the nicene creed was re major views of the trinity michael bushnell writes the so called creed of athanasius however has always been a western creed and has always had the filioque the orthodox have said that they accept all that it says with the exception of the filioque but it is not in use which is exactly what i pointed out though i was wrong about your use of the creed the catholic encylcopedia in which i read about it said the orthodox do use the creed minus the filioque apparently that has changed the athanasian creed has always had the filioque the nicene constantinopolitan did not of course the orthodox did not delete the filioque from the nicene creed it wasn t there to begin with but they certainly did from the athanasian creed which did have it from the beginning i might point out that the whole problem started over the difference in ways of explaining the generation of the blessed trinity the east emphasizing the idea of the holy spirit proceeding from the father through the son and the west using proceeding from the father and the son in fact some such as tertullian used both formulations see below following therefore the form of these examples i profess that i do call god and his word the father and and his son two for the root and the stem are two things but conjoined the fountain and the river are two kinds but indivisible the sun and the ray are two forms but coherent ones anything which proceeds from another must necessarily be a second to that from which it proceeds but it is not on that account separated from it where there is second however there are two and where ther is third there are three the spirit then is third from god and the son just as the third from the root is the fruit of the stem and third from the fountain is the stream from the river and thrid from the sun is the apex of the ray tertullian against praxeas about ad and i believe that the spirit proceeds not otherwise than from the father through the son tertullian against praxeas about ad and as st thomas showed in his summa theologica part question articles and there is no contradiction between the two methods of generation and in fact the two methods of reckoning the procession emphasize what st augustine among others taught that the holy spirit proceeds from the father and the son but he proceeds from the father in a more preeminent way for whatever the son has he has from the father certainly he has it from the father that the holy spirit proceeds from him for the father alone is not from another for which reason he alone is called unbegotten not indeed in the scriptures but in the practice of theologians and of those who employ such terms as they are able in a matter so great the son however is born of the father and the holy spirit proceeds principally from the father and since the father gives to the son all that he has without any interval of time the holy spirit proceeds jointly from both father and son he would be called son of the father and of the son if which is abhorent to everyone of sound mind they had both begotten him the spirit was not begotten by each however but proceeds from each and both st augustine of hippo the trinity to ad so in a sense all of the formulations are correct to the west at least because the holy spirit proceeds from both father and son but in proceeding from the son the orgin of that procession is the procession from the father so the holy spirit is proceeding from the father through the son but as all that the son has is from the father the holy spirit can be said to proceed from the father without any mention of the son being necessary in any case i am happy to know that i follow in the beliefs of pope st leo i st fulgence of ruspe st cyril of alexandria pope st damsus i st augustine of hippo st epiphanius of salamis st ambrose of milan st hilary of poitiers tertullian and others among the fathers who all have very quotable quotes supporting the catholic position which i enunciated above as for the issue of the adoption of another creed being forbidden i will point out that the holy fathers of ephesus and chalcedon both spoke of the creed of nicea in their statement forbidding anyone to produce write or compose a confession of faith other than the one defined by the fathers of nicea that creed is a different creed than that of constantinople which is commonly called the nicene creed not of course in that they were condemning the adoption of the constantinopolitan creed which is but an enlargement upon the creed of nicea but that they were condemning the impious opinions of nestorious who had adopted a radically different creed from the one used by the church which among other things denied the procession of the holy spirit form the son thus the additions of the constantinopolitan creed were not thought to be in violation of this and as the council chalcedon also affirmed the doctrine of the procession of the holy spirit from the son which nestorius denied they could hardly have been against explaining in a fuller way the creed for they themselves approved of previous additions to it and if the further explanations of the creed made in constantinople were not denigrating of the work done by the holy fathers of nicea or in any way heretical it follows that the council of toledo was fully able to add what was not disputed by the faithful to the creed so as to combat the impieties of the arians in spain because the filioque was not in dispute in the church until many years later under photius and others and that the filioque was not disputed i provide more quotes below since the holy spirit when he is in us effects our being conformed to god and he actually proceeds from the father and son it is abundantly clear that he is of the divine essence in it in essence and proceeding from it st cyril of alexandria the treasury of the holy and consubstantial trinity thesis ad the holy spirit is not of the father only or of the son only but he is the spirit of the father and the son for it is written if anyone loves the world the spirit of the father is not in him and again it is written if anyone however does not have the spirit of christ he is none of his when the father and the son are named in this way the holy spirit is understood of whom the son himself says in the gospel that the holy spirit proceeds from the father and that he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you pope st damasus i the decree of damasus ad the only begotten holy spirit has neither the name of the son nor the appelation of father but is called holy spirit and is not foreign to the father for the only begotten himself calls him the spirit of the father and says of him the he proceeds from the father and will receive of mine so that he is reckoned as not being foreign to the son but is of their same substance of the same godhead he is spirit divine of god and he is god for he is spirit of god spirit of the father and spirit of the son not by some kind of synthesis like soul and body in us but in the midst of father and son of the father and of the son a third by appelation the father always existed and the son always existed and the spirit breathes from the father and the son and neither is the son created nor is the spirit created st epiphanius of salamis which is on cyprus the man well anchored and ad concerning the holy spirit i ought not to remain silent nor yet is it necessary to speak still on account of those who do not know him it is not possible for me to be silent however it is necessary to speak of him who must be acknowledged who is from the father and the son his sources st hilary of poitiers the trintiy to ad thus as i have pointed out before gaul spain italy africa egypt palastine and the lands of the greeks all of christnedom at that time all have fathers who can be cited to show that they confess the doctrine expressed by the filioque i suggest to those of the orthodox church that they come up with some of the fathers besides st john of damascus who all will admit denied the filioque to support their views it is not enough to bring up the proceeds from the father line of the creed or the gospel of john for that says what we believe also but it does not say the holy spirit does not proceed from the son only that he does proceed from the father andy byler
