Our discussion of Gregory of Nazianzus’ famous quote last week got me to thinking a lot about the “Filioque Controversy.” This is a 1,700 year controversy within Christianity that has a profound impact on how one views the Trinity.

The controversy started fairly soon after the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. During this general council, the Church Fathers modified the Nicene Creed of 325 AD to help defend against various heresies (Arinism, Apollinarianism, Macedonianism, and Chiliasm). In this creed (now called the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”), the following statement was made and agreed upon:

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified

However in 410 AD, a regional council in Persia modified this line to include the Latin word “filioque” – which means “and the Son” (note that the creed was originally written in Greek):

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified

Bishops in the West (who preferred Latin to Greek) picked up on this change and started teaching that

the Holy Spirit proceeded from both the Father and the Son. St. Augustine of Hippo was one such proponent – paving the way for this view of the Trinity to influence most of Protestantism (both Calvin and Luther based their theology off of Augustine).

Interesting enough, a year after St. Augustine’s death (430 AD), the Church held its third ecumenical council in Ephesus. During this council, it was decided that no one could change the wording of a creed unless it was agreed upon by the entire Church (i.e. another ecumenical council). This in effect condemned the addition of the word filioque (“and the Son”) in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

Unfortunately, the controversy did not stop there.

In 580 AD the bishops of Spain held a regional council at Toledo to discuss the Arianism beliefs of the Visigothics (Arianism was condemned as a heresy in 381 AD). During this council the Lain word filioque was inserted into Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – where it spread across the Latin speaking West and contributed to the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Romain Catholics in 1054 AD.

Tomorrow we will discuss why this phrase is important for us today in 2010 and how it effects the way we see the Trinitarian nature of God.