Orthodox britan

Orthodoxy for the English speaking world.

“Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)

The Saints DID NOT teach the Filioque: A Quote Mine.

Introduction:

In the classical patristic understanding, the Father is “the sole Trinitarian Cause (αἰτία) or Principle (principium) of the Son and the Holy Spirit”. The one Godhead is thus rooted in the person of the Father: the Son is eternally begotten of the Father alone, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father alone. By recognising the Father as “the source and origin of the whole divinity”, the early Church affirmed that the Trinity’s unity flows from one fount. The understanding of the Holy Spirit’s procession took a fundamental shift, in the West, which became evident at the Council of Florence in 1439, when the Latins attempted to formalise the teaching that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, as one principle.1 In trying to avoid teaching “two principles”, the council ended up describing precisely that: it made the Son a second origin of the Spirit, a co-cause alongside the Father. To say Father and Son act “as one principle” is a semantic sleight-of-hand; in reality, two persons are being posited as a joint source of divinity. Therefore, the Filioque violates the foundational Monarchia of the Father, replacing it with a dyarchy of two causes in the Godhead.

This florilegia offers immediate access to excerpts from the writings of Our Holy Fathers concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is to show that the Saints unanimously taught that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, and that the Son’s role is one of sending, not of being a source or cause.

St. Mark the Apostle (1st century):

XVII. O Lord our God, we have placed before You what is Yours from Your own mercies. We pray and beseech You, O good and merciful God, to send down from Your holy heaven, from the mansion You have prepared, and from Your infinite bosom, the Paraclete Himself, holy, powerful, and life-giving, the Spirit of truth, who spoke in the law, the apostles, and prophets; who is everywhere present, and fills all things, freely working sanctification in whom He will with Your good pleasure; one in His nature; manifold in His working; the fountain of divine blessing; of like substance with You, and proceeding from You; sitting with You on the throne of Your kingdom, and with Your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Send down upon us also and upon this bread and upon these chalices Your Holy Spirit, that by His all-powerful and divine influence He may sanctify and consecrate them, and make this bread the body.2

St. Dionysios the Areopagite (1st century):

Μόνη δὲ πηγὴ τῆς ὑπερουσίου θεότητος ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ ὄντος υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐδὲ πατρὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ, φυλαττόντων δὲ τὰ οἰκεῖα τῶν ὕμνων εὐαγῶς ἑκάστῃ τῶν θεαρχικῶν ὑποστάσεων

“The Father alone is the source of the super-essential Godhead, and the Father is not a Son, nor is the Son a Father; for the divine persons all preserve, each without alloy, His own particular attributes of praise.”3

“Again, that the Father is Originating Godhead while Jesus and the Spirit are (so to speak) Divine Off-shoots of the Paternal Godhead, and, as it were, Blossoms and Super-Essential Shinings Thereof we learn from Holy Scripture; but how these things are so we cannot say, nor yet conceive.“4

St. Athenagoras of Athens (2nd century):

“But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [νοῦς], had the Logos in Himself, being from eternity instinct with Logos [λογικός]); but inasmuch as He came forth to be the idea and energizing power of all material things, which lay like a nature without attributes, and an inactive earth, the grosser particles being mixed up with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees with our statements. The Lord, it says, made me, the beginning of His ways to His works. [Proverbs 8:22] The Holy Spirit Himself also, which operates in the prophets, we assert to be an effluence of God, flowing from Him, and returning back again like a beam of the sun. Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?”5

…we acknowledge a God, and a Son his Logos, and a Holy Spirit, united in essence — the Father, the Son, the Spirit, because the Son is the Intelligence, Reason, Wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit an effluence, as light from fire…“6

St. Gregory Thaumaturgus Wonderworker (c. 213–270):

“We acknowledge that the Son and the Spirit are consubstantial with the Father, and that the substance of the Trinity is one — that is, that there is one divinity according to nature, the Father remaining unbegotten, and the Son being begotten of the Father in a true generation, and not in a formation by will, and the Spirit being sent forth eternally from the substance of the Father through the Son, with power to sanctify the whole creation. […] And there is also the perfect Holy Spirit supplied of God through the Son to the sons of adoption, living and life-giving, holy and imparting holiness to those who partake of Him — not like an unsubstantial breath breathed into them by man, but as the living Breath proceeding from God. Wherefore the Trinity is to be adored, to be glorified, to be honoured, and to be reverenced; the Father being apprehended in the Son even as the Son is of Him, and the Son being glorified in the Father, inasmuch as He is of the Father, and being manifested in the Holy Spirit to the sanctified. […] And there, too, they ought to give ear to Paul, for he by no means separates the Holy Spirit from the divinity of the Father and the Son, but clearly sets forth the discourse of the Holy Ghost as one from the person of the Father, and thus as given expression to by God, just as it has been represented in the before-mentioned sayings.”7

“There is One Holy Spirit, having His existence from God (ἐκ Θεοῦ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχον), and being manifested through the Son (διὰ Υἱοῦ πεφηνὸς), to wit to men: Image of the Son, Perfect Image of the Perfect; Life, the Cause of the living; Holy Fount; Sanctity, the Supplier, or Leader, of Sanctification; in whom is manifested God the Father, who is above all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all.”8

“But just as the designation Father is the expression of originality (ἀρχικῶς) and generation, so the designation Son is the expression of the image and offspring of the Father. Hence, if one were to ask how there is but One God, if there is also a God of God, we would reply that that is a term proper to the reason of principle (ἀρχῆς λόγῳ), so far as the Father is the one Principle (μία ἀρχὴ ὁ Πατήρ). And if one were also to put the question, how there is but One Lord, if the Father also is Lord, we might answer that again by saying that He is so in so far as He is the Father of the Lord […] God is the Principle (ἀρχὴ) and Father of the Son; and this Son is the image (εἰκών) and offspring of the Father, and not His brother; *and the Spirit in like manner is the Spirit of God (καὶ Πνεῦμα ὡσαύτως πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ἐστιν).”9

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310 –367):

“Now I ask whether to receive from the Son is the same thing as to proceed from the Father But if one believes that there is a difference between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded as one and the same thing. For our Lord Himself says, Because He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father has are Mine: therefore said I, He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you. That which He will receive — whether it will be power, or excellence, or teaching — the Son has said must be received from Him, and again He indicates that this same thing must be received from the Father. For when He says that all things whatsoever the Father has are His, and that for this cause He declared that it must be received from His own, He teaches also that what is received from the Father is yet received from Himself, because all things that the Father has are His.”10

“For God the Father is One, from Whom are all things; and our Lord Jesus Christ the Only-begotten, through Whom are all things, is One; and the Spirit, God’s Gift to us, Who pervades all things, is also One. […] Concerning the Holy Spirit I ought not to be silent […] However, it is not necessary to speak of Him, who must be confessed with the Father and the Son as witnesses. For my own part, I think it wrong to discuss the question of His existence. He does exist, inasmuch as He is given, received, retained; He is joined with Father and Son in our confession of the faith, and cannot be excluded from a true confession of Father and Son; take away a part, and the whole faith is marred. If any man demand what meaning we attach to this conclusion, he, as well as we, has read the words of the Apostle, Because you are sons of God, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father [Galatians 4:6], and Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in Whom you have been sealed [Ephesians 4:30], and again, But we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are given unto us by God [1 Corinthians 2:12] […] Wherefore since He is, and is given, and is possessed, and is of God, let His traducers take refuge in silence. When they ask, Through Whom is He? To what end does He exist? Of what nature is He? We answer that He it is through Whom all things exist, and from Whom are all things, and that He is the Spirit of God, God’s gift to the faithful. If our answer displease them, their displeasure must also fall upon the Apostles and the Prophets, who spoke of Him exactly as we have spoken. And furthermore, Father and Son must incur the same displeasure.”11

“Let us hear from our Lord’s own words what is the work of the Holy Ghost within us. He says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. [John 16:12] For it is expedient for you that I go: if I go I will send you the Advocate. And again, I will ask the Father and He shall send you another Advocate, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth. He shall guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear He shall speak, and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine. These words were spoken to show how multitudes should enter the kingdom of heaven; they contain an assurance of the goodwill of the Giver, and of the mode and terms of the Gift. They tell how, because our feeble minds cannot comprehend the Father or the Son, our faith which finds God’s incarnation hard of credence shall be illumined by the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Bond of union and the Source of light. […] The next step naturally is to listen to the Apostle’s account of the powers and functions of this Gift. […] Now to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings in the One Spirit, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But all these works the One and same Spirit. Here we have a statement of the purpose and results of the Gift; and I cannot conceive what doubt can remain, after so clear a definition of His Origin, His action and His powers.“12

St. Basil the Great (c. 329–379):

“For it is not possible for any one to conceive of the Son if he be not previously enlightened by the Spirit. Since, then, the Holy Ghost, from Whom all the supply of good things for creation has its source, is attached to the Son, and with Him is inseparably apprehended, and has Its being attached to the Father, as cause, from Whom also It proceeds; It has this note of Its peculiar hypostatic nature, that It is known after the Son and together with the Son, and that It has Its subsistence of the Father. The Son, Who declares the Spirit proceeding from the Father through Himself and with Himself, shining forth alone and by only-begetting from the unbegotten light, so far as the peculiar notes are concerned, has nothing in common either with the Father or with the Holy Ghost. He alone is known by the stated signs. But God, Who is over all, alone has, as one special mark of His own hypostasis, His being Father, and His deriving His hypostasis from no cause; and through this mark He is peculiarly known. Wherefore in the communion of the substance we maintain that there is no mutual approach or intercommunion of those notes of indication perceived in the Trinity, whereby is set forth the proper peculiarity of the Persons delivered in the faith, each of these being distinctively apprehended by His own notes. Hence, in accordance with the stated signs of indication, discovery is made of the separation of the hypostases; while so far as relates to the infinite, the incomprehensible, the uncreate, the uncircumscribed, and similar attributes, there is no variableness in the life-giving nature; in that, I mean, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in Them is seen a certain communion indissoluble and continuous.”13

“For the Father exists, having perfect being (εἶναι) and unbegotten, the root and source (ῥίζα καὶ πηγὴ) of the Son and the Holy Spirit […] I acknowledge the Spirit as being with the Father, not as being the Father; I have received him as being with the Son, not as called Son; I perceive his relation with the Father (πρὸς Πατέρα οικειότητα) , because he proceeds from the Father (ἐκ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται), and his relation (πρὸς) with the Son, because I hear: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ (Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ), he is not His”. For if he is not of Christ, how does he belong to Christ? But I also hear the Spirit of truth. And the Lord is the truth. And when I hear of the Spirit of adoption, I come to the understanding of the unity by nature with the Son and the Father.”14

“As, therefore, the Creator Word strengthened the heaven, in the same way, the Spirit, which is from God, who proceeds from the Father (that is, from His mouth), so that you may not judge it as something external and created, but as having the ὑπόστασιν from God[Father]”15

Gregory of Nazianzus the Theologian (c. 329–390):

“We must necessarily hold on to the one God while confessing the three hypostases, surely we must speak of three Persons, each one with its own distinctive properties (ἰδιότητος). So, according to my argument, the oneness of God (εἷς μὲν Θεὸς) would be preserved, and Son and Spirit would be referred back to one cause (εἰς ἓν αἴτιον), but not compounded or blended with each other; their unity would be based on the single, self-identical movement and will of the divine being, if I may put it that way, and on identity of substance (οὐσίας ταυτότητα)… And the properties (ἰδιότητες) of the Father are unoriginate (ἀνάρχου), and understood as the principle (ἀρχῆς) and called the principle (but as the cause (αἰτίου), and as the fount (πηγῆς).“16

“Therefore He was ever being partaken, but not partaking; perfecting, not being perfected; sanctifying, not being sanctified; deifying, not being deified; Himself ever the same with Himself, and with Those with Whom He is ranged; invisible, eternal, incomprehensible, unchangeable, without quality, without quantity, without form, impalpable, self-moving, eternally moving, with free-will, self-powerful, All-powerful (even though all that is of the Spirit is referable to the First Cause, just as is all that is of the Only-begotten);”17

“How then are They not alike unoriginate, if They are coeternal? Because They are from Him, though not after Him. For that which is unoriginate is eternal, but that which is eternal is not necessarily unoriginate, so long as it may be referred to the Father as its origin. Therefore in respect of Cause They are not unoriginate; but it is evident that the Cause is not necessarily prior to its effects, for the sun is not prior to its light. And yet They are in some sense unoriginate, in respect of time.”18

“All that the Father has belongs likewise to the Son, except Causality; and all that is the Son’s belongs also to the Spirit, except His Sonship.”19

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395):

”Its existence derived from the Father, as cause (τοῦ Πατρὸς αἰτίας ἐξημμένον ἔχει τὸ εἶναι), from Whom It indeed proceeds (ἐκπορεύεται); It has this note of Its peculiar hypostatic nature (γνωριστικὸν τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἰδιότητος), that It is known after the Son and together with the Son, and that It has Its subsistence from the Father (ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑφεστάναι).”20

“For it is not possible for any one to conceive of the Son if he be not previously enlightened by the Spirit. Since, then, the Holy Spirit, from Whom all the supply of good things for creation has its source, is attached to the Son, and is inseparably apprehended with Him, and has Its being (εἶναι) derived from the Father, as cause (αἰτίας), from Whom It indeed proceeds (ἐκπορεύεται); It has this gnoristikon (γνωριστικὸν) of it’s peculiarity according to hypostasis, that It is known after the Son and together with the Son, and that It has Its subsistence from the Father (ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑφεστάναι). The Son, who through Himself and with Himself reveals the Spirit proceeding from the Father (ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον), who alone shines forth only-begottenly from the unbegotten light, has no commonality (κοινωνίαν) according to the individuating gnorismata (ἰδιάζον τῶν γνωρισμάτων), either to the Father or to the Holy Spirit, but alone is known by these mentioned signs. And God over all alone has a certain special gnorisma (γνώρισμα) of His own hypostasis: being the Father, and subsisting from no cause, and by this sign again He is also individually recognised.”21

“… having His cause of existence (αἰτίαν τῆς ὑπάρξεως) from the God over all, He is parted again from Him by the characteristic of not being the Only-begotten of the Father, and of having been manifested through the Son Himself (δι’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ πεφηνέναι).”22

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313–386):

Therefore though our discourses concerning the Holy Ghost are divided, yet He Himself is undivided, being one and the same. For as in speaking concerning the Father, at one time we taught how He is the one only Cause ; and at another, how He is called Father, or Almighty ; and at another, how He is the Creator of the universe;23

St. Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373):

“Speaking of begetting and being begotten, proceeding, that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—where the Father is the generator and emitter, the generator of the Son, and the emitter of the Spirit. The Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds. The Father is ungenerated, the Son is generated, and the Spirit proceeds. The Father is the cause, and the Son and the Spirit are caused. The Father is the emitter, the Son is only a Son, and the Spirit proceeds.”24

“Why have they not understood that, just as by not dividing the Son from the Father they ensure that God is one, so by dividing the Spirit from the Word they no longer ensure that the Godhead in the Triad is one, for they tear it asunder, and mix with it a nature foreign to it and of a different kind, and put it on a level with the creatures? On this showing, once again the Triad is no longer one but is compounded of two differing natures; for the Spirit, as they have imagined, is essentially different. What doctrine of God is this, which compounds him out of creator and creature? Either he is not a Triad, but a dyad, with the creature left over. Or, if he be Triad — as indeed he is! — then how do they class the Spirit who belongs to the Triad with the creatures which come after the Triad? For this, once more, is to divide and dissolve the Triad. Therefore, while thinking falsely of the Holy Spirit, they do not think truly even of the Son. For if they thought correctly of the Word, they would think soundly of the Spirit also, who proceeds from the Father, and, belonging to the Son, is from him given to the disciples and all who believe in him.”25

“But in giving the Spirit to the disciples, he said: ‘Receive ye the Holy Spirit.’ And, when
sending them out, he said: ‘Go ye and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ He did not rank an angel with the Godhead; nor was it by a creature that he linked us to himself and to the Father, but by the Holy Spirit. And when he promised him, he did not say that he would send an angel, but ‘the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father’, and from him receives and gives.“26

“As the Son is an only-begotten offspring, so also the Spirit, being given and sent from the Son, is himself one and not many, nor one from among many, but Only Spirit. As the Son, the living Word, is one, so must the vital activity and gift whereby he sanctifies and enlightens be one perfect and complete; which is said to proceed from the Father, because it is from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father, that it shines forth and is sent and is given.”27

St. Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/320–403):

“But the Only-begotten—and his Holy Spirit—can plainly be the cause of inheritance without suffering [themselves], *for the Son is not a creature but an offspring and, since he has been begotten, will not inherit the causation of suffering. Neither will the Holy Spirit, since he proceeds from the Father. (8) For neither can the Father be classed as one who suffers in causing things because he has begotten [the Son], has sent the Holy Spirit forth from himself, and has created all the rest after the Son and the Spirit—though surely, all other things suffer in creating and begetting. (9) Therefore the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are uncaused; but the Trinity is the cause of all things, for it creates and fashions them jointly, meanwhile knowing that nothing within it is created or fashioned.”28

“For the Father is the Begetter of a sole Only-begotten, and of no one else after the One. And he is the Pourer forth of a Holy Spirit and of no other spirit. But he is the creator and the maker of all that he has made and continues to make (7) Therefore, since many Sons are no longer begotten and many Spirits do not proceed from him, and since the same Godhead remains forever and is glorified in a Trinity and is never augmented, diminished, or supposed not to exist, the rank is not limited to a mere name in the Godhead’s case….Therefore they have been created by the One who is not called Son by grace or merely in name, but truly the Son. [They are] created by the One, through the One, with him who proceeds from the One and receives of the Other.”29

And if the spirit in Maximilla were a holy < spirit >, it would not forbid its own utterances. “One is the Holy Spirit, that divideth to each as he will.”(13) And if he has the power to divide as he will, and is called the Spirit of knowledge and the Spirit of piety, and is said to be the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, proceeding from the Father and receiving of the Son and not foreign to the Father and the Son.”30

For the Spirit is forever with the Father and the Son—not brother to the Father, not begotten, not created, not the Son’s brother, not the Father’s offspring. He proceeds from the Father and receives of the Son, and is not different from the Father and the Son.”31

“…and the Trinity is not an identification, and not separated from its own identity. It is a Father who has truly begotten a Son; and a Son truly begotten of the Father as an entity, without beginning and not in time; and a Holy Spirit truly of the Father and the Son, of the same divinity, proceeding from the Father and receiving of the Son.”32

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 340–397):

”If you name Christ, you imply both God the Father by Whom the Son was anointed, and the Son Himself Who was anointed, and the Holy Spirit with Whom He was anointed. For it is written: “This Jesus of Nazareth, Whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit.” And if you name the Father, you denote equally His Son and the Spirit of His mouth, if, that is, you apprehend it in your heart. And if you speak of the Spirit, you name also God the Father, from Whom the Spirit proceeds, and the Son, inasmuch as He is also the Spirit of the Son.”33

“Therefore, of the One who completes all things and in whom all things are, knowledge is proclaimed by these words under the mystery of the Holy Trinity; for the Son says: The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, yet because of the fellowship and unity of nature, he is sent by the Son.”34

Therefore, the Father, because He is the origin of divinity and goodness, is rightly understood and perceived both in the Son and in the Holy Spirit: in Him, that is, in the Son, as the Word, virtue, and wisdom; but in this, as the Spirit proceeding from Him.35

St. Jerome (c. 347–420):

Others, however, understand the Holy Spirit, who in the beginning was borne upon the waters and gave life to all things; who proceeds from the Father (de Patre egreditur), and, because of the communion of nature (societatem naturæ), is sent by the Son (a Filio mittitur), as he says, ‘It is expedient for you that I depart. For if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’ (John 16:7).36

“We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Creator of all things, visible and invisible: and in our one Lord Jesus Christ His Son, born of the substance of God the Father, which is called in Greek ὁμοούσιον, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not made, as the heretics say: by whom all things were made, visible and invisible, both in heaven and on earth: who was incarnated for us men and our salvation, became man, suffered, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, thence coming to judge the living and the dead: and in the Holy Spirit, who specifically proceeds from the Father (qui de Patre processit proprie), and is true God just as the Son is.37

St. John Chrysostom (349–407):

“When the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me. And ye also shall bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” “He shall be worthy of belief, for He is the Spirit of Truth.” On this account He called It not Holy Spirit, but “Spirit of Truth”. But the, proceeds from the Father, shows that He knows all things exactly, as Christ also says of Himself, that I know whence come and whither I go John 8:14, speaking in that place also concerning truth. Whom will send. Behold, it is no longer the Father alone, but the Son also who sends.“38

“Just as He said, “The Spirit of God,” and Scripture added, “Who is from God,” so too it is said, “The Spirit of the Father”; and lest you think this is said according to a property, the Savior confirms: “When the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father.” There, “from God”; here, “from the Father.” What He had attributed to Himself, “I came forth from the Father,” He also ascribes to the Holy Spirit: “Who proceeds from the Father.” Therefore, the Spirit is both from God and the Spirit of the Father and proceeds from the Father. What does “proceeds” mean? He did not say, “is begotten”: for what is not written, we must not think. The Son is generated from the Father, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. What power does the name “proceeds” have? So that Scripture might pass over the name of generation, lest you call the Son the Holy Spirit, it says the Holy Spirit, “who proceeds from the Father.” It presents Him as proceeding, like water gushing from a fountain, according to what was said of paradise: “A river went forth from Eden,” it proceeds and gushes. The Father is called the fountain of living water according to the prophet Jeremiah, who says: “Let the heavens be astonished at this, and let the earth tremble greatly: for my people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water.” Defining the Father as the fountain of living water, it presents the living water proceeding from the fountain of life: “who proceeds from the Father.” What proceeds? The Holy Spirit. How? As water from a fountain. Therefore, if the Evangelist John, declaring the Holy Spirit, called Him living water, and the Father says, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,” the Father is the fountain of the Holy Spirit, and hence He proceeds from the Father. It is said, therefore (let me repeat), the Spirit of God, and the Spirit from God, the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit who is from the Father, the Spirit of the Lord (the Spirit of God, the Spirit from God, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit who proceeds from the Father, the Spirit of the Lord), the Spirit of the Son.“39

“I, too, know many things but I do not know how to explain them. I know that God is everywhere and I know that he is everywhere in his whole being. But I do not know how he is everywhere. I know that he is eternal and has no beginning. But I do not know how. My reason fails to grasp how it is possible for an essence to exist when that essence has received its existence neither from itself nor from another. I know that he begot a Son. But I do not know how. I know that the Spirit is from him. But I do not know how the Spirit is from him.”40

“and all the rest, through which He shows His equality with the Father. Understanding all these things, believe that He is consubstantial with the Father, and the Spirit is consubstantial. For if it proceeds from the Father and receives from the Son.“41

St. Augustine of Hippo (c. 354–430):

“And except He had immediately gone on to say after this, “All things that the Father has are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you;” it might, perhaps, have been believed that the Holy Spirit was so born of Christ, as Christ is of the Father. Since He had said of Himself, “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me;” but of the Holy Spirit, “For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall He speak;” and, “For He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” But because He has rendered the reason why He said, “He shall receive of mine” (for He says, All things that the Father has are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine); it remains that the Holy Spirit be understood to have of that which is the Father’s, as the Son also has. And how can this be, unless according to that which we have said above, “But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of me?” He is said, therefore, not to speak of Himself, in that He proceeds from the Father; […] so it is not brought to pass that the Holy Spirit is less, because it is said of Him, “For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak;” for the words belong to Him as proceeding from the Father.“42

“But when He says, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you”, listen thereto with Catholic ears, and receive it with Catholic minds. For not surely on that account, as certain heretics have imagined, is the Holy Spirit inferior to the Son; as if the Son received from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from the Son, in reference to certain gradations of natures. Far be it from us to believe this, or to say it, and from Christian hearts to think it. In fine, He Himself straightway solved the question, and explained why He said so. “All things that the Father has are mine: therefore, said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” What would you more? The Holy Spirit thus receives of the Father, of whom the Son receives; for in this Trinity the Son is born of the Father, and from the Father the Holy Spirit proceeds. He, however, who is born of none, and proceeds from none, is the Father alone.”43

“And as to be the gift of God in respect to the Holy Spirit, means to proceed from the Father; so to be sent, is to be known to proceed from the Father. Neither can we say that the Holy Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Nor do I see what else He intended to signify, when He breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, Receive the Holy Ghost. For that bodily breathing, proceeding from the body with the feeling of bodily touching, was not the substance of the Holy Spirit, but a declaration by a fitting sign, that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son. For the veriest of madmen would not say, that it was one Spirit which He gave when He breathed on them, and another which He sent after His ascension. For the Spirit of God is one, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit, who works all in all. But that He was given twice was certainly a significant economy, which we will discuss in its place, as far as the Lord may grant. That then which the Lord says—Whom I will send unto you from the Father, — shows the Spirit to be both of the Father and of the Son; because, also, when He had said, Whom the Father will send, He added also, in my name. Yet He did not say, Whom the Father will send from me, as He said, Whom I will send unto you from the Father,— showing, namely, that the Father is the beginning (principium) of the whole divinity, or if it is better so expressed, deity. He, therefore, who proceeds from the Father and from the Son, is referred back to Him from whom the Son was born (natus).“44

“But yet that Holy Spirit, who is not the Trinity, but is understood as in the Trinity, is spoken of in His proper name of the Holy Spirit relatively, since He is referred both to the Father and to the Son, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. But the relation is not itself apparent in that name, but it is apparent when He is called the gift of God; for He is the gift of the Father and of the Son, because He proceeds from the Father, as the Lord says; and because that which the apostle says, Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His, he says certainly of the Holy Spirit Himself. When we say, therefore, the gift of the giver, and the giver of the gift, we speak in both cases relatively in reciprocal reference. Therefore the Holy Spirit is a certain unutterable communion of the Father and the Son; and on that account, perhaps, He is so called, because the same name is suitable to both the Father and the Son. For He Himself is called specially that which they are called in common; because both the Father is a spirit and the Son a spirit, both the Father is holy and the Son holy. In order, therefore, that the communion of both may be signified from a name which is suitable to both, the Holy Spirit is called the gift of both.“45

“But as for the words he spoke about the Holy Spirit, He will receive from what is mine, he himself resolves the problem. He did not want them to think that he himself was derived from the Father and that the Holy Spirit was derived from him in different levels of descent. For they are both from the Father; the one is born, while the other proceeds, and in that sublime nature it is extremely difficult to distinguish these two. And so that they would not make the mistake I just mentioned, he immediately adds, All the things which the Father has are mine; for that reason I said, “He will receive from what is mine” (Jn 16:15). Thus, beyond any doubt, he wanted us to understand that the Holy Spirit receives from the Father. But the Holy Spirit also receives from him, because all things which the Father has are his. This does not teach us that there is a difference in nature, but rather that there is a single principle.“46

“He said there, All the things which the Father has are mine; for this reason I said, “He will receive from what is mine” (Jn 16:15). What he will speak will undoubtedly come from the same source from which he will receive, because he hears from the same source from which he proceeds. After all, he knows the Word, because he proceeds from the same source from which the Word is born. Thus, he is the common Spirit of the Father and of the Word.“47

“And as to be the gift of God in respect to the Holy Spirit, means to proceed from the Father; so to be sent, is to be known to proceed from the Father. Neither can we say that the Holy Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son. Nor do I see what else He intended to signify, when He breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, Receive the Holy Ghost … Yet He did not say, Whom the Father will send from me, as He said, Whom I will send unto you from the Father,— showing, namely, that the Father is the beginning (principium) of the whole divinity, or if it is better so expressed, deity. He, therefore, who proceeds from the Father and from the Son, is referred back to Him from whom the Son was born (natus). And that which the evangelist says, For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified; how is this to be understood, unless because the special giving or sending of the Holy Spirit after the glorification of Christ was to be such as it had never been before?”48

Pope St. Damasus I (r. 366–384 (born c. 305)):

“If anyone does not say that the Holy Spirit is truly and properly (proprie) from the Father, as the Son is from the divine substance, and is true God, let him be anathema… If anyone says that the Holy Spirit is a creature or was made through the Son, let him be anathema.“49

St. Paulinus of Nola (c. 354–431):

“Beginning with that indescribable begetting, he [St. John the Apostle] told of the Son who shares eternity, substance, omnipotence, and creation with the Father. He beheld God in the divine Holy Spirit, for in the Spirit the divine Trinity is completed, and the single divinity of the Trinity is seen. For the Spirit of God, like His Word, is God. Both dwell in the one fount and flow forth from the single source which is the Father—the Son by being born, the Spirit by proceeding. They are undivided but distinct, because each keeps unimpaired the unique quality of His own Person.”50

Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393–466):

“God, who governs all things in wisdom, who provides for our unanimity, and cares for the salvation of His people, has caused us to be assembled together, and has shown us that the views of all of us are in agreement with one another. We have assembled together, and read the Egyptian Letter; we have carefully examined its purport, and we have discovered that its contents are quite in accordance with our own statements, and entirely opposed to the Twelve Chapters, against which up to the present time we have continued to wage war, as being contrary to true religion. Their teaching was that […] the Holy Spirit is not of the Son, nor derives existence from the Son, but proceeds from the Father, and is properly stated to be of the Son, as being of one substance. Beholding this orthodoxy in the letter, we have hymned Him who heals our stammering tongues, and changes our discordant noises into the harmony of sweet music.”51

“We would agree with him that the Spirit is the Son’s own, and would accept his formula as a godly one, so long as he also says that the Spirit is of one nature with the Son and proceeds from the Father. But if he is suggesting that the Spirit derives his existence from or through the Son, such a doctrine we would reject as entirely blasphemous. For we believe the Lord when he speaks of “the Spirit which proceeds from the Father” and similarly the most divine Paul when he says that “we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of the Father.”52

“The [human] mind produces the word, but the spirit concurs with the word, not generated indeed as the word, but perpetually accompanying the word, and concurring with it when it is uttered: but such things are present in man as in an image. Therefore, neither the word nor the spirit subsists by itself. But in the holy Trinity, we understand three hypostases, and these without confusion are a unity, and subsist by themselves. For before the ages, the Word of God was begotten from the Father, inseparable from His progenitor; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from God and the Father, who is also understood in His own hypostasis.“53

The Holy Spirit also has His existence from the Father and God. Therefore, we confess that both the Son and the Spirit are from God and the Father.54

Pope Pelagius of Rome on the Writings of Theodoret :

“We reject only his heretical writings, but we not only receive his other writings but also use them against adversaries.“55

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444):

“Thus, even if someone can say that God is unique, He can never think of the Father without his own offspring or without the Spirit who proceeds from him by nature and is precisely his own [Spirit], In fact, someone speaking about man is bound also to mention the substantial attributes inherent to humanity, which make him a man. When these are absent, there is no more human being; so, in my opinion, the significance of these other names is bound to lead us to consider the realities.”56

“For we partake of the Holy Spirit; but to think this of the Word is ignorant. For He Himself says concerning the Spirit, ‘He will take from what is mine.’ Of whom then does He partake? It remains to say, of the Father. And what is the mode of participation? Is it that which proceeds from the Father and is in the Word, so that it may be partaken of? Let us say, like warmth from fire in a body, or fragrance from some flower; rather, as the Spirit within us, of which Scripture says, ‘He proceeds from the Father.’ [Ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται] What then is that which proceeds from the Father and is in the Word? [Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξιὸν καὶ ἐν τῷ Λόγῳ γινόμενον] Is it from the essence of the Father, or from outside, and this taken from elsewhere? If it is from outside, the Son is not a partaker of the Father, but is sanctified by partaking in something else, which is impious even to conceive. But if you concede that what is imparted to the Word for participation by Him is from the essence of the Father, you allow a division and a separation and a passion concerning the nature of God, or saying that such things occur in God impassibly and without division, you overturn the generation of the Son, introducing division and passion concerning it. But if God begets without division, and generates impassibly from Himself, nothing hinders the begotten from being acknowledged as the living Word of the Father. And the one who proceeds from the eternal Father will also certainly be eternal; for thus, having and preserving the paternal nobility in Himself, He truly says, ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father.’ For the eternal is not shown in the created.”57

“But by the finger of God he means the Holy Spirit. For He Himself is called the hand and arm of God the Father because He works all things through Him; and the Son also acts similarly in the Spirit. Just as the finger is attached to the hand, not foreign to it but naturally in it, so too the Holy Spirit is united with the Son through the reason of consubstantiality, even though it proceeds from God and Father (κἂν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύηται).”58

“For the Holy Spirit indeed proceedeth from (ἐκ) God the Father, but belongeth also to the Son. It is even often called the Spirit of Christ, though proceeding (ἐκπορευόμενον) from God the Father… The Holy Spirit therefore proceedeth (ἐκπορευόμενον) indeed as I said from God the Father, but His Only-begotten Word, as being both by nature and verily Son, and resplendent with the Father’s dignities, ministereth It to the creation, and bestoweth It on those that are worthy. Yea verily He said, “All things that the Father hath are mine.”59

“We, composing a holy and polished discourse of truth about the supreme Deity, say that the Son is begotten from God and the Father, equal in nature, and incomparable to anything else that is like Him; but the Holy Spirit proceeds, in whom He vivifies all. For the life-giving Holy Spirit comes forth ineffably, as said, from the Father; but He is supplied to the creature through the Son.”60

“The three hypostases worthy of worship are recognised and believed in the Father without beginning, and in the only begotten Son, and in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, not by generation, as in the Son, but, as it is said, proceeds only from the Father as from a mouth, but who has been revealed through the Son and has spoken in all the saints and prophets and apostles.”61

Fulgentius of Ruspe (c. 462–527):

“The Holy Spirit is nothing other than God; neither different from the Son nor from the Father, nor confused in the Father nor in the Son; for He is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son, wholly proceeding from the Father (totus de Patre procedens) wholly existing in both; and He is not divided in individuals, because He is inseparably common to both.”62

“All of this is not possible for one person, i.e., both to generate oneself and to be born of oneself and to proceed from oneself. Therefore, because generating is different from being born and proceeding is something different again from generating and being born, it is obvious that the Father is different, the Son is different, and the Holy Spirit is different. The Trinity, therefore, refers to the persons of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; unity, to the nature.”63

St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (c. 560–638):

“… and in one Holy Spirit, who eternally proceeds from the God the Father (ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον), the light that is itself recognized as being likewise God and is truly co-eternal with Father and Son, and both consubstantial and of the same stock, and of the same substance and nature and likewise also of Godhead… For just as each one possesses being God unchangeably, so too he has obtained immutably and unmoveably the property characteristic of the person which belongs to it and to it alone and distinguishes it from the other persons, and preserves unconfused the Trinity which is both of the same nature and of the same honour, both of the same substance and of the same throne.”
<…>
“I believe then, O blessed One, as I have believed from the beginning: in one God, Father almighty, entirely without beginning and eternal, maker of all things both seen and unseen; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten eternally and impassibly from the same God and Father, and acknowledging no other beginning than the Father, nor having his hypostasis from any other source than from the Father; consubstantial light from light, co-eternal true God from true God; and in one Holy Spirit, who proceeds eternally from the God and Father, the light that is itself recognized as being likewise God and is truly co-eternal with Father and Son, and both consubstantial and of the same stock, and of the same substance and nature and likewise also of Godhead.”64

“Let us sing an angelic hymn in heaven to the unoriginate God and the Father of the Only Begotten Son and God, who is clearly unoriginate not because of some cause, whereas He is unoriginate because of the One born before all the ages outside of time from the Father, because He has His generation from the Father outside of any origin or time. There is the Most Holy Spirit who purifies all and proceeds from the Father and coeternal with the Father and the Son and is divinely radiant with all the natures seen in the Father and by which the Son is known, the Holy Spirit is evident in them as well.”65

“Let us praise God, the Father, the One Who holds all, let us sing to God, the Only Begotten Son, Savior, and Lord, and let us glorify the God of All, the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God and the Father and descends upon believers through the Son; the Trinity of a single nature and dominion, consubstantial and possessing a single will, honor, and glory, of one essence, nature, and divinity, of one kingdom, reign, and power.”66

St. Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636):

Spiritus sanctus Patris,et Filii est : et inde vnum sunt Pater , et Filius : quia nihil habet Pater , quod non habet Filius . Non enim res vna, et duorum consubstantialis poterit simul ab eis procedere,et simul inesse 3 nisi vnum fuerit,a quibus procedit . Spiritum sanctum pignus accepit ecclesia, vt per eum in vno corpore vnum fierent credentes , per quem Pater , et Filius vnum

“The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son: and hence the Father and the Son are one: for the Father has nothing that the Son does not have. For not one thing, and the consubstantial of two, can proceed from them at the same time, and exist at the same time 3 unless there is one thing from which it proceeds. The church took a pledge of the holy rite of the Holy Spirit, that through him the believers might become one in one body, through whom the Father and the Son are one. 17. xx. they are sententially, saying to the Savior himself to the Father: May they be one, even as we are one.”67

The Holy Spirit is not spoken of as begotten (genitus) lest it should be thought that there are two Sons in the Trinity. It is not proclaimed as unbegotten (ingenitus), lest it should be believed that there are two Fathers in that same Trinity.7. It is spoken of, however, as proceeding (procedere), by the testimony of the Lord’s saying (ct. John 16:12-15), “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But he, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, will come, and he shall receive of mine; he shall show everything to you.” This Spirit moreover proceeds not only by its nature, but it proceeds always in ceaselessly performing the works of the Trinity. 8. Between the Son who is born and the Holy Spirit who proceeds is this distinction, that the Son is born from one, the Holy Spirit proceeds from both.“68

St. Caesarius of Nazianzus (d. c. 368):

“Indeed, the term “light” is attributed to man, to the sun, to the moon, and to the varied choir of other stars; yet of that vast number of lights, consisting of material, and diverse in many parts and ways, the true and immaterial light, namely God and the Father, who is above all, with his only-begotten Son and divine Spirit, is incorporeal, not falling under sight, superior to all nature and knowledge: who begot the Son and produced the Spirit by an ineffable reason according to nature, without any time, before the ages; for nothing greater or more ancient, nothing prior or adventitious exists in the divine Trinity, neither was, nor is today, nor will be hereafter.”69

“Indeed, the Son and the Spirit did not proceed from the Father in the manner of men through flow or division or dimension, but as rivers from a fountain, which are from it and in it and with it; as rays from the sun, which are in it, with it, and from it; as flame and light from fire, which exist with fire, in fire. For I have used these things to explain this, which indeed obscurely set forth the matter, yet are not entirely removed from its image. Therefore, the Son, who is in the Father, proceeded from him and exists with the Father, and will be for infinite ages, as he himself says: “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me” (John 10:38). With these words, he signifies the same nature or essence of both, and the divinity of each in no way different, and finally equal power. Again, when he says: “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world” (John 16:28), he demonstrates the diversity and property of the person. Moreover, the divine and most holy Spirit is not indeed begotten, but proceeds, and by the very fact that he proceeds from the Father, he arises from the Father as from a cause.“70

Pseudo-Athanasius (Uncertain; likely 4th–5th century):

Χωριζόμεθα δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαϊζόντων καὶ τὸν Χριστιανισμὸν ἐν Ἰουδαϊσμῷ παραφθειρόν των· οἳ, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ Θεὸν ἀρνούμενοι, Θεὸν ἕνα παραπλησίως Ἰουδαίοις λέγουσιν· οὐχ ὅτι μόνος ἀγέννητος· καὶ μόνος πηγὴ θεότητος, διὰ τοῦτο φάσκοντες αὐτὸν εἶναι μόνον Θεόν· ἀλλ’ ὡς ἄγονον Υἱοῦ καὶ ἄκαρπον ζῶντος

“And let us also divide the Jews, and the Christianity in the Jews, by their error; who, denying God of God, say to the Jews, God is one God, not that he alone is unbegotten, and alone is the source of divinity, wherefore they worship him only as God, but as the Son of the Son, and as the Son of the living, without blemish.“71

St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662):

“God the Father, moved timelessly and lovingly, advanced into the distinction of hypostases while remaining undivided and undiminished in His own wholeness, transcendent and encompassing His proper radiance that proceeded into existence as the living image. Likewise, the Holy Spirit proceeds reverently and super-eminently from the Father, as the Lord reveals mystically.“72

“There is one God, because the Father is the begetter of the unique Son and the one fount of the Holy Spirit (Πνεύματος ἑνός ἁγίου πηγή): one without confusion and three without division. The Father is unoriginate Intellect (Νοῦς ἄναρχος), the unique essential Begetter of the unique Logos, also unoriginate (ἀνάρχου), and the fount (πηγή) of the unique everlasting life, the Holy Spirit.“73

“Just as Nous is the cause of the Logos, so also it is [cause] of the Spirit, but through the mediation of the Logos.) And just as we are unable to say that a logos is ‘of the voice,’ so also neither can we say that the Logos is ‘of the Spirit’ (Ὥσπερ ἐστί αἴτιος τοῦ Λόγου ὁ Νοῦς, οὕτως καί τοῦ Πνεύματος, διά μέσου δέ τοῦ Λόγου. Καί ὥσπερ οὐ δυνάμεθα εἰπεῖν τόν λόγον εἶναι τῆς φωνῆς, οὕτως οὐδέ τόν Υἱόν λέγειν τοῦ Πνεύματος).”74

For just as the Holy Spirit by nature and according to essence exists of God the Father, so too by nature and according to essence is the Spirit of the Son, insofar as the Spirit proceeds (ε͗κπορευόμενον) essentially (ου͗σιωδω̑ς) from (ε͗κ) the Father ineffably through (δι΄) the begotten Son, giving its own proper energies, like lamps, to the lampstand—that is, to the Church.”75

St. John of Damascus (c. 675–749):

Even though I speak of three hypostases, I affirm one principle (ἀρχήν). For the Father is the principle of the Son and the Spirit not according to time, but according to cause (αἰτίαν). For from the Father is both the Logos and the Spirit, even if not after the Father. Just as light is from fire, and the fire of light does not precede in time–for it is impossible for fire to be unenlightened, and the principle and cause is the fire of the light – in the same way, the Father is the principle and cause (ἀρχὴ καὶ αἰτία) of the Logos and the Spirit.”76

The Father is the begetter of the Logos, and the emitter of the Spirit… for He proceeds (προϊόν) from the Father through the Son and the Word, not as a Son… But for us, there is one God, the Father, His Word, and His Spirit. The Word is a substantial offspring, hence the Son; and the Spirit is a substantial (ἐνυπόστατον) procession and emanation from the Father, but [He is] of the Son and not from the Son (υἱοῦ δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἐξ υἱοῦ), as the Spirit of the mouth of God’s Word, proclaiming.”77

“Τοῦτ’ ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ λατρευόμενον. Πατὴρ Υἱοῦ γεννήτωρ ἀγέννητος· οὐ γὰρ ἔκ τινος· Υἱὸς τοῦ Πατρὸς γέννημα, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένος· Πνεῦμα ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐκπορευόμενον, ὅπερ καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ λέγεται, ὡς δι’ αὐτοῦ φανερούμενον, καὶ τῇ κτίσει μεταδιδόμενον, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔχον τὴν ὕπαρξιν.”

“This is the worshipped [One] for us. The Father, Begetter of the Son, Inbegotten; for [He is] not from someone; The Son, born of the Father, as Begotten from Him; The Holy Spirit of God and Father, as Proceeding from Him, which [is] also said of the Son, as [being] made manifest through Him (δι’ αὐτοῦ φανερούμενον) and distributed to creation, but not having existence from Him (ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔχον τὴν ὕπαρξιν).”78

Manichaean: So, according to you, did your God not change by begetting a Son and bringing forth a Spirit?

Orthodox: By no means. I do not say that the Father, being non-existent before, became a Father later. Instead, He always existed, having His own Word from Himself, and through His Word (διὰ τοῦ λόγου), His Spirit proceeds from Himself (ἐξ αὑτοῦ).

Ὁ πατὴρ πηγὴ καὶ αἰτία υἱοῦ καὶ πνεύματος, πατὴρ δὲ μόνου υἱοῦ καὶ προβολεὺς πνεύματος· ὁ υἱὸς υἱός, λόγος, σοφία καὶ δύναμις, εἰκών, ἀπαύγασμα, χαρακτὴρ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, οὐχ υἱὸς δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος. Τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τοῦ πατρὸς ὡς ἐκ πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον (οὐδεμία γὰρ ὁρμὴ ἄνευ πνεύματος) καὶ υἱοῦ δὲ πνεῦμα οὐχ ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ὡς δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον· μόνος γὰρ αἴτιος ὁ πατήρ.79

“The Father is the source and cause of the Son and the Spirit; the Father alone is the Father of the Son and the projector of the Spirit; the Son is the Son, the Word, wisdom and power, image, radiance, character of the Father and from the Father, but not the Son of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father as proceeding from the Father (for there is no impulse without the Spirit) and the Spirit of the Son is not as from Him, but as through Him proceeding from the Father; for the Father alone is the cause.“80

  1. “In the name of the holy Trinity, Father, Son and holy Spirit, we define, with the approval of this holy universal council of Florence, that the following truth of faith shall be believed and accepted by all Christians and thus shall all profess it: that the holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son, and has his essence and his subsistent being from the Father together with the Son, and proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and a single spiration. We declare that when holy doctors and fathers say that the holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, this bears the sense that thereby also the Son should be signified, according to the Greeks indeed as cause, and according to the Latins as principle of the subsistence of the holy Spirit, just like the Father.” (The Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence, SESSION 6 6 July 1439) ↩︎
  2. The Divine Liturgy of St. Mark the Apostle, 3.17 ↩︎
  3. St. Dionysios the Areopagite, On the Divine Names, 2:5 ↩︎
  4. St. Dionysios the Areopagite, On the Divine Names, Chapter 2, Section 7 ↩︎
  5. St. Athenagoras of Athens, A Plea for the Christians, Chapter 10 ↩︎
  6. St. Athenagoras of Athens, A Plea for the Christians, Chapter 24 ↩︎
  7. St. Gregory the Wonderworker, A Sectional Confession of the Faith, 18 ↩︎
  8. St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Expositio Fidei (PG 10:985A) ↩︎
  9. St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker, Sectional Confession of Faith, 9-10 ↩︎
  10. St. Hilary of Poitiers, De trinitate 8.20 ↩︎
  11. St. Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, II.1 & II.29 ↩︎
  12. St. Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, II.33 & II.34 ↩︎
  13. St. Basil of Caesarea, Letter 38 ↩︎
  14. St. Basil the Great, Homily XXIV, Contra Sabellianos PG, 31:609B, 612BC ↩︎
  15. St. Basil the Great, Hom. in Ps. 32, 4, PG 29, 333B ↩︎
  16. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 20 (PG 35:1073A) ↩︎
  17. St. Gregory the Theologian Oration 41 (PG 36:441C) ↩︎
  18. St. Gregory Nazianzen, 3rd theological Oration ↩︎
  19. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 34.10 (PG 36:252A) ↩︎
  20. St. Gregory of Nyssa, Letter 35, To Peter [PG 32:329C-D] ↩︎
  21. St. Gregory Nyssa, Epistle 35, To Peter (for Koine see, PG 32:329CD) ↩︎
  22. St. Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunomium I.22 (PG 45:536D) ↩︎
  23. St Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 17.2 ↩︎
  24. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, De Trinitate ↩︎
  25. St. Athanasius, Epistle 1 to Serapion, 2 ↩︎
  26. St. Athanasius, Epistle 1 to Serapion, 11 ↩︎
  27. St. Athanasius the Great, Epistle 1 to Serapion, 20 ↩︎
  28. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Against Heresy 77 ↩︎
  29. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Against Heresy 77 ↩︎
  30. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Against Heresy 48, Chapter 12.12-13 ↩︎
  31. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Against Heresy 62, Chapter 4.1 ↩︎
  32. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Against Heresy 62, Chapter 7.1 ↩︎
  33. St Ambrose of Milan On the Holy Spirit, Book I, Chapter III.44 ↩︎
  34. St. Ambrose of Milan, De Trinitate. Alias In Symbolum Apostolorum Tractatus, Chapter 10 ↩︎
  35. St. Ambrose Milan, De Trinitate Tractatus, Ch. II (PL 17:539C) ↩︎
  36. St. Jerome, Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, Lib. XVI. Cap LVII (PL 24:558BC) ↩︎
  37. St. Jerome, Epistle XVII, Explanation of the Faith to Cyril (PL 30:182B) ↩︎
  38. St. John Chrysostom, Homily 77 on the Gospel of John ↩︎
  39. Homily on the Holy Spirit, Volume VI of the Paris-Heidelberg Greek-Latin edition of his works, page 205 ↩︎
  40. St. John Chrysostom, De Incomprehensibili Dei Natura, Homily I. 19 ↩︎
  41. St John Chrysostom, Homily on the Trinity. (PG 48, Col 1095) ↩︎
  42. St. Augustine of Hippo, De Trinitate, Book II, Ch. III ↩︎
  43. St. Augustine, Tractate 100 on the Gospel of John ↩︎
  44. St. Augustine, De Trinitate, Book IV, Ch. 20 ↩︎
  45. St. Augustine, De Trinitate, Book V, Ch. 11 ↩︎
  46. St. Augustine, Answer to the Arian Sermon, Ch 19 ↩︎
  47. St. Augustine, Answer to the Arian Sermon, Chapter 20 ↩︎
  48. St. Augustine, De Trinitate, Book IV ↩︎
  49. Pope St. Damasus, Confessio Fidei Catholicae, Anathema XVI, XVIII (PL 13:362-363) ↩︎
  50. St. Paulinus of Nola, Letter 21, To Amandus ↩︎
  51. Blessed Theodoret, Letter 171 ↩︎
  52. Blessed Theodoret, Response to St. Cyril’s 9th Anathema ↩︎
  53. Blessed Theodoret, Question 22 on Genesis ↩︎
  54. Blessed Theodoret, Dialogue III ↩︎
  55. Pope Pelagius, Letter to the Fifth Ecumenical Council ↩︎
  56. Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum (PG 76:904D) ↩︎
  57. Patrologiæ cursus completus [Series Græca] – 75 – Page 45 – Saint Cyril ↩︎
  58. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Comment. In Lucam (PG 72:704AB) ↩︎
  59. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Sermons on Luke, Sermon XI (PG 72:521C) ↩︎
  60. St Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian ↩︎
  61. Second Oration on the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity
    (Bekkos concedes this quote is found in ancient manuscripts) ↩︎
  62. St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Bibliotheca Maxima, tom. ix. 41G Lib. Responsionum ad Objectiones Arianorum sub fine citati loci, pag. 37 ↩︎
  63. St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, To Peter, On the Faith, 6 ↩︎
  64. St. Sophronios of Jerusalem, Synodal Letter, Trinitarian Profession of Faith, 2.2.1-1.6 (PG 87c:3152D) ↩︎
  65. St. Sophronios of Jerusalem, Oration on St John the Baptist ↩︎
  66. St. Sophronios of Jerusalem, Enconium To St Stephen the First Martyr ↩︎
  67. Saint Isidore of Seville Sentences Chapter XV On the Holy SpiritSaint Isidore of Seville Sentences Chapter XV On the Holy Spirit ↩︎
  68. Saint Isidore of Seville the etymologies Book VIII section III De Spiritu sancto 6-8 ↩︎
  69. St. Caesarius of Nazianzus, Dialogue I on the Trinity, PG 38, 862-3 ↩︎
  70. St. Caesarius of Nazianzus, Dialogue I on the Trinity, PG 38, 861-3 ↩︎
  71. Pseudo Athanasius of Alexandria, Contra Sabellianos, PG 28:97 ↩︎
  72. St. Maximus the Confessor, Scholia on Dionysius, 2.5 ↩︎
  73. St. Maximus the Confessor, Caput Theologica et Economica I.4-5 ↩︎
  74. St. Maximus the Confessor, Quaestiones et Dubia, I.34 ↩︎
  75. St. Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thallasium 63.7 ↩︎
  76. St. John of Damascus, Contra Manichaeos, 4 ↩︎
  77. St. John of Damascus, De hymno trisagio, 28 (PG 95:60C-61A) ↩︎
  78. St. John of Damascus, Homily on Holy Saturday (PG 96:605B) ↩︎
  79. St. John Damascene, Contra Manichaeos, sec. 5 ↩︎
  80. St. John of Damascus, Expositio Fidei Orthodoxæ Liber Primus, Cap. XII [PG 94:848C-849B] ↩︎