Fourth Lateran Council – 1215
Confession of Faith
We firmly believe and simply confess that there is only one true God, eternal and immeasurable, almighty, unchangeable, incomprehensible and ineffable, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons but one absolutely simple essence, substance or nature. The Father is from none, the Son from the Father alone, and the Holy Spirit from both [equally, eternally without beginning or end].
An Orthodox Response
The Filioque, which means “and the Son”, was unilaterally inserted into the Nicene Creed by Rome in the 11th century. The original Creed read that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Rome changed it to read that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The following essay is an attempt to show why the Filioque is a Trinitarian heresy.
All Characteristics given to the Holy Trinity must reflect its essential nature of being one God in three persons. In order to do so all characteristics must either be shared by the three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in order to show one God, or be specific to the one to show distinctiveness of persons.
If a characteristic were given to two persons of the Holy Trinity (in the case of the filioque the Father and the Son share the characteristic of bringing forth the Holy Spirit) it would not show one God because it would not be shared by the three, and it would not show distinctiveness of persons because it would not be specific to the one (the Father and the Son would be distinct from the Holy Spirit, but not from each other).
Qualities that the three persons of the Holy Trinity share, such as, one essence, will, mind, action, etc express one God.
Characteristics, such as, only the Father is unbegotten, only he begets a Son, only the Son is begotten of the Father, only the Father brings forth the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, show distinctiveness of persons since they are possessed by only one member of the Holy Trinity.
The original Nicene Creed had only the Father begetting a Son and bringing forth the Holy Spirit. As a result, only the Son is begotten and only the Holy Spirit proceeds. Each of these characteristics reflects distinctiveness of persons.
When Rome changed the Nicene Creed to the Father and the Son bringing forth the Holy Spirit, they gave the characteristic of bringing forth the Spirit to two persons of the Trinity. This does not express one God because the characteristic is not shared by all three persons of the Holy Trinity. It also does not show distinctiveness of persons as the characteristic is held by two. It was the first and only time a characteristic was given to two persons of the Holy Trinity.
The Filioque does not express the one God aspect of the Holy Trinity, nor does it express the distinction between the three persons. Therefore it does not belong as a characteristic of the Trinity and is rightly labeled as a heresy.
