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Filioque Filioque is a theological formula of great dogmatic and historical importance. On the one hand, it expresses the Procession of the Holy Ghost from both Father and Son as one Principle; on the other, it was the occasion of the Greek schism. Both aspects of the expression need further explanation. Dogmatic meaning of filioque The dogma of the double Procession of the Holy Ghost from Father and Son as one Principle is directly opposed to the error that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, not from the Son. Neither dogma nor error created much difficulty during the...

The Father as the Source of the Whole Trinity The Procession of the Holy Spirit in Greek and Latin Traditions by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity The Greek and Latin Traditions About the Procession of the Holy Spirit In its first report on The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in the Light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, unanimously approved in Munich on 6 July 1982, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church had mentioned the centuries-old difficulty between the two Churches concerning the...

Responses to Arguments in Support of the Filioque In this section, we will examine the usual arguments presented by supporters of the Filioque. The first part of the section will be an examination of the "logical" arguments. The second part will look at excerpts taken from Patristic writings that apologists for the Filioque present as proof-texts. Not surprisingly, Augustine and other Western writers are the most frequently cited Patristic sources. But since we have already demonstrated that Augustine is unreliable as an orthodox source of theology of the Holy Trinity, we will not examine his texts in this section. Neither...

<p>A new study by a joint Catholic-Orthodox panel has reached agreement on a single Latin word, filioque, that has played a major part in the centuries-old rift between Eastern and Western Christianity.</p> <p>Filioque, which means "and the son," was added by Roman Catholics, without consulting their Orthodox brethren, to the Nicene Creed, altering the Fourth Century statement that says the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father" to "proceeds from the Father and the Son."</p>

I just heard on EWTN newsbriefs that some Vatican body has announced that a the Catholic Church has reached some form of agreement with the Orthodox Churches regarding the Nicene Creed, specifically the filioque. I can't remember exactly what the agreement was, but it sounded significant. If anyone finds anything on line, please post it.

Selected Excerpts from . . . The Three Answers of Patriarch Jeremiah II to the Lutheran Scholars in Tubingen (1576-1581), or A Commentary on Modern Ecumenical Dialogue With the Heterodox Editorial Preface. What follows in the main body are excerpts from the famous correspondence between Jeremiah II, Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Lutheran scholars in Tubingen, Germany regarding their "Augsburg Confession." The Three Answers enjoy the status of "symbolic books" in the Orthodox Church. That is, they are not of the same authority as the Symbols, esp. that of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. However, they are, with many other symbolic texts,...