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The Dynamics of Mutual Condemnations in the Filioque Controversy from the Carolingian Era to the Late Middle Ages

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The Dynamics of Mutual Condemnations in the Filioque Controversy from the Carolingian Era to the Late Middle Ages EphemeridesTheologicaeLovanienses 91/2 (2015) 201-222. doi: 10.2143/ETL.91.2.3085089 © 2015 by Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses. All rights reserved. The Dynamics of Mutual Condemnations in the Filioque Controversy From the Carolingian Era to the Late Middle Ages Peter Gemeinhardt Georg-August-UniversitätGöttingen I. INTRODUCTION Among the topics of the present conference, the subject of my lecture is a favorable one, as it seems. Not only because the medieval time in general is such a fascinating period of history – though widely neglected by most Protestant scholars –, but also because of the fact that, in contrast to many other long-standing doctrinal debates in the history of Christianity, the Filioque controversy resulted not only in mutual condemnations but also in their eventual repeal. I am referring of course to the exchange of excommunications between Humbert of Silva Candida and Patriarch Michael Cerularius in 1054 and their uplifting more than nine hundred years later. At the very end of the Second Vatican Council, on 7th December 1965, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople jointly proclaimed: a) that they regret the offending words, the baseless reproaches, and the blameworthy symbolic acts which on both sides marked or accompanied the sad events of this time; b) that in the same way they regret and remove from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication which followed, the remembrance of which acts right up to our own times as an obstacle to our mutual approach in charity, and they condemn these to oblivion; c) that they deplore, finally, the troublesome precedents and the further happen- ings which, under the influence of various factors, including misunderstanding and distrust on both sides, eventually led to a rupture of ecclesial communion1. Of course, the Pope and the Patriarch were aware that erasing medieval anathemas would only be the first step to a common understanding of the theological and ecclesiological aspects involved in the Filioque debate. 1. French original: DH 4431-4433; tr. E.J. STORMON (ed./tr.), EcumenicalDocumentsIII: TowardstheHealingofSchism.TheSeesofRomeandConstantinople.PublicStatements andCorrespondencebetweentheHolySeeandtheEcumenicalPatriarchate1958-1984, New York – Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 1987, p. 127. 998150.indb8150.indb 220101 118/06/158/06/15 110:540:54 202 P. GEMEINHARDT While in the aftermath of the Vatican Council, the joint efforts of Athena- goras and Cardinal Johannes Willebrands led to a remarkable improvement of the dialogue between the Old and the New Rome, though an ecumeni- cal council or eucharistic communion is still to be awaited today2, a quick glance at the bilateral and multilateral dialogues about the Filioque during the last four decades reveals that a solution of the controversy is by no means to be expected in the near future3. Lifting anathemas is, in this case like in others, not the same as doing away with the reason for the condem- nations in question. It is therefore important that both sides had already agreed in 1965 that the condemnations of 1054 are also tightly linked to other aspects like cultural and political differences, misunderstanding and mistrust, history and memory of the religious communities involved – aspects which are not to be removed by a joint declaration of theological consensus4. Especially the impact of memory has recently been highlighted in scholarship: though it is beyond doubt that inretrospect the year 1054 represents a dramatic and regrettable turning point in the history of the relationship between Eastern and Western traditions, on both sides there is little evidence confirming the perception of a schism in the course of the following decades5. Moreover, even the very validity of the condemnation 2. For recent research regarding these forceful developments (and the severe disillusions which followed), see K. SCHELKENS, NoObstaclesLeft:TheDialoguebetweenRomeand Constantinople (1962-1971), in Materialdienst des Konfessionskundlichen Instituts 64 (2013) 23-30 with further references. 3. The literature is abundant. See now the comprehensive, though not in every respect convincing account of the history of the controversy provided by A.E. SIECIENSKI, The Filioque:HistoryofaDoctrinalControversy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, and the magistral volume of B. OBERDORFER, Filioque–GeschichteundTheologieeinesöku- menischenProblems(Forschungen zur Systematischen und Ökumenischen Theologie, 96), Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001. For a concise summary of recent ecumenical dialogues see J. WASMUTH, Das“Filioque”inderökumenischenDiskussionderGegenwart, in MaterialdienstdesKonfessionskundlichenInstituts 61 (2010) 90-94 and J. OELDEMANN, DasFilioqueimökumenischenDialog:DieErgebnissederbisherigenDialogeimÜberblick, in M. BOEHNKE etal. (eds.), DieFilioque-Kontroverse:Historische,ökumenischeunddog- matischePerspektiven1200JahrenachderAachenerSynode(Quaestiones Disputatae, 245), Freiburg – Basel – Wien, Herder, 2011, 180-200. 4. This perspective is highlighted, e.g., by the recent studies of A. BAYER, Spaltungder Christenheit:DassogenannteMorgenländischeSchismavon1054 (Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 53), Köln – Weimar – Wien, Böhlau, 2002 and P. GEMEINHARDT, Das Schismavon1054–seinegeschichtlicheundökumenischeBedeutung, in Materialdienst desKonfessionskundlichenInstituts 55 (2004) 63-69. 5. This has time and again be stressed by Suttner, though it is surely an exaggeration that in 1054 virtually nothing should have happened and the whole controversy should be an invention of modern polemicists (see, e.g., E.C. SUTTNER, DaswechselvolleVerhältnis zwischendenKirchendesOstensunddesWestensimLaufderKirchengeschichte, Würzburg, Der Christliche Osten, 1996, p. 27) or even a modern “myth” (E.C. SUTTNER, DerMythos vom“großenSchisma”imJahr1054:ZumVerhältnisderKirchenlateinischerundbyzan- tinischer Tradition vor und nach dem angeblichen Wendepunkt, in Catholica 58 [2004] 105-114). That there is no real theological issue at stake is also argued (not convincingly, in my view) by D. MÜLLER, DerStreitumdasFilioquealsProfilierungsmomentderwestlichen 998150.indb8150.indb 220202 118/06/158/06/15 110:540:54 MUTUAL CONDEMNATIONS IN THE FILIOQUE CONTROVERSY 203 of the Byzantine Patriarch by Humbert of Silva Candida itself is already questionable on canonical grounds6. It thus seems much rather that the history of mutual condemnations in the Middle Ages is itself an interpre- tation of history, and interestingly, this perception first appears simultane- ously with the attempt of bringing the schism to an end. It is therefore important to differentiate between single instances of condemnations within the Filioque controversy and its history as a whole. In the following, I will investigate three crucial steps of the controversy, namely the Carolingian age, the year 1054 and its aftermath, and the coun- cils of union in the Late Middle Ages. The respective anathemas do not only touch upon theological issues in a strict sense but pose also ecclesio- logical and hermeneutic questions: who is teaching novelties and who is the guardian of tradition, who is entitled to draw this line and by which criteria? The anathemas also witness to a growing cultural alienation loom- ing large in the background of the controversy. Yet many stages of the Filioque debate did not end up with harsh condemnations. Medieval theo- logians were, as it seems, hesitant to propose such anathemas, and this observation calls for an attempt at an explanation. Finally, I will briefly outline some overarching aspects of the dynamics of the condemnations in the Filioque controversy which were to shape mutual perceptions between East and West until today7. II. THE EMERGENCE OF THE CONTROVERSY IN CAROLINGIAN TIMES 1. TheMatteroftheControversy I would like to begin with a brief sketch of what the Filioque contro- versy is about. Christians from the very beginning confessed God as one and three: Father, Son and Spirit (cf., e.g., Matt 28,19). But it was not at Kirche(789-1439), in O. MEUFFELS – J. BRÜNDL (eds.), GrenzgängederTheologie.FSAlex- andreGanoczy (Symposion, 6), Münster, Lit, 2004, 37-57. 6. For this debate see BAYER, SpaltungderChristenheit (n. 4), pp. 99-101, who correctly points out that in the 11th century, there was simply no canonical jurisdiction on the respec- tive situation, but then speculates about a possible mandate given to the legation by Pope Leo IX which is however nowhere mentioned in the sources. For a canonical assessment see W.M. PLÖCHL, ZurAufhebungderBannbullenvon1054imBlickfeldderkirchlichenRechts- geschichte, in ZSRG.K 57 (1971) 1-21 and (referring to recent ecumenical debates) P. NEUNER, DieTilgungdesBannes(1965)undihretheologischeRelevanz:EinökumenischerVersuch ausrömisch-katholischerSicht, in T. NIKOLAOU etal. (eds.), DasSchismazwischenOst-und Westkirche.950bzw.800Jahredanach(1054und1204)(Beiträge aus dem Zentrum für ökumenische Forschung München, 2), Münster, Lit, 2004, 178-195, pp. 191f. 7. Most of the texts I will discuss in parts II and III of the present paper have been treated extensively in my doctoral thesis: P. GEMEINHARDT, DieFilioque-KontroversezwischenOst- undWestkircheimFrühmittelalter(Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte, 82), Berlin – New York, de Gruyter, 2002. Thus, I will not repeat the detailed discussions but refer to the account in my book with which I am still inclined to agree. For the biblical aspect, see now P. GEMEIN- HARDT, Filioque:Christianity, in EncyclopediaoftheBibleandItsReception
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