Orthodoxy.Church
Sign inJoin
The Case/Rome

The Filioque

The Orthodox objection is both doctrinal and ecclesial: the Creed was altered unilaterally, and the Father is confessed as the single personal source of the Son and the Spirit.

Rival Claim

The Roman claim

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and the Western addition to the Creed legitimately clarifies the Son's role in the Spirit's procession.

01

The Creed and the monarchy of the Father

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed confesses the Spirit as proceeding from the Father. Orthodoxy also teaches that the Son sends the Spirit in the economy of salvation, but distinguishes that mission from the Spirit's eternal hypostatic procession.

The Filioque was inserted into the Creed in the West without an ecumenical council. That matters because the Creed is the common confession of the whole Church, and because the addition risks obscuring the Father's role as the single personal source within the Trinity.

  • John 15:26
  • Constantinople I (381)
  • Ephesus, Canon 7
  • St. Photius, Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit