‘Filioque’ - Patristic Consensus
The Accusations Against the Catholic Faith:
From the Three Pillars of Eastern Orthodoxy: Photius [810 - 893 A.D], Gregory Palamas [1296 - 1359 AD], Mark of Ephesus [1392 - 1444 AD].
Photius [Saint E.O, 810 - 893 AD]: “If the Son is begotten from the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Son, then how is it that this godless doctrine does not, according to its own line of reasoning, make the Spirit a grandson and thus drive away the terrors of theology into prolix and idle talk?” - Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, 88.
Photius: “His [The Holy Spirit’s] eternal, incorporeal procession is therefore beyond the powers of reason.” - Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, 62.
Photius: “It [the Filioque] is the crown of all evils” - Encyclical, 8; PG 102:725C.
Gregory Palamas [Saint E.O, 1296 - 1359 AD]: “In our opinion, at first your addition needs to be taken away, and then to consider whether the Holy Spirit is from the Son or not, and to maintain whether or not it corresponds to the extant decision of the God-bearers.” - Apodictic Treatise 1.
Mark of Ephesus [Saint E.O, 1392 - 1444 AD]: "How dare I, in spite of these authorities, follow those who urge us to unity in a deceitful semblance of union—those who have corrupted the holy and divine Symbol of Faith and brought in the Son as second cause of the Holy Spirit" - (s.v. Jan 19th in The Synaxarion, ed. Hieromonk Makarios of Simonas Petra, and trans. Christopher Hookway; Ormylia: Holy Convent of The Annunciation of Our Lady, 2001)
Mark of Ephesus: "The words of the western Fathers and Doctors, which attribute to the Son the cause of the Spirit, I never recognize, for they have never been translated into our tongue nor approved by the Ecumenical Councils, nor do I admit them, presuming that they are corrupt and interpolated.' - Confessio fidei, in Petit, Docs. P. 438 [300].
Mark of Ephesus: But if they [The Latins] have thoroughly departed [from the Faith]—and that in connection with the theology of the Holy Spirit, blasphemy against Whom is the greatest of all perils—then it is clear that they are heretics, and we have cut them off as heretics. - The Encyclical Letter, July 1440.
Mark of Ephesus: If the Latin dogma is true that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son [Filioque], then ours is false that states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father—and this is precisely the reason for which we separated from them. And if ours is true, then without a doubt, theirs is false. What kind of middle ground can there be between two such judgments? There can be none, unless it were some kind of judgement suitable to both the one and the other, like a boot that fits both feet. And will this unite us? - The Encyclical Letter, July 1440.
Mark of Ephesus: "The Latins are not only schismatics but heretics... We did not separate from them for any other reason other than the fact that they are heretics. This is precisely why we must not unite with them unless they dismiss the addition from the Creed ‘Filioque’ and confess the Creed as we do."
John Bessarion [1403 - 1472 A.D]: (with regards to Mark of Ephesus in the Council of Florence) "They [the Latins] brought forward passages not only of the western teachers but quite as many of the eastern... to which we had no reply whatsoever to make, except that they were corrupt and corrupted by the Latins. They brought forward our own Epiphanius as in many places clearly declaring that the Spirit is from the Father and the Son: corrupt we said they were. They read the text mentioned earlier in Basil's work against Eunomius: in our judgment it was interpolated. They adduced the words of the Saints of the West: the whole of our answer was this: “corrupt” and nothing more. We consider and consult among ourselves for several days as to what answer we shall make, but find no other defense at all but that… We had no books that would prove the Latin texts to be corrupt, no Saints who spoke differently from those put forward. We found ourselves deprived of a just case in every direction. So we kept silent.” - P.G. 161, 358CD, Joseph Gill, S.J., Florence, 223-224.
The Catholic Position:
COUNCIL OF FLORENCE [1438-1445]: [The procession of the Holy Spirit] In the name of the Holy Trinity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with the approbation of this holy general Council of Florence we define that this truth of faith be believed and accepted by all Christians, and that all likewise profess that the Holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son and has His essence and His subsistent being both from the Father and the Son, and proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and one spiration; we declare that what the holy Doctors and Fathers say, namely, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, tends to this meaning, that by this it is signified that the Son also is the cause, according to the Greeks, and according to the Latins, the principle of the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, as is the Father also. And since all that the Father has, the Father himself, in begetting, has given to His only begotten Son, with the exception of Fatherhood, the very fact that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, the Son himself has from the Father eternally, by whom He was begotten also eternally. We define in addition that the explanation of words “Filioque” for the sake of declaring the truth and also because imminent necessity has been lawfully and reasonably added to the Creed. - [From the Bull “Laetentur coeli,” [69], July 6, 1439]
The Filioque From the Saints:
Tertullian [155 - 220 A.D]: "We believe that the Spirit proceeds not otherwise than from the Father through the Son" - Against Praxeas 4:1 [A.D. 216]).
Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus [Saint R.C & E.O 212 - 270 A.D]: "[…] And one Holy Spirit, having substance of God, and Who is manifested through the Son; Image of the Son, Perfect of the Perfect; Life, the Cause of living; Holy Fountain; Sanctity, the Dispenser of Sanctification; in Whom is manifested God the Father, Who is above all and in all, and God the Son, Who is through all. Perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty neither divided nor estranged." - Confession of Faith.
Saint Pope Sixtus II [Saint R.C & E.O: 251 A.D]: "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and Thy whole flock and inheritance, and accept and sanctify these oblations by the descent of Thy Holy Spirit, Who from eternity proceeds from Thee and receives from Thy Son substantially (procedit ab aeterno, et a Filio tuo accipit substantialiter)" - Anaphora of Liturgy.
Saint Athanasius [Saint R.C & E.O: 293 - 373 A.D]: "The Holy Ghost is from the Father and the Son; not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." - Athanasian Creed.
Saint Athanasius: “Insofar as we understand the special relationship of the Son to the Father, we also understand that the Spirit has this same relationship to the Son. And since the Son says, "everything that the Father has is mine (John 16:15)," we will discover all these things also in the Spirit through the Son. And just as the Son was announced by the Father, who said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17)," so also is the Spirit of the Son; for, as the Apostle says, "He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' (Galatians 4:6)." - Letter to Serapion of Thmuis.
Saint Athanasius: “For He, as has been said, gives to the Spirit, and whatever the Spirit has, He has from the Word” - Discourse 3 against the Arians, Ch 25, Pr 24.
Saint Athanasius: "since the Spirit has the same relation of nature and order with respect to the Son that the Son has with respect to the Father" - First Letter to Serapion, 21.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian [Saint R.C & E.O: 306 - 373 A.D]: “The Father is the Begetter, the Son the Begotten from the bosom of the Father, the Holy Spirit He that proceedeth from the Father and the Son.” - Syriac , paragraph 11.
Saint Epiphanius of Salamis [Saint R.C & E.O: 310 - 403 A.D]: “Therefore He always existed with the Father, and the Spirit always breathed forth from the Father and the Son (Spiritus a Patre Filioque semper aspirat)" - Ancoratus 75 [PG 43, 157A].
Saint Epiphanius of Salamis: “You cut yourself off from the grace of God when you do not admit the Son to be from the Father or say that the Holy Spirit is not from the Father and the Son.” - Ancoratus 14
Saint Epiphanius of Salamis: “Christ is believed to be from the Father, God from God, and the Spirit from Christ, from both.” - Acoratus 67.
Saint Epiphanius of Salamis: "No one knows the Spirit, besides the Father, except the Son, from Whom He proceeds (proienai) and of Whom He receives." (OP.. cit., xi, in P.G., XLIII, 35).
Saint Hilary of Poitiers [Saint R.C & E.O: 310 - 367 A.D]: "There is no need to speak, because we are bound to confess Him, proceeding, as He does, from Father and Son (qui patre et filio auctoribus confitendus)." - On the Holy Trinity, Book 2, Chapter 29 [PL 10, 69A]
Saint Hilary of Poitiers: “Accordingly He receives from the Son, Who is both sent by Him, and proceeds from the Father. Now I ask whether to receive from the Son is the same thing as to proceed from the Father. But if one believes that there is a difference between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded as one and the same thing." - On the Holy Trinity, Book 8, Chapter 20
Saint Hilary of Poitiers: "For when He says that all things whatsoever the Father hath are His, and that for this cause He declared that it must be received from His own, He teaches also that what is received from the Father is yet received from Himself, because all things that the Father hath are His. Such a unity admits no difference, nor does it make any difference from whom that is received, which given by the Father is described as given by the Son." - On the Holy Trinity, Book 8, Chapter 20
Saint Hilary of Poitiers: "Let me, in short, adore You our Father, and Your Son together with You; let me win the favour of Your Holy Spirit, Who is from You, through Your Only-begotten. For I have a convincing Witness to my faith, Who says, Father, all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine" - On the Holy Trinity, Book 12, 56.
Saint Basil the Great [Saint R.C & E.O: 330 - 370 A.D]: "So in the case of the divine and uncompounded nature the union consists in the communion of the Godhead. One, moreover, is the Holy Spirit, and we speak of Him singly, conjoined as He is to the one Father through the one Son, and through Himself completing the adorable and blessed Trinity." - De Spiritu Sancto, 18.45
Saint Basil the Great: "The natural Goodness and the inherent Holiness and the royal Dignity extend from the Father through the Only-begotten to the Spirit. Thus there is both acknowledgment of the hypostases and the true dogma of the Monarchy is not lost." - De Spiritu Sancto, 18.47
Saint Basil the Great: “The Father conveys the notion of unoriginate, unbegotten, and Father always; the only-begotten Son is understood along with the Father, coming from him but inseparably joined to him. Through the Son and with the Father, immediately and before any vague and unfounded concept interposes between them, the Holy Spirit is also perceived conjointly.” - Against Eunomius 1 [A.D. 382].
Saint Basil the Great: "Even if the Holy Spirit is third in diginity and order, why need he be third also in nature? For that He is second to the Son, having his being from Him and receiving from Him and announcing to us and being completely dependent on Him, pious tradition recounts; but that his nature is third we are not taught by the Saints nor can we conclude logically from what has been said." - Against Eunomius 3.
Saint Basil the Great: "The divinity is common, but the paternity and the filiation are properties (idiomata); and combining the two elements, the common (koinon) and the proper (idion), brings about in us the comprehension of the truth. Thus, when we want to speak of an unbegotten light, we think of the Father, and when we want to speak of a begotten light, we conceive the notion of the Son. As light and light, there is no opposition between them, but as begotten and unbegotten, one considers them under the aspect of their opposition (antithesis). The properties (idiomata) effectively have the character of showing the alterity within the identity of substance (ousia). The properties are distinguished from one another by opposing themselves, [...] but they do not divide the unity of the substance” " - Against Eunomius 2.28.
Saint Gregory Nazianzus: “ The Spirit is a middle term (meson) between the Unbegotten and the Begotten." - (Discourse 31, 8).
Saint Gregory of Nyssa [Saint R.C & E.O: 335 - 395 A.D]: “We do not deny the difference in respect of cause, and that which is caused, by which alone we apprehend that one Person is distinguished from another - by our belief, that is, that one is the Cause, and another is of the Cause; and again in that which is of the Cause we recognize another distinction. For one is directly from the first Cause, and another [The Holy Spirit] by that [The Son] which is directly from the first Cause; so that the attribute of being Only-Begotten abides without doubt in the Son, and the interposition of the Son, while it guards His attribute of being Only-begotten, does not shut out the Spirit from His relation by way of nature to the Father” - Not Three Gods.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “Our account of the Holy Ghost will be the same also; the difference is only in the place assigned in order. For as the Son is bound to the Father, and, while deriving existence from Him, is not substantially after Him, so again the Holy Spirit is in touch with the Only-begotten, Who is conceived of as before the Spirit's subsistence only in the theoretical light of a cause. Extensions in time find no admittance in the Eternal Life.” - Against Eunomius, Book 1, Chapter 42
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: "It is as if a man were to see a separate flame burning on three torches (and we will suppose that the third flame is caused by that of the first being transmitted to the middle, and then kindling the end torch)" - On the Holy Spirit, Against the Macedonians
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “He [The Holy Spirit] ever searches the deep things of God, ever receives from the Son” - On the Holy Spirit, Against the Macedonians.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: "."The Holy Spirit is said to be of the Father and it is [further] attested that He is of the Son. St Paul says: 'Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him' (Romans 8:9). So the Spirit Who is of God (the Father) is also the Spirit of Christ. However, the Son Who is of God (the Father) is not said to be of the Spirit: the consecutive order of the relationship cannot be reversed." - Orationem Dominicam, quoted by St John Damascene, PG 46. 1109 BC.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: "While we confess the invariableness of the [Divine] nature we do not deny the distinction of Cause and of Caused, by which alone we perceive that one Person is distinguished from Another, in our belief that it is one thing to be the Cause and another to be From The Cause; and in That which is From The Cause, we recognize yet another distinction. It is one thing to be directly from the First Cause (i.e., the Father), and another to be through Him (i.e., the Son) Who is directly from the First, so the distinction of being Only-begotten abides undoubtedly in the Son, nor is it doubted that the Spirit is from the Father; for the middle position of the Son is protective of His distinction as Only-begotten, but does not exclude the Spirit from His natural relation to the Father." - Ep. ad. Ablabius.
Saint Ambrose of Milan [Saint R.C & E.O: 340 - 397 A.D]: Lastly, Wisdom so says that she came forth from the mouth of the Most High, Ecclesiastes 24:5 as not to be external to the Father, but with the Father; for the Word was with God; John 1:1 and not only with God but also in God; for He says: I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. But neither when He goes forth from the Father does He retire from a place, nor is He separated as a body from a body; nor when He is in the Father is He as if a body enclosed as it were in a body. The Holy Spirit also, when He proceeds from the Father and the Son, is not separated from the Father nor separated from the Son. For how could He be separated from the Father Who is the Spirit of His mouth? Which is certainly both a proof of His eternity, and expresses the Unity of this Godhead. - On the Holy Spirit, Book I, Chapter 11, 120.
John Chrysostom [Saint R.C & E.O: 347, 407 A.D]: "But why said He, 'I will ask the Father'? Because had He said, 'I will send Him,' they would not have so much believed, and now the object is that He should be believed. For afterwards He declares that He Himself sendeth Him saying, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost' (c20:22); but in this place He telleth that He asketh the Father so as to render His discourse credible to them." - Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, Homily LXXV.
Saint Ambrose of Milan: “But if you are willing to learn that the Son of God knows all things, and has foreknowledge of all, see that those very things which you think to be unknown to the Son, the Holy Spirit received from the Son. He received them, however, through Unity of Substance, as the Son received from the Father.” - On the Holy Spirit, Book II, Chapter 11, verse 118.
Saint Caesarius of Arles [Saint R.C & E.O: 470 - 542 A.D]: “Because the Holy Spirit proceeds from both persons it is said: ‘If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ’, and in another place: “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” — Sermon 213
Saint Augustine [Saint R.C & E.O: 354 - 430 A.D]: “But in their mutual relation to one another in the Trinity itself, if the begetter is a beginning in relation to that which he begets, the Father is a beginning in relation to the Son, because He begets Him [...] it must be admitted that the Father and the Son are a Beginning of the Holy Spirit, not two Beginnings; but as the Father and Son are one God, and one Creator, and one Lord relatively to the creature, so are they one Beginning relatively to the Holy Spirit. But the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one Beginning in respect to the creature, as also one Creator and one God.” - On the Holy Trinity, Book 5, Ch 14,15.
Saint Augustine: “For as to be born, in respect to the Son, means to be from the Father; so to be sent, in respect to the Son, means to be known to be from the Father. And as to be the gift of God in respect to the Holy Spirit, means to proceed from the Father; so to be sent, is to be known to proceed from the Father. Neither can we say that the Holy Spirit does not also proceed from the Son, for the same Spirit is not without reason said to be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son.” - On the Holy Spirit, Book 4, Ch. 20, 28.
Saint Augustine: “Nor do I see what else He intended to signify, when He breathed on the face of the disciples, and said, ‘Receive the Holy Ghost. For that bodily breathing, proceeding from the body with the feeling of bodily touching, was not the substance of the Holy Spirit, but a declaration by a fitting sign, that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son. For the veriest of madmen would not say, that it was one Spirit which He gave when He breathed on them, and another which He sent after His ascension.” - On the Holy Spirit, Book 4, Ch. 20, 28.
Saint Augustine: “Accordingly, He shall not speak of Himself; because He is not of Himself. But whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: He shall hear of Him from whom He proceeds. To Him hearing is knowing; but knowing is being, as has been discussed above. Because, then, He is not of Himself, but of Him from whom He proceeds, and of whom He has essence, of Him He has knowledge; from Him, therefore, He has hearing, which is nothing else than knowledge.” - Tractate 99 on John 16:13, Ch 4.
Saint Augustine: “But the Holy Spirit proceeds not from the Father into the Son, and then proceeds from the Son to the work of the creature's sanctification; but He proceeds at the same time from both: although this the Father has given unto the Son, that He should proceed from Him also, even as He proceeds from Himself.” - Tractate 99 on John 16:13, Ch 9.
Saint Augustine: “Some one may here inquire whether the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son. For the Son is Son of the Father alone, and the Father is Father of the Son alone; but the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of one of them, but of both.” - Tractate 99 On John 16:13,Ch 6.
Saint Augustine: “Why, then, should we not believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son, when he is the Spirit also of the Son? For if the Holy Spirit did not proceed from Him, when He showed Himself to his disciples after His resurrection He would not have breathed upon them, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ [John 20:22]. For what else did He signify by that breathing upon them except that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from Him.” - Homilies on John 99:8 [A.D. 416].
Saint Cyril of Alexandria [Saint R.C & E.O: 376 - 444 A.D]: “It is necessary to confess the Spirit to be from the essence of the Son. For existing from Him according to nature, and having been sent from Him to the creature He works renovation” - Thesaurus de sancta et consubstantiali trinitate 34 [pg 75, 608].
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: “Since the Holy Spirit when He is in us effects our being conformed to God, and He actually proceeds (proeisi) from the Father and the Son, it is clear that He is of the divine essence, proceeding (proion) substantially (ousiodos) in it and from it" - Thesaurus de sancta et consubstantiali trinitate [pg 75, 585 A].
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "[The Holy Spirit] is consubstantial with them and he is poured forth (πρόκειται), that is, he proceeds (έклоρεúεtal) as from the fountain of God the Father" - Epistle 55.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "[The Holy Spirit] is the Spirit of God the Father as well as of the Son, and comes forth substantially from both, that is from the Father through the Son" - De Adoratione in Spiritu et Veritate 1 [pg 68, 148].
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "The Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth, and Christ is Truth, and so He flows forth from Him as from God the Father." - III Letter to Nestorius, accepted by the council of Ephesus. (431 AD).
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: “For even though the Spirit exists on His own hypostasis and is viewed moreover in His own right inasmuch as He is the Spirit and not the Son, yet He is called the Spirit of Truth and Christ is the Truth, and the Spirit is poured forth from Him, just as indeed from God the Father. Consequently the Spirit worked miracles through the hands of the holy apostle and so glorified Him after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. For it was believed that He the son is God by nature and works through how own spirit. For this reason elsewhere He said: He [the spirit] will receive of mine and declare it to you. - III letter to Nestorius, accepted by the council of Ephesus. (431 AD).
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "but the Spirit himself of God and the Father, who proceedeth also from Him, and is not alien from the Son, according to his essence." - Letter to John of Antioch (letter 39).
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "He says, All things that the Father hath are Mine, therefore I said unto you that of Mine shall He take and, declare it unto you. For as the Holy Ghost proceedeth out of the Father being His by Nature, in equal wise is He through the Son Himself too, His Naturally and Consubstantial with Him." - Tome 4 Against Nestorius [PG 76, 184C].
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: “It is necessary for our salvation to confess that the Holy Spirit exists of the essence of the Son, as existing of him by nature.” - Thesaurus, Lib. 38, 3-5. 34 (PG 75, 608 B).
Saint Paulinus of Nola [Saint RC&EO: 354 - 431 A.D] "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the only-begotten Son and the Father and is Himself God coming forth from God" - Poem 27
Saint Eucherius of Lyon [Saint RC&EO: 380 - 449 A.D]: "The Father is unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Holy Spirit neither begotten nor unbegotten. Lest if we should say, Unbegotten, we should seem to speak ot two Fathers, or if Begotten, of two Sons; but rather Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, as a sort of concord of the Father and the Son" - Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti [PL 50, 774].
Saint Prosper of Aquitaine [Saint R.C & E.O: 390 - 455 A.D]: “The Holy Spirit, therefore, always hears, because he always knows, and knows, and hears, that is, to him that is always to be, to proceed from the Father. But no one can say that the Holy Spirit is not life, since the Father is life, the Son is life. And thus just as the Father, since he has life in himself, gave also to the Son to have life in him, so he gave him life to proceed from him, just as he proceeds from him” - Liber sententiarum Sancti Augustini, 371.
Saint Leo the Great [Saint RC & EO: 400 - 461 A.D]: "And so under the first head is shown what unholy views they hold about the Divine Trinity: they affirm that the person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is one and the same, as if the same God were named now Father, now Son, and now Holy Ghost: and as if He who begot were not one, He who was begotten, another, and He who proceeded from both, yet another; but an undivided unity must be understood, spoken of under three names, indeed, but not consisting of three persons." - Letter 15.
Saint Faustus of Riez [Saint R.C & E.O: 400 - 461 A.D]: “Thus the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, according to these words: Who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him ( Ro 8:9). And these: He breathed on them and said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit ( Jn 20:22 ) [...] If you want to know what is the difference between the one born and the one that proceeds, it naturally depends on the first being the only Son (of the Father) while the second derives its origin from the Father and the Son” - De Spiritu Sancto, I.
Saint Aviuts of Vienne [Saint R.C & E.O: 450 - 518 A.D]: “We for our part affirm that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son [...] it is the property of the Holy Spirit to proceed from the Father and the Son” - Migne 59.385-6.
Saint Jacob of Sarug [Saint RC & O.O: 451 - 521 A.D]: "Father unbegotten, Son begotten, Spirit proceeding from the Father and receiving from the Son (ex Patre procedens, O a Filio accipiens)".
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe [Saint R.C & E.O: 465 - 527 A.D] "it is the property of the Father alone that He was not born but begot; it is the property of the Son that He did not beget but was born; it is the property of the Holy Spirit that He neither begot nor was born but proceeded from the Begetter and the Begotten" - Epistula 14.28
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe: “The Son, therefore, was sent by the Father, not the Father by the Son; because the Son was born of the Father, not the Father by the Son. Similarly, also, the Holy Spirit is said to have been sent by the Father and the Son, because He proceeds from the Father and the Son (a Patre et Filio legitur missus, quia a Patre Filioque procedit)” - Contra Fabian, Fragment 29 [PL 65, 797B].
Saint Gregory of Tours [Saint R.C & E.O: 538 - 594 A.D] "l believe in One Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Three Persons, One Substance; the Father Unbegotten, the Son Begotten, the Holy Spirit, neither begotten nor unbegotten, but Coeternal, Proceeding [de] from the Father and the Son." - History of the Franks.
Saint Gregory the Great [Saint R.C & E.O: 540 - 605 A.D]: “Indeed, it is said of the Son that he is sent by the Father in that he is begotten by the Father (a Patre generatur). But his [Holy Spirit’s] ‘mission’ (missio) is the procession by virtue of which he proceeds from the Father and the Son (Patre procedit et Filio). Therefore, just as it is said of the Spirit that he is sent in so far as he proceeds, so too can the Son be said, without being deceived, that he is sent as he is.” - Homily on John 26,2.
Saint Isidore of Seville [Saint R.C & E.O: 560 - 636 A.D]: "Between the Son who is born and the Holy Spirit who proceeds is this distinction, that the Son is born from one, the Holy Spirit proceeds from both (Spiritus Sanctus ex utraque procedit). Therefore the Apostle says (Romans 8:9), 'Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." - The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville.
Saint Isidore of Seville: “Only the Father is not derived from another; therefore he is called Unbegotten (Ingenitus). Only the Son is born of the Father; therefore he is called Begotten (Genitus). Only the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; therefore it alone is referred to as ‘the Spirit of both the others” - The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville.
Saint Maximus the Confessor [Saint R.C & E.O: 580 - 662 A.D]: “By nature (phusei) the Holy Spirit according to the essence (kat’ousian) takes substantially (ousiodos) his origin (ekporeuomenon) from the Father through the Son who is begotten” - Quaestiones ad Thalassium LXIII.
Saint Maximus the Confessor: “Just as the mind [i.e., the Father] is cause of the Word, so is He also [cause] of the Spirit through the Word. And, just as one cannot say that the Word is of the voice, so too one cannot say that the Son is of the Spirit.” - Quaestiones et dubia 34.
Saint Maximus the Confessor: “The name of the Father is neither the name of the essence nor a name of the energy but rather a name of a relationship and it says how the Father is towards the Son and how the Son is towards the Father” - Ambiguum 26.
Saint Maximus the Confessor: "They [the Romans] have produced the unanimous evidence of the Latin Fathers, and also of Cyril of Alexandria, from the study he made of the gospel of St John. On the basis of these texts, they have shown that they have not made the Son the principal cause of the Spirit – they know in fact that the Father is the only principal cause of the Son and the Spirit, the one by begetting and the other by procession –but that they have manifested the procession through Him and have thus shown the unity and identity of the essence. They [the Romans] have therefore been accused of precisely those things of which it would be wrong to accuse them, whereas the former [the Byzantines] have been accused of those things it has been quite correct to accuse them [Heresy of Monothelitism]. In accordance with your request I have asked the Romans to translate what is peculiar to them [Filioque] in such a way that any obscurities that may result from it will be avoided. But since the practice of writing and sending [the synodal letters] has been observed, I wonder whether they will possibly agree to doing this. It is true, of course, that they cannot reproduce their idea in a language and in words that are foreign to them as they can in their mother-tongue, just as we too cannot do." - Epistle to Marinus, PG 91, 136.
Bessarion of Nicaea: But if the teacher [i.e. Maximus] says he does not make the Son, but the Father, to be the Spirit's cause, you would not be surprised if you would bear in mind the Greek language, and what it is that this language customarily means when it employs this word “cause.” For, plainly, it is the initial and primary cause and fountain and root of each thing which is chiefly called its “cause”; and that only the Father exists as such a cause, who would dispute? - Against Gregory Palamas Antiepigraphae. Council of Florence.
Saint John of Damascus [Saint R.C & E.O: 675 - 749 A.D]: “Proceeding from the Father through the son in a manner known to Himself, but different from that of generation.” - An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 1, Ch 8.
Saint John of Damascus: “Of the Holy Ghost, we both say that He is from the Father, and call Him the Spirit of the Father; while we nowise say that He is from the Son, but only call Him the Spirit of the Son.” (Theol., lib. l.c. 11, v. 4.)
Saint John of Damascus: "And the Holy Spirit is the power of the Father revealing the hidden mysteries of His Divinity, proceeding from the Father through the Son in a manner known to Himself, but different from that of generation" - ibid., 12.
Saint John of Damascus: “And we speak also of the Spirit of the Son, " as through proceeding from Him, but as proceeding through Him from the Father. For the Father alone is cause.” - An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 1, Ch 12.
Saint Alphonsus of Toledo [Saint R.C & E.O: 607 - 667 A.D]: “But the Father is from none but of himself; and he is only the Father. The Son is born of the Father, co-eternal with the Father; and he is only the Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds inseparably from the Father and the Son, and there is only the Holy Spirit” - De Cognitione Baptismi, Chapter 3 [PL 96, 113B].
Saint Bede the Venerable Saint [R.C & E.O 673 - 735 A.D]: "Spiritum Sanctum procedentem ex Patre et Filio inenarrabilliter" - Ecclesiastical History of the English People" Ch 17.
Patriarch Saint Tarsius of Constantinople [Saint R.C & E.O: 730 - 806 A.D]: “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son” - 7th Ecumenical Council - Nicaea 2. “to ek you Patros dia you Uiou ekporeuomenon” (Mansi, 12, 1122D).
Saint Thomas Aquinas [Saint R.C 1225 - 1257 AD]: “Since the Father and the Son mutually love one another, it necessarily follows that this mutual Love, the Holy Spirit, proceeds from both.” - ST 1.37.1ad3
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Therefore, because the Son receives from the Father that the Holy Ghost proceeds from Him, it can be said that the Father spirates the Holy Ghost through the Son, or that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father through the Son, which has the same meaning. - ST 1.34.3.
Saint Thomas Aquinas: "Again, Theodore in an epistle to John of Antioch expresses himself as follows: the Holy Spirit does not come from the Son nor has he his substance from the Son, but he proceeds from the Father: he is called the Spirit of the Son because he is consubstantial with him. Now the above words were attributed by this Theodore to Cyril, as though he had written them in a letter which he wrote to John of Antioch, and yet they are not to be found there" - De Potentia, Question 10, Article 4, Reply to objection 21.
Saint Thomas Aquinas: “After so many testimonies, however, certain adversaries of the truth refuse to confess the true faith, saying that although the Holy Spirit has been shown to exist, to be spirated, to emanate, and to flow out of the Son, nonetheless that he proceeds from the Son is not to be admitted.” - Contra Errores Graecorum, Ch 26.
Saint Vincent Ferrer [Saint R.C 1350 - 1419]: “The third seal and secret is that, of these three persons, one is ingenerable [ingenerabilis], namely the Father, the other begotten, the third breathed forth [spirata]. The first is from no one, the second is from the first, and the third is from the first and second. And that this be true is shown by Athanasius who says, " For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit." And later it is stated, " The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." […] “The Holy Spirit from God the Father and God the Son is breathed forth [spiratus est] and proceeding” […] “From the sun a ray comes out, and from the ray proceeds splendor. Same for a candle if it is lit. So in the proposal, from God the Father, like from the sun, a ray comes out God, the Son, and from God the Father and the Son, God the Holy Spirit comes out, like splendor, because God the Father from eternity generated the Son, and God the Father and God the Son from eternity spirate the Holy Spirit. And consequently all three were eternal.” - I Sermon on the Holy Trinity.