Filioque

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Filioque (Lat., ‘and the Son’), the formula in the W. form of the Nicene Creed which expressed the ‘double procession’ (i.e. from both Father and Son) of the Holy Spirit. Since the time of Photius, a strong opponent, the filioque has been a central point of controversy between E. and W. Churches. The Orthodox point to the original creed omitting it, and to the need for a single ‘fount of divinity’ (pēgē theotētos, viz. the Father) within the Godhead.

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