About the Filioque…

March 11, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholicism, church history, creed, Eastern Orthodoxy, filioque, Holy Spirit, John 15:26, Latin Mass, nicene creed, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox mission, orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Trinity, Vatican Council, Vatican II

A knowledgeable, intelligent working-class layperson I know in the Latin Church, even a product of parochial schools, even arguably in the Latin Church’s most conservative jurisdiction, who hasn’t been to Mass much since it was translated into English, was shocked to learn that her Church teaches that God’s Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, the word filioque the Latins added to the Creed starting in the 7th century.  Her faith was o/Orthodox on this question, the Spirit proceeding only from the Father, as the unamended Creed and the Gospel According to St. John 15:26 say!  How many Latins have been like her over the last 13 centuries?  How much was it really talked about among lay Latins when it was all in Latin?!  How many devout, knowledgeable Latins were surprised to hear what they heard at those first vernacular Masses in the ’60s?!!  (And I don’t mean guitars!)  Did the Orthodox Church lose a chance there???