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Question 16 · God and the Trinity

From whom does the Holy Spirit proceed, the Father alone or the Father and the Son?

What the sources show

Tertullian c. 213 · Basil of Caesarea c. 375Through the Son

Early writers in both East and West often say the Spirit is from the Father through the Son: Tertullian about 213, Basil about 375. 12

Cyril of Alexandria c. 425 · John of Damascus c. 740

Cyril of Alexandria says "from both", which he explains as "from the Father through the Son". John of Damascus, about 740, refuses to say "from the Son" while calling the Spirit "the Spirit of the Son". 34

Council of Florence (Catholic) 1439 · Westminster Confession (Reformed) 1646 · Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (Orthodox) 1848

The Latin West added "and the Son" (filioque) to the creed, first in Spain in 589 and at Rome in 1014. Florence (1439) defined it for Catholics; Protestants kept it. The Orthodox reject it as making two sources. 567

The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today

Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. J K move between witnesses.

Before Nicaea

150–325
213c. AD
Through the Son

Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADAgainst Praxeas 4.1

Let this be said of the third rank too: for I think the Spirit comes from nowhere else than from the Father through the Son.

The earliest statement on the Spirit's origin. "Through the Son" became the common Greek phrasing.

Full English of this work is being translated

Nicaea to Chalcedon

325–451
375c. AD
Through the Son

Basil of Caesarea c. 330–379 ADOn the Holy Spirit 18.47

So the way of knowing God goes from one Spirit through the one Son to the one Father. And in reverse, natural goodness, holiness by nature and royal dignity reach from the Father through the Only-begotten to the Spirit. In this way the persons are confessed and the true doctrine of the one source is not lost.

Basil speaks of how God is known and gives gifts. Whether this describes the Spirit's eternal origin is part of the later debate.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text
425c. AD
And the Son

Cyril of Alexandria c. 376–444 ADOn Adoration in Spirit and Truth 1

...since the Spirit is God the Father's, and indeed the Son's too: the Spirit that pours forth substantially from both, that is, from the Father through the Son.

Cyril says "from both" and explains it as "from the Father through the Son". Latins later cited him for the filioque, Greeks for "through".

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Late antiquity and Byzantium

451–1054
740c. AD
From the Father

John of Damascus c. 645/675–749 ADExact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 1.8

We say that the Holy Spirit is from the Father and call him the Spirit of the Father. We do not say the Spirit is from the Son, but we name him the Spirit of the Son ("if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ", Romans 8:9), and we confess that he was made manifest and given to us through the Son.

The standard Greek position before the schism: from the Father, manifested through the Son.

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Middle Ages

1054–1500
1439AD
And the Son

Council of Florence (Catholic)Laetentur Caeli Decree of union with the Greeks

the holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son, and has his essence and his subsistent being from the Father together with the Son, and proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and a single spiration.

A short-lived union of Greeks and Latins. It also declared that "through the Son" and "from the Son" mean the same. The Greek churches later rejected the union.

Reformation

1500–1700
1646AD
And the Son

Westminster Confession (Reformed)Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3

the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

Protestant churches kept the Western creed with the filioque.

Modern churches

1700–today
1848AD
From the Father

Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (Orthodox)Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs 5

This novel opinion destroys the oneness from the One cause, and the diverse origin of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity

The Orthodox objection: the Father alone is the source in the Trinity.

Witnesses not in the library yet

These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.

  • 420
    Augustine of Hippo, On the Trinity 15.26.47

    The Spirit proceeds from the Father "principally", and also from the Son. The Western basis for the filioque.

  • 589
    Third Council of Toledo, Creed and canons

    The first creed with "and the Son".

  • 886
    Photius of Constantinople, Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit

    The great Greek case against the filioque.

  • 650
    Maximus the Confessor, Letter to Marinus

    Explains that Latins meant "through the Son", not a second cause.

How this page was made

Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.