FILIOQUE, (amid from the Son”, a phrase inserted in the creed of Nicza, or rather the Nicmo-Constantinopolitan creed, as an expression of the Catholic Church's teach ing concerning the relation of the Third Per son of the Holy Trinity to the Father and the Son. Before the insertion of Fitioque that creed, in its Latin version, contained these words, Et in Spiritum Sanctum . . . qui ex patre procedit (and in the Holy Ghost . . . who proceeds from the Father). The addition of Filioque (and from the Son) after procedit, appears to have been made first in the churches of Spain as early as 447; it was commanded by the Synod of Toledo 653. But the addition was not adopted or approved by the Roman Church till as late as the 9th century; this, not because the Filioque imported into the creed a doctrine not accepted in that Church, but simply because it was not considered wise to add any thing to the ancient formula of Catholic be lief. The Greek Church ;lever accepted the addition till in the council of Florence, 1439, the large number of Greek bishops and metro politans, with the patriach of Constantinople at their head, who attended that council, solemnly subscribed to the Nicmo-Constanti nopolitan symbolum as amended by insertion of Filioque, and thus effected, as they believed and as the Latin bishops believed, a reunion of the Eastern and Western Churches. At the
same time the bishops representing the Latin Church in the same council, signed a solemn declaration that the formula which had been used by the Greeks, "proceeding from the Father through the Son° was thoroughly ortho dox and consonant with the Filioque. The Greek Church itself did not ratify the action of its representatives in the Florence council until 1452, when they were acknowledged and promul gated in the church of Saint Sophia at Constan tinople; but in a council held by the Greeks in 1472 the acts of the council of Florence were formally repudiated, and the act of re-union canceled. The two churches have ever since been separate. (See CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, DE VELOPMENT OF, and related references). Consult Ffoulkes, E. S., 'Historical Account of the Addition of the Word Filioque to the Creed' (London 1867).