Filioque
Filioque is a Latin addition to the explanation of the Creed of Nicea - Constantinople Opel on the proceeding of the Holy Spirit, which is not included in the original version of 381. In the Western Church it is still used in Trinitarian formulations since the 5th century, since the 13th century, enjoys even dogmatic rank and is now known by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians; the Old Catholic Churches reject the Filioque addition from it. The Filioque is next to the Pope's primacy of the most important theological issue which prevents a reunion of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches after nearly a thousand years of separation phase.
The text
Filioque means " and ( from ) the Son". Specifically, is the following passage:
" [ ... ] Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et Vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit [ ... ] "
" [ ...] And [ we believe ] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son [ ... ] "
In the original Greek text, which the Council had established as a dogma, it says only:
" [ ... ] Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τὸ κύριον, τὸ ζωοποιόν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον [ ... ] "
" [ ... ] And to the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the maker alive, who proceeds from the Father [ ... ] "
Dogmas Historical Development
Already in Tertullian (Adv. Prax. 4) Athanasius (Ep. ad Serap. 3,1), St. Basil ( De Spiritu Sancto 18,47 ), Ambrose ( De Spiritu Sancto I 120 ), Augustine ( In Ioan. Tr 99, 6;. De Trin XV 27, 48 ) and other fathers of the Church, there are formulations to which the later Trinitarian theology and the use of Filioque formulas could support. The Western Fathers prefer a coordinating formula ( the Holy Spirit from the father and the Son ), while the eastern fathers prefer a subordinating formula ( from the Father through the Son ).
The Synod of Toledo approves 447 a modified creed a previous synod (Toledo 400 ) with the following formulation:
" ... Spiritum Paracletum quoque esse, qui nec Father sit ipse, nec Filius, sed a Patre Filioque procedens. Est ergo ingenitus Pater, Filius genitus, non genitus Paracletus, sed a Patre Filioque procedens. "
"... That the mind is also the Paraclete, not the Father himself, nor the Son, but proceeding from the Father and the Son. So is unbegotten of the Father, begotten son, begotten not of assistance, but from the Father and the Son as possible. "
The 3rd Council of Toledo 589 used the filioque formulation to take a stand against Arianism, the less regarded Jesus Christ as God the Father. In this case, this addition should make the equality of Jesus Christ clearly with the Father. This made in consequence, the development of a systematic theology of the Trinity necessary, then rezipierte this formula in the west and unfolded.
Charlemagne, who considered himself a " ruler and high priest " of all Christian peoples under his leadership, was in the year 809, the Filioque to the specially convened for this purpose by Frankish Synod of Aachen, in the tradition of Alcuin theologians, especially Theodulf of Orléans, theological underpin who considered those expressed by the filioque dogma of faith as an integral belonging; the Orthodox Church, and with it the Emperor in Constantinople Opel accused Charles of having the addition purposely removed. Thus, the Franks remained with the addition in the Creed. The anti- Byzantine attitude of the Carolingian like as part of its efforts to check on the imperial dignity be (two- Kaiser- problem).
The then Pope Leo III. Although divided the Frankish doctrine and regarded them as compatible with the deposit of faith, a change of creed but not accepted and had the Nicene - Constantinopolitan Creed without the Filioque addition to Greek and Latin in the Vatican Basilica engrave.
Accordingly, the fourth Council of Constantinople in 879-880 Opel confirmed the unaltered creed of 381 (First Council of Constantinople Opel ) and explained all additives invalid. This decision of the council was confirmed by all five patriarchs of the Church in Rome by Pope John VIII, in Constantinople Opel by Photius also in Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, as well as by the Byzantine emperor Basil I
It was not until 1013 Pope Benedict VIII had by Emperor Henry II persuade magisterial insert the Filioque addition to the creed of the Latin Church, as it is already known that rezipierte only in the West Athanasian Creed.
Officially charged to dogma, the Roman Catholic Church the addition only at the 4th Lateran Council in 1215, long after the mutual excommunication of the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople Opel ( 1054 ).
Was for the Orthodox Church and is the Filioque is not acceptable because it is a unilateral amendment of the decision of a generally recognized ecumenical council and since it contradicts the old interpretation of the Trinity.
The theological background
In the Filioque dispute collide different interpretations of the Trinity. The old Greek tradition emphasized the three different entities of the Trinity, while the Frankish theologians put greater emphasis on the unity of the three hypostases.
According to the teaching of the Orthodox churches of the Father is the origin only within the Trinity. Son and Holy Spirit would have to be as it were thought of as right and left arm of the Father. From the Son is said here that he was " begotten " is, by the Spirit, that he " breathed " is. In contrast, the Frankish theology follows the Augustinian model: Father and son were joined in mutual love with each other, the Holy Spirit is now as this " bond of love " ( vinculum amoris ) think. In this respect, the Son is also involved in the proceeding of the Spirit, but only cooperating, not hauptrangig.
Mutual understanding difficulties also arise from a not always reflected different viewing direction. So the Orthodox theology is basically more interested in statements about the relations of origin of the divine persons, while the western theology mainly adopts the life relations of the three divine persons in the view.
In view of the filioque discussion about the biblical witness had argued that Jesus announced to the people the Holy Spirit to send ( John 14:16 f EU). It could easily give the impression that the Holy Spirit had been in the first place due to Jesus to life. The danger here is to confuse the " economic salvation " Jesus' role with the immanent relation of Christ to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, which are known all three as equally divine and co-eternal.
However, all these different interpretations have long been only locally weighted differently, different teachings that did not provide some centuries the Oriental schism, the fundamental unity of the church in question. The filioque addition identified creed as a starting point and core of the schism - Only after a period of prolonged hardening was - in retrospect.
Linguistic difficulties
Some difficulties in the substantive debate can be traced back to language differences, which are often not sufficiently reflected. The Greek Church thinks about the word "origin" ( ἀρχή ) not without the same " rule " ( ἀρχή ) to think: a statement that makes sense plays more like the father than the son. Conversely, thinks the Latin theology at the term " proceeding of " ( processio ) at the same time to a " proceeding " ( processio ), so that " filioque " does not necessarily makes a statement about the origin ( principium ) of the Son, even if the understanding has worsened over the course of the discussion on this interpretation.
Spirit Historical Interpretation
It is often cited, the Filioque had with far-reaching consequences for the history of ideas subordination of the Spirit to the Father and the Son. Indeed, there is consensus that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Western tradition is hardly unfolded, while the doctrine of salvation greatly escalated to the person of Christ, to the solus Christus of the Reformation, the Jesuszentrierung in pietism and the Sacred Heart devotion to the modern times, so that Catholic and Protestant piety hardly differ from each other on this point.
In addition, the insertion of the Filioque but also out in the east to the creed of the West to a fundamentally different relationship to the spirit than what is within theologically referred to the concept of "spirit oblivion " and is made also responsible for a more pronounced rather rational intellectuality in the West.
Ecumenical Relevance
To date, the Filioque is next to the primacy of the Pope of the most important theological point about which the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church can not agree.
The churches of the Reformation, to the extent they use the classic creeds, retained the West ecclesiastical version with the Filioque, as they are regarding the interpretation of the Trinity in the Western and not the Eastern tradition, see it, however, generally not a fundamental problem.
In November 2007, an opinion of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany ( VELKD ) was published. According to this opinion, the possibility is provided that " in ecumenical services with churches, in which the Nicaeno - Constantinopolitanum (NC) is without Filioque in use, and Lutheran Christians can speak the NC without the Filioque. "
The churches of the Union of Utrecht ( Old Catholics, Old Catholics ) have returned to the version of the Creed without the Filioque, this one hand, from a theological conviction, on the other hand, in conscious approach to the Orthodox churches.
In the papal declaration Dominus Iesus on the Unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the church of 6 August 2000, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is rezipiert without the Filioque. The question of the theological relevance of the Filioque for the Church strove unit is currently the subject of ecumenical conversations.
According to Jürgen Moltmann is to overcome the schism " can not be achieved even by the return to the original text of the Nicaeno - Constantinopolitanum, but only by a common response to the question of the relation of the Son to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit to the Son. "