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The Filioque Clause Politics and Passion - What Is Filioque? Intro

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The Filioque Clause Politics and Passion - What is Filioque? Intro It has been apparent to me the Filioque Clause is an issue in a number of historical contexts, and often laid to one side as a theological issue of no great consequence. During the course of three weeks I want to discuss what it is, how it came about, some of which may be speculation, most of which will be well anchored in history. I will discuss the theology of it, though that is not the key point, but rather to understand how it has played out in history and why it has been important. A General Premise It is easy to confine History to being a WHERE and WHEN it was done is study of dates and places. also clearly of relevance to our understanding Logically it must be more than that, if we are to learn from it and hopefully My criticism of much of history as we preclude ourselves from repeating it. have been taught it is that it fails to address things happen. This requires us to understand WHO WHY did it. Sometimes that requires some I would argue that much of the speculation. reason why the lesson of history is Also we need to understand WHAT that do not learn the lesson of history was done. is that we do not consider the WHY question properly. The general acceptance of the Marxist Analysis of History has in a way taken a simple maxim as Reason the reason for all history. I contend that this, whilst often helpful, is inadequate and that much Marxist analysis of history contends of history requires more than this to properly that the root of all action is the control understand it. of productive resources. When we try to analyse the conflicts of the contemporary world whilst from a contemporary western perspective we may prefer to remove religion and ideology from the cause, this view is not shared by all. My argument is not that the Marxist analysis is wrong, simply that it is not sufficient to understand all of history. The Filioque is a single latin word which translates in English as ‘and the Son’. Filioque The clause was first used in the Nicene Creed in One word in latin, three in English Rome on the 14th of February 1014 for the coronation of Henry II as Holy Roman Emperor when Benedict VIII was Pope. This set in course a chain of events that lead to a splitting of the Church east and west in 1054. In today’s Church of the 2.2 billion Christians 1.2 billion are Catholic and 350 million are Eastern Christians, and this remains central of that divide, and the allied questions of Papal Primacy and authority on the Church. Nicene Creed Short History of the Nicene Creed 293 AD Diocletian established the Tetrarchy as a means of managing the Empire which was essentially too large to manage. CREEDS 306 AD on the death of his father Constantius, Constantine was acclaimed Augustus in York by the Creeds Councils and Controversy is the sub-title to any study of Early legions. Church History, however as it is the background to this, here is the short course. 312 AD returning to Rome Constantine was Triumphant at the battle of Milvian Bridge and became Caesar Augustus effectively drawing a close to the Tetrarchy. 314 AD the Edict of Milan which proclaimed a new religious pluralism for the Republic, and made Christianity legal for the 1st time. 325 AD The First Council of Nicaea is called to resolve the Arian Controversy and publishes the 1st Nicene Creed. Constantine is a complex person, and whilst his impact of Christianity is huge, his attitude is more Constantine complex. He did not acknowledge a Christian faith until the Saint or Sinner last year of his life when he was baptised by Eusebius 335. As Caesar he was Pontifex Maximus (the great bridge builder) of the Roman Pagan Cults. His new capital - Nova Romanum - later called Constantinople (and later Istanbul) was dedicated to the Christian God under the patronage of the Virgin Mother of God. Christianity at the time of the Edict of Milan may have claimed as many as 8% of the Empire’s inhabitants. Constantine attributed the success at Milvian Bridge to the Christian God. Constantine regarded Christianity as a desirable religion, and saw that it could bind the whole Empire in a single religion and empire. This was theme picked up in Augustine Civitas Dei. His Mother, Helena, and his wife, were Christians. He seems to have little interest in the outcome of the Council of Nicaea, but is rather more concerned that the matter be resolved. Eusebius who baptised him ten years after the Council was (or at least had been) an Arian. One of the consequences of Constantine’s favourable treatment of Christians is that it became attractive, rather than detrimental and the Nicaea I Church felt the need to firm up the boundaries. The First Oecumenical Council The Creed provided a Christology against Arius who argued that there was a time when the Son 325 AD was not. Arius and his followers were banished, yet within ten years they seem to have been able to return. In terms of stopping Arianism the Council was a complete disaster. Constantine probably didn’t care what the result of the Council was, but rather that peace inside Christianity helped peace in the Empire. Following the council there was some peace, and Between the the Arians seemed to slowly be restored from exile. Councils Another group arose called the pneumatomachi The period 325 - 381 who argued that the Spirit was a creation of the Son and not divine as such but creature. The three great theologians of the period, the Cappadocian Fathers worked hard against this and against the resurgence of Arianism. Ultimately a new Council (The first Council of Constantinople) was called in the East, (not including Rome), who sent an observer, and who later affirmed the decisions of the Council, thereby making it an ecumenical council. The major work of the Council was to revisit the Constantinople 1 Creed of the Council of Nicea, and the creed from 381 AD this Council is the basic text established henceforth as the Nicene Creed. Significantly it fleshed out the Christological section of the Creed, essentially giving Arians no place to call home in the Creed. A lot of this was based on the understanding of the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel. It also fleshed out the section dealing with the Holy Spirit, to affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit based on an understanding from John 14 and 15. I believe in One God Nicene Creed - in Summary The Father almighty … One Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of At this stage (381) the Creed very clearly does not have the filioque God… inserted. The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father ( ) who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets I believe in one holy catholic & apostolic church I acknowledge one baptism ... I look for the resurrection for the dead ... The Heresy of Nestorius was that Jesus was the union of the Flesh and the Word, and as such was Nestorianism not actually the divine Son of God, so rejecting the title theotokos (the God bearer) to the Virgin Mary. This is about the origins of the Nestorian Church which is is alive today and continues to prosper East of The Heresy flourished East of Antioch, and in 435 Antioch. a Council was called at Ephesus to address this, the lead opposition being Cyril of Alexandria. The Nestorians had modified the Nicene Creed to fit their beliefs, and the Council of Ephesus proclaimed anathemas on all who would add to or take away from the Nicene Creed. The council met two days before Antioch arrived and this led to some bad blood, though Antioch subscribed to the decisions of the Council. Following the Council of Ephesus there was a lot of consideration about the nature of the person of Jesus. Monophysitism Cyril of Alexandria was accused of teaching the This has a great deal of bearing on the origins of the Oriental Orthodox - often Monophysite Heresy, suggesting that the body of called the Coptic Orthodox Church Jesus was human and the soul divine. It is generally agreed today that Cyril’s position was actually Monothelitism, that though Jesus had a human and a divine soul, these were coalesced in one will. Anyway it led to another Council The Council of Chalcedon met in 451 and Council of shades of Ephesus the matter of Cyril's Chalcedon teaching was dealt with before he arrived, and so he was not able to defend his position. The Christology of the Church based on the Nicene Creed, was further This Council affirmed the Nicene Creed and hammered out and the Christology of the anathemas of Ephesus. the Council is accepted almost universally as correct orthodox teaching. The essence of the Christology is that Jesus was complete and perfect in both Godhead and Humanity, completely reconciled in the one person. So the Nicene Creed has been affirmed by three of the Great Ecumenical Councils of the Church, and anathemas declared and affirmed on any So is that it who would change the Creed, henceforth by two of them. The only significant change to the Nicene Creed since that time has been the insertion of the ? filioque, and from here we will be moving into an area where some of the matter must be speculation, because we know where we got to, but we don’t actually know all the detail as to how it happened.
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