Filioque clause

The a clause that refers to the phrase added by the Western Church to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, asserting that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, rather than from the Father alone as originally formulated. In Latin, filioque, means “and from the Son”. The term derives from the Latin filius, i.e. “son”, combined with the enclitic conjunction -que, meaning “and”. The Nicene Creed, originally formulated at the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD), did not address the procession of the Holy Spirit. The First Council of Constantinople (381 AD) expanded the creed, producing the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which affirmed that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father”. The Filioque clause was not part of either council’s creed; it was first recorded in the Western Church at the Third Council of Toledo (589 AD) in Spain, where it was added to combat Arianism. The phrase gradually became standard in Western liturgy and was fully adopted in Rome by the 11th century. Theological debates over the Filioque center on the doctrine of the Trinity. The Western (Latin) Church defended the clause as a legitimate clarification of the relationship between the persons of the Trinity, while the Eastern (Greek) Church regarded it as an unauthorized alteration that compromised the Father’s unique role as the singular source within the Godhead. The inclusion of the Filioque became a principal point of contention leading to the Great East–West Schism of 1054, which formally divided the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East. The clause has continued to influence theological dialogue between the two traditions and remains a symbol of enduring doctrinal divergence in Christian ecclesiology.

First Council of Constantinople

The second ecumenical council of the Christian Church, held in 381 AD in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) under the authority of Emperor Theodosius I. The council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed of 325 AD, expanded its statement on the Holy Spirit, and addressed ongoing theological disputes, including Arianism and Macedonianism (which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit). The council affirmed that the Holy Spirit is fully divine and proceeds from the Father, reinforcing the doctrine of the Trinity. Its decisions helped to consolidate orthodox Christian doctrine in the Eastern Roman Empire and laid the foundation for what later became known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which remains central to the liturgy of both Eastern Orthodox and Western Churches.

First Council of Nicaea

An ecumenical council of Christian bishops convened by Emperor Constantine I in 325 AD in the city of Nicaea (modern İznik, Turkey). It was the first effort to achieve universal consensus in the Church on key theological and organizational issues. The council is best known for resolving the Arian controversy, which questioned the divinity of Jesus Christ, and for formulating the original Nicene Creed, affirming that the Son is homoousios (ὁμοούσιος), i.e. “of the same essence”, as the Father. The council also established uniformity in calculating the date of Easter, issued disciplinary Canons on clerical conduct, and set precedents for the structure and authority of future ecumenical councils, marking a foundational moment in the development of early Christian orthodoxy.

fish

One of the symbols employed by the first Christians, who had their seals engraved with a dove or a fish, as mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, though it was a familiar sign to Christians long before his time, going back as far as the first decades of the 2nd century, as found in early frescoes, rings, seals, gilded glasses, etc. It is a symbol for the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes, but also as the Greek acrostic Ichtys, i.e. “Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter” (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ), meaning “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour”, and which was intended as a protest against the pagan apotheosis of the emperors, who coined themselves as Sons of God. In his De Baptismo, the 2nd century ecclesiastical writer Tertullian refers to Christians as little fishes, in the well-known passage “we, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water”. After the 4th century, the symbolism of the fish gradually disappeared, though representations of fishes may sometimes still be found on ornamental baptismal fonts and cups, and refer to the water of the Baptism.