet hypostatic subordination is true in so far as the Son is “eternally begotten” of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally “proceeds” from the Father and the Son.

Dr. Ludwig Ott, in his book *Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, *distinguishes between “internal” and “external” Divine procession. He asserts it is a *de fide *dogma of Catholicism that “in God there are two Internal Divine Processions.”

He writes:

By procession is understood the origin of one from another. One distinguishes external procession (…), and internal procession inwards (…). A procession is said to be external when the terminus of the procession goes outside the principle from which it proceeds. Thus creatures proceed by external procession from God, their Primary Origin, but the processions of the Son and the Holy Ghost are an immanent act of the Most Holy Trinity. An Internal-Divine Procession signifies the origin of a Divine person from another through the communication of the numerically one Divine Essence.

The Creeds teach us that there are two internal Divine Processions: the Begetting of the Son and the Procession of the Holy Ghost. (ibid, pg. 61)

Catholicism does not reject all notions of subordiation of the persons of the Trinity. It only rejects essential subordination (subordination with respect to the divinity of each person of the Trinity).

The issue of *filioque *is unrelated to whether the Holy Spirit proceeds (is hypostatically subordinate within the Godhead). There’s subordination taught within every formula of the Creed.

Much of Protestantism also asserts the doctrine of hypostatic and economic subordination within the Godhead, but reject essential subordination. However, like many things within Protestantism, the doctrine of hypostatic subordination is not universally accepted by Protestants. See this Protestant article here:

**A Defense of the Doctrine of the Eternal Sonship of Christ **by Samual E. Waldron
graceonlinelibrary.org/etc/printer-friendly.asp?ID=209