The Holy Spirit #

Summary of Doctrine on the Holy Spirit #

THE NICENE CREED #

I BELIEVE in the Holy Spirit; The Lord, and Giver of Life; Who proceeds from the Father. Who with the Father and the Son together is Worshipped and glorified; Who spoke through the Prophets.

Creed of Epiphanius: An early Catechetical explanation of the Nicene Creed #

We believe also in the Holy Spirit, Who spoke in the Law, foretold through the Prophets, descended at the Jordan, spoke through the Holy Apostles, and dwells in the Saints. Thus do we believe in Him; that He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the perfect Spirit, the Paraclete Spirit, uncreated, proceeding from the Father, and received and believed in from the Son.

THE THIRD PERSON OF THE HOLY TRINITY #

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and all Orthodox Churches believes “in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life” (Nicene Creed). The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, Who proceeds from the Father only (St. John 15:26). The Church firmly opposed the opinion that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son, and pronounced the correct belief in the Nicene Creed at the Second Ecumenical Synod.

The Orthodox Churches do not use the phrase Filioque, “and of the Son”. According to the Sacred Scriptures, the Son, Jesus Christ only sends the Holy Spirit in time, saying: “I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father” (St. John 15:26).

It is evident from the Sacred Scripture that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only; this was the belief from the very beginning of the One, Holy, Catholic (Universal Undivided) Church. When the Church in the West inserted the “Filioque” phrase into the Creed, this innovation hastened the Great Schism of the Undivided Church, between the East and West.

The “Filioque” phrase is an error. It is not found in the Scripture. It was not believed by the Undivided Church for eight centuries, including the Church in the West. It introduces a strange teaching of a double procession of the Holy Spirit and refers to two origins of the Spirit’s existence, thus denying the unity of the Godhead.