THE TEACHING OF CELTIC ORTHODOXY ON THE “FILIOQUE”

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I was asked why the Nicene Creed in the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite is different than in the Eastern Catholics and Orthodox. It is politics and for no other reason. The Catholics say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son which is wrong and contradicted in the Bible.

The filioque (and the son) was added to the *Nicene Creed* in 589 A.D. at the Council of Toledo in Spain, to combat Arianism. In 792 Pope Hadrian defended the *Nicene Creed* as it was proclaimed by the First and Second Ecumenical Councils.

In the Ninth century, Pope Leo III protested the addition of the filioque to the *Nicene Creed* by placing two silver plaques bearing the *Nicene Creed* without the filioque, in Greek and Latin, at St. Peter's Basilica, with the caption stating that he mounted the plaques for the sake of Orthodoxy and stated any who adds to the creed be anathema. Pope John Paul II offered Mass without the filioque in the East and Eastern Catholics do not use the filioque.

Most historians agree the pope (Benedict VIII), due to his dependence on the Holy Roman Empire for military protection, acquiesced to its use. But from that point, Rome continued using the Filioque. In time, belief in the Filioque became dogma in Roman Catholicism.

The teaching of the Pope was placed above the teaching of Scripture.

It is contradicted in Scripture in John 15:26 that clearly states the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. There is no way they can back away from it now even though not all Catholics use the filioque. The Vatican says Jesus in John 15:26 does not mean what He says and should be understood to mean the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son as taught by the church. The Eastern Churches in union with the Vatican and all Orthodox Churches say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, not from the Father and the Son.