Lecture 28: The Great Divorce between East and West
instance of interference by Rome and by the Frankish kingdom
at the very gates of Byzantium.o Photius denounced the filioque as heretical, and a council held
in Constantinople excommunicated Pope Nicholas I.o When Bulgaria severed its relations with Rome and reverted to
Byzantium, tempers settled. Photius remained in communion
with Rome, and in 879–880, the pope’s legates agreed in
council that nothing should be added to the creed—decisions
accepted by the papacy.The Filioque Controversy
• The controversy that finally split the two bodies of Christianity
apart arose from the addition of the words “and the Son” (filioque)
to the Nicene Creed immediately after the words “who proceeds
from the Father,” with reference to the Holy Spirit; thus, the creed
reads: “the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
This phrase became the overt cause of the final split between Rome
and Constantinople.• The term first appeared in the West. The Third Council of Toledo
(in Spain) added it to the creed in 589. It was adopted by the
Frankish monks who chanted the creed in the liturgy. Despite some
resistance, it was then adopted by Rome soon after 1000.• As noted, the formula was vehemently condemned by the patriarch
Photius in 867.
o The East objected to the addition to the creed in principle
because such additions had been forbidden by earlier
ecumenical councils.o The East also regarded the phrase as theologically erroneous,
tending to weaken the monarchy of the Father—that everything
flows from the Godhead. In The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit,
Photius noted that the Western addition upset the balance of
unity and diversity in the Trinity.