Filioque

====Views of Eastern Orthodox saints====
Although [[Maximus the Confessor]] declared that it was wrong to condemn the Latins for speaking of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, the addition of the ''Filioque'' to the [[Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed]] was condemned as heretical by other saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church, including [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius the Great]], [[Gregory Palamas]] and [[Mark of Ephesus]], sometimes referred to as the Three Pillars of Orthodoxy. However, the statement "The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son" can be understood in an orthodox sense if it is clear from the context that "procession from the Son" refers to the sending forth of the Spirit ''in time'', not to an eternal, double procession within the Trinity itself which gives the Holy Spirit existence or being. Hence, in Eastern Orthodox thought, Maximus the Confessor justified the Western use of the ''Filioque'' in a context other than that of the [[Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed]].{{sfn|Pomazansky|1984|loc=[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0824/_P14.HTM "On the procession of the Holy Spirit"]}}{{efn|Pomazansky wrote that "Maximus the Confessor ... justified {{interp|the Westerners}} by saying that by the words 'from the Son' {{interp|the Westerners}} intended to indicate that the Holy Spirit is ''given'' to creatures through the Son, that He is ''manifested'', that He is ''sent'' — but not that the Holy Spirit has His existence from Him."{{sfn|Pomazansky|1984|loc=[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0824/_P14.HTM "On the procession of the Holy Spirit"]}}}} and "defended {{interp|the ''Filioque''}} as a legitimate variation of the Eastern formula that the Spirit proceeds from the Father ''through'' the Son".{{sfn|Dulles|1995|pp=32, 40}} Saint [[Theophylact of Ohrid]] likewise maintained that the difference was linguistic in nature and not really theological, urging a spirit of conciliation on both sides over a matter of customs.<ref>Fr John Meyendorff, ''Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends & Doctrinal Themes'', 2nd ed. (NY: Fordham U, 1979)</ref><ref>[https://philosophiajournal.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/20-38-philosophia-26-2020-theophylact.pdf A Discourse by Theophylact of Bulgaria to One of His Disciples Regarding the Charges Against the Latins]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/12/saint-theophylact-of-ochrid.html | title=Saint Theophylact of Ochrid }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|...it is said not that {{interp|the Holy Spirit}} has existence from the Son or through the Son, but rather that {{interp|the Holy Spirit}} proceeds from the Father and has the same nature as the Son, is in fact the Spirit of the Son as being One in Essence with Him.|[[Theodoret of Cyrus]], ''On the Third Ecumenical Council''{{thinsp}}{{sfn|Pomazansky|1984|loc=[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0824/_P14.HTM "On the procession of the Holy Spirit"]}}}}

According to [[Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos]], an Eastern Orthodox tradition is that [[Gregory of Nyssa]] composed the section of the [[Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed]] referring to the Holy Spirit adopted by the [[Second Ecumenical Council]] at Constantinople in 381.{{efn|In icons{{Explain|date=November 2015|reason=Dating from when?}} of the Second Ecumenical Council, St. Gregory is presented as the recording clerk of the Synod, "and, as is believed, was the one who gave the final form to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed and formulated the article about the Holy Spirit: 'And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life; Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vlachos|first=Hierotheos|title=Life after death|website=pelagia.org|url=http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b24.en.life_after_death.08.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210094757/http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b24.en.life_after_death.08.htm|archive-date=10 February 2001|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} Siecienski doubts that Gregory of Nyssa would have endorsed the addition of the ''Filioque'', as later understood in the West, into the Creed, notwithstanding that Gregory of Nyssa reasoned "there is an eternal, and not simply economic, relationship of the Spirit to the Son".{{sfn|Siecienski|2010|pp=43–45}}