A Very Brief Primer on the Filioque
The Filioque is a phrase added to the Nicene Creed in Western Christianity. The original text of the Nicene Creed (really, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) states that the Holy Spirit is “τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον,” “the One out of the Father proceeding.” In the currently-used Latin text, it is stated that the Holy Spirit is “Qui ex Patre Filioque procedit,” “Who out of the Father and the Son proceeds.” Originally, the Latin did not have the “and the Son” ( Filioque ); the phrase appeared in other creeds beginning around the 5th century, and it began to be added to the Nicene Creed in the 8th century. It was added to combat a heresy related to Arianism that had sprung up in the West, especially among the Goths, a heresy that denied the consubstantiality of all three Persons of the Trinity. The phrase also fit in with the Latin theological tradition and the way it discussed the Holy Spirit’s relation to the Father and the Son. In the East, however, the theological trad...