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ThomasPeter

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ThomasPeter

could we get over the problem of misunderstanding the "filique" by saing -in english- "from the Father throuhj the Son" ? or is this not right either? thanks
tom

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No. It's not that simple. Sadly.

1. First, 'and the Son' means something more than just 'through the Son'. It means that the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and the Son as from one principle or origin. 'Through the Son' is correct, but it only implies the Son has an auxilliary role in the spiration of the Spirit. The Catholic faith is that the Father and the Son both breathe out the Spirit as though they were one single source for Him. Nevertheless, the Spirit proceeds 'principaliter', pre-eminently/principally from the Father, because the Father is the origin of the Son (whom the Father begets). The Son can only breathe the Holy Spirit because He receives this from the Father. He receives everything, except fatherhood, from the Father.

2. The Orthodox do not object to the Filioque (and the Son) because of the doctrine itself, so much as they object to the Western Church adding this phrase to the Creed without an ecumenical council. The Western response is 1) it's not an addition, it's an explanation of what was already there in the Creed, and 2) we did all agree--both Catholic and Orthodox--at the ecumenical Council of Florence that the west could have the Filioque in Latin while the Easterners share the same faith, but would not add the phrase to the Creed in Greek.

3. In Greek, the verb 'to proceed' (ekporeuomai) has the extra connotation 'to proceed from principally', and if the Orthodox added the Filoque, it would suggest that the Son is just a second Father when it comes to breathing the Spirit. Hence they do not add the Filioque, and should not. And we, when we recite the Creed in Greek, leave out the Filioque.

4. I can see the attractiveness of alternative formulae like 'through the Son'. A really biblical expression would be the Spirit 'proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son'. The problem now is not so much changing clauses in the Creed. It is the problem of Catholics and Orthodox sitting down together (in an ecumenical Council eventually!) and discussing what they believe, and deciding how best to express that faith (if they come to an agreement). A unilateral change in the Creed on our part would not be helpful---the Orthodox have already accused us of doing that once! Twice might be too much for them. Also the Filioque contains something that is true, and has been neglected by the Orthodox for too long: the fact that the Son also breathes the Spirit with the Father.

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