"The filioque controversy:: Chapters from the eastern orthodox reaction an historical-theological perspective

Abstract

The present thesis is an historical-theological survey of the major Eastern Orthodox objections to the insertion of the 'Filioque' clause to the Ecumenical Creed and its theological implications, from the time of Patriarch Photius (ninth century) to the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453.After the brief introduction which deals with the background to this period (Chapter I), the second chapter presents the main arguments of Patriarch Photius, which provided the starting point to all subsequent discussions on the 'Filioque' question in the East. The third chapter deals with the eleventh and twelfth cent, theological literature on the 'Filioque' which, though it is not free from the spirit of polemicism, it remains close to the patristic and evangelical data. The fourth chapter examines the doctrine of the Council of Lyons (1274) on the 'Filioque', its condemnation in the East by the Council of Blachernae (1285), the attempts for union with Rome by the Latinizer Patriarch Joannes XI Beccus and his followers, as well as the interesting but controversial doctrine of the Spirit's eternal manifestation, as amplified by Patriarch Gregory the Cypriot. The Palamite position on the 'Filioque' (fourteenth century) and the reactions against it are treated in the fifth chapter, and the thesis concludes with a sixth and final chapter which offers a critical account of the falsely called 'Ecumenical Council of Florence'. This last chapter mainly concentrates on the reaction of Metropolitan Mark of Ephesus to the views of the Latins and the Greek unionists. As it stands, the thesis provides a basic and clear insight into later Eastern Orthodox trinitarian theology which is not so well known.