The Trinity in Relation: Distinctions (On the Filioque)

 "[I believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father"

The Nicene Creed

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This is where the East and the West part ways on the details of Trinitarian doctrine. The East sees the Spirit as proceeding from the Father alone, while the West considers the Spirit as proceeding from the Father and the Son (the Filioque- translated "and the Son"- was added to the Nicene Creed in 1014 AD by Rome). Although there are multiple reasons why this is disputed, I am only going to argue one below: the necessity of distinguishing characteristics among the Divine Persons.

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If it is by God's Essence that we see unity in the Trinity, it is by the individual Persons of the Trinity that we see distinction. To maintain these distinctions, each Person of the Trinity must have one characteristic which distinguishes Him from the other Persons. St Basil says the Father's distinct mark is that "He has His subsistence from no cause", the Son's is "Only Begotten by the Un-begotten Light" and the Spirit's is "that He takes His subsistence from the Father." St John Damascene summarizes this concisely, ‘The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one in all respects save those of being unbegotten, of filiation and of procession.'

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The double procession of the Spirit (from Father and Son) then muddles the distinction of Persons, as it is the Spirit who requires a cause from both Father and Son. In this form, there is a risk of the Spirit becoming de-personalized and understood merely as a force of reciprocal bond rather than a distinct Person; as a manifestation of the link between the Father and the Son rather than the Spirit who proceeds from the Father through the Son in love and shining forth the Father in ineffable ways. 

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The directional nature of the Spirit's Source is important, because it identifies a specific operational principal: The Father is made manifest in the Son, by the Spirit, or put another way, the Spirit moves through the Son from the Father. The Spirit of the Father is the gift from God to His Son, the Spirit of the Son is the Spirit of adoption. More on this soon.