The Words We Speak: Filioque

The Catholic Church's teaching on the Filioque, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, can be summarized as follows:

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (CCC 246). This is based on the Council of Florence in 1438, which explained that "the Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration".
• The Catholic Encyclopedia further clarifies that this "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". This doctrine was first explicitly denied by heretics in the 7th century, but the Church has consistently affirmed the Filioque as part of its Trinitarian faith.
• The Catechism notes that the Eastern tradition expresses the Father's role as "the first origin of the Spirit", while the Western tradition affirms the Spirit's procession "from the Father and the Son (filioque)" - a "legitimate complementarity" that does not affect the "identity of faith in the reality of the same mystery confessed" (CCC 248).
• The Compendium of the Catechism summarizes that "the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son" as part of the Church's profession of faith in the oneness of God in three divine Persons (Compendium 48). The Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church also affirms this Trinitarian doctrine as part of the Church's faith (Christ - Our Pascha 15).

The Catholic Church firmly upholds the Filioque as an essential part of its Trinitarian theology, based on Scripture, Tradition, and the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium.

References

1. CCC 246
2. Catholic Encyclopedia Filioque
3. Declaration for safeguarding the belief in the mysteries of the Incarnation and of the Most Holy Trinity against some recent errors – Mysterium Filii Dei 4
4. CCC 248
5. Compendium of the CCC 48
6. Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church: Christ – Our Pascha 15

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Excerpt from an article by Piers Shepherd.

• https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/06/08/vindicating-the-filioque-is-an-exhaustive-study-with-an-ecumenical-focus/

Athanasius in his Epistolae ad Serapionem stated:

….as the Son is to the Father, so is the Holy Spirit to the Son.

Athanasius further states:

If the Son, because he is of the Father, is proper to his essence, it must be that the Spirit, who is said to be of God, is in essence proper to the Son.

Crean says that it is clear from Athanasius that “the Son possesses the whole nature of the Father, so the Holy Spirit possesses the whole nature of the Son.”

St Hilary of Poitiers, often called “Hammer of the Arians”, said of the Holy Spirit:

“…we are bound to confess Him, proceeding, as He does, from Father and Son”.

Hilary, in defending the consubstantiality of Father and Son, quoted Our Lord in saying: 

“All things whatsoever the Father has, are Mine.” By extension these words also indicate that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father.

Fr Crean concludes from the writings of St Gregory of Nazianzen that the Holy Spirit is

“the Spirit of the one from whom he proceeds, just as the Father is the Father of the one whom he generates, and hence conversely that if he is by nature the Spirit of the Son, he also proceeds from Him.”

Furthermore, St Ambrose in his famous work De Spiritu Sancto, wrote that

“The Holy Spirit also, when He proceeds from the Father and the Son…is not separated from the Father nor separated from the Son.”

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Where is the filioque found in Scripture?

The doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, is based on Holy Scripture as well as Tradition and the Magisterium.

The Catechism of the Council of Trent cites several scriptural passages that support the Filioque:

• He shall glorify me, because he shall receive of mine (St John 16:14), which shows that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.
• The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father, indicating He proceeds from both (Galatians 4:6, St Matthew 10:20).
• Jesus says the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and that He will send the Spirit (St John 15:26).
• The Declaration Mysterium Filii Dei points to scriptural evidence, noting that the commission to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (St Matthew 28:19) and Jesus' words about the Spirit proceeding from the Father (St John 15:26) provide a basis for the Church's Trinitarian faith, including the Filioque.

The Catholic Church sees the doctrine that the Filioque expresses as grounded in the biblical witness to the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Church has authoritatively affirmed this teaching as part of the deposit of faith.

References

1. CCC 246
2. Catechism of the Council of Trent The Creed - Article 8
3. Declaration for safeguarding the belief in the mysteries of the Incarnation and of the Most Holy Trinity against some recent errors – Mysterium Filii Dei 4 | https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19720221_mysterium-filii-dei_en.html
4. Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church: Christ – Our Pascha 97
5. CCC 264
6. Catholic Encyclopedia Holy Ghost

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From Father John Zuhlsdorf

• https://wdtprs.com/2017/06/wdtprs-trinity-sunday-explain-the-trinity-no-problem/

In the mystery of the Unity and Trinity of God we believe that,

1. from all eternity and before material creation and even outside of time itself, the One God who desired a perfect communion of love expressed Himself in a perfect Word, containing all that He is.
2. The Word God uttered was and is a perfect self-expression, also perfectly possessing what the Speaker possesses: being, omniscience, omnipotence, truth, beauty, and even personhood.
3. So, from all eternity there were always two divine Persons, the God who spoke and the Word who was spoken, the God who Generates and the God who is Generated, true God with and from true God, Begetter and Begotten, Father and Son.
4. There was never a time when this was not so.
5. These two Persons eternally regard and contemplate each other.
6. From all eternity they knew and loved each other, each offering the other a perfect gift of self-giving.
7. Since the self-gift of these perfect and divine Persons, distinct but sharing one divine nature, can be nothing other than a perfect self-gift, perfectly given and perfectly received, the very Gift between them also contains all that each of the Persons have: being, omniscience, omnipotence, truth, beauty, and even personhood.
8. Therefore, from all eternity there exist three distinct divine Persons having one indivisible divine nature, Father, Son and the perfect self-gift of love between them, the Holy Spirit.
9. This is a foundational, saving doctrine we believe in as Christians. At the core of everything else we believe in and hope for, we will find this mysterious doctrine of divine relationship, the Triune God.