Against the Errors of the Latins

Most holy Pope Eugene, and you most holy Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and all the venerable bishops and priests gathered here at the Council of Florence in the year of our Lord 1439: it is given to…

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We of the East come to this Council in the same spirit in which our Fathers came to the Seven Ecumenical Councils: not to capitulate to anyone's demands, not to trade theological convictions for political advantages,…

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The basis of reunion must be the faith of the Seven Ecumenical Councils -- neither more nor less. The Seven Councils represent the period of the undivided Church, when East and West were one and when the decisions of…

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I acknowledge the primacy of honor traditionally accorded to the Bishop of Rome among the five ancient patriarchates. The canons of the Ecumenical Councils confirm this primacy; the Fathers of the East have acknowledged…

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Let me now turn to the central theological dispute, which is the procession of the Holy Spirit. I will state the Eastern position as clearly and precisely as I can, not to win an argument but to make the truth plain,…

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The Latin theologians cite, as their principal Scriptural proof text, the words of the Lord in the Gospel of John: He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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They cite also the saying of the Lord: He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. They argue that because the Son breathed the Spirit on the disciples, the Son must be a source of the Spirit's being.

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The Latins invoke Augustine as their principal patristic authority. Now, we acknowledge Augustine as a great theologian whose penetration into the mysteries of the Trinity was profound and whose influence on the Western…

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Consider what the great Basil writes in his treatise On the Holy Spirit, the most thorough investigation of the Spirit's person and work produced by any Father of the Church.

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Consider what Gregory the Theologian writes in his Five Theological Orations, which are the summit of fourth-century Trinitarian theology.

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Consider what Cyril of Alexandria writes in his great commentary on the Gospel of John, the commentary that the Latin theologians themselves most often cite as evidence for the Filioque.

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The argument has been made, and I have heard it made here at Florence, that the Eastern theology must in the end accept the Filioque because without it there is no real relation between the Son and the Holy Spirit…

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Furthermore, the argument from mutual relations, if applied consistently, would require that the Father and the Spirit also have a direct mutual relation, since they too are distinct Persons.

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I have heard it said that the dispute is merely verbal -- that the East and West are saying the same thing in different words, and that if we could agree on terminology the theological agreement would follow…

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I do not want to end this account of the Filioque controversy without saying something about the canonical question, which is in some ways even clearer than the theological one.

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The second major theological dispute concerns what happens to souls after death and before the general resurrection. The Latin Church teaches that souls who have died in a state of grace but who have not yet fully…

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Let me begin by stating what the Eastern Church does hold, so that our position is not misrepresented. The Eastern Church believes that the faithful departed are in the hands of God.

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When we examine the patristic evidence cited for purgatory, we find that it falls into two categories. The first category is evidence for the practice of praying for the dead: offerings, liturgical commemoration, and…

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The distinction matters because the Council is asking us to accept the doctrine of purgatorial fire as a condition of reunion. This means accepting a doctrine that was not universally held before the schism, that is not…

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What the East and West can agree on is what the ancient common tradition teaches: that the faithful departed are in God's hands, that our prayers benefit them, that God's mercy is active for them, and that they will…

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I say this not to disparage the Latin theology of purgatory. The instinct behind it is sound: the desire to affirm that God's mercy is at work in the intermediate state, that prayer for the dead is not in vain, and that…

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I have now read the proposed Decree of Union with the care and the prayers that so grave a matter demands. I have sought in it, as God is my witness, the common faith of the Apostles.

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I understand the position of my brother bishops who have signed or will sign. The situation of the Byzantine Empire is desperate. The Ottoman armies are at the gates of Constantinople.

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If I sign, I lie. If I lie about the faith, I betray the Apostolic tradition that I was ordained and enthroned to guard. I betray the people of God in the East who trust their bishop to speak truly about the faith they…

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I have been told that my refusal is an obstacle to the peace of the Church. I answer: a peace built on the suppression of theological truth is not the peace of the Church but a simulation of peace.

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I am not without hope that genuine reunion is possible. If the Latin Church were willing to return to the Symbol of Faith as it was defined by the Ecumenical Councils -- without the Filioque addition -- and if the…

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Let future generations judge whether I have acted rightly. If the Filioque is indeed the ancient and universal faith of the Church, if purgatorial fire is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, if papal universal…

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