Dist. 11
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/1/d/11/q/bon-sent-I-d11-littera
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## Distinction XI

### Chapter I

*That the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, although the Greeks deny that He proceeds from the Son.*

Here it must be said that the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, and proceeds from the Father and the Son, which many heretics have denied. That He proceeds from each is "*proved by many testimonies of the divine eloquences*". For the Apostle says: "*God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts*". See, here He is called *Spirit of the Son*. And elsewhere: "*But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ, this one is not His*". The Son Himself also says of the Holy Spirit, in the Gospel: "*Whom I will send to you from the Father*". And He is called the *Spirit* of the Father where it is read: "*If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you*". And Christ Himself says: "*For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks*". And in another place: "*Whom the Father will send in my name*". And elsewhere the Son Himself says of the Holy Spirit: "*He proceeds from the Father*". By these and many other authorities it is shown that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

The Greeks, however, say that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, and not from the Son. They say this because the Truth in the Gospel — which contains the faith integrally — speaking of the procession of the Spirit, mentions the Father alone, saying: "*The Spirit, who proceeds from the Father*"; and also because in the principal Councils which were celebrated among them, their Creeds were so confirmed under attached anathemas that no one is permitted to teach or preach anything other than what is contained therein concerning the faith of the Trinity. In which Creeds, since the Holy Spirit is mentioned as proceeding from the Father and not from the Son, whoever (they say) adds that He proceeds from the Son incurs the anathema; whence they accuse us also as guilty of the anathema. They add also, in support of their opinion and in testimony of our condemnation, the Creed which, according to the tradition of the said Councils, Leo III left to posterity, transcribed at Rome on a silver tablet placed behind the altar of blessed Paul, "for love" (as he himself says) "and as a safeguard of the orthodox faith". In which Creed, in the procession of the Spirit, the Father alone is mentioned in these words: "*And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Life-giver, proceeding from the Father, to be co-adored and glorified with the Father and the Son*" etc.

That is the Creed which is sung in the Mass, issued in the Nicene Council, at the end of which is added: "*Whoever shall teach otherwise or preach otherwise, let him be anathema*". And so the Greeks call us anathematized, because we say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, which is not contained there. For what according to us is said there: "*Who proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque)*", the second part has been added by the Latins, namely *Filioque*.

We, however, determine those words thus: "*whoever shall teach otherwise or preach otherwise*" — that is, shall teach *the contrary* or preach *in a contrary manner*, "*let him be anathema*". So he placed *otherwise* (*aliud*) for *opposite*, in the manner that the Apostle also does in the Epistle to the Galatians: "*If anyone shall preach another* (*aliud*) *gospel*" — that is, *the contrary* — "*let him be anathema*". He does not say: "*if anyone shall add*". "For if he were saying that, as Augustine says, he would be prejudicing his own self, since he wished to come to certain to whom he was writing — as to the Thessalonians — *that he might supply what was lacking in their faith*. But he who supplies adds what was missing; he does not take away what was there. He, however, who steps beyond the rule of faith does not advance on the way, but recedes from the way." To that, however, which they object from the Gospel, we respond thus: that since the Truth says in it that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, He does not add *only*, and so He does not deny that He proceeds from Himself also; but He names the Father alone because He is wont to refer to Him even what is His own, since He has it from Him.

### Chapter II

*On the agreement of the Latins and Greeks in meaning, and the difference in words.*

It is to be known, however, that the Greeks confess the Holy Spirit to be of the Son just as also of the Father, because both the Apostle says *Spirit of the Son*, and Truth in the Gospel says *Spirit of truth*. But since for the Holy Spirit to be of the Father or of the Son is nothing other than to be from the Father and the Son, in this also they seem to agree with us in the same opinion of faith, although they dissent in words.

Whence also some of their catholic doctors, understanding that the meaning of the foresaid words by which the Holy Spirit is said to *proceed from the Son* and to *be of the Son* is one and the same, have professed that the Holy Spirit proceeds also from the Son. Whence Athanasius in the Creed of the faith: "*The Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten, but proceeding*". Behold, He openly said the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Didymus also, their greatest Doctor, in his book *On the Holy Spirit*, says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son: "*The Savior*, he says, *who is also Truth, says: 'For He shall not speak from Himself' — that is, not without me and not without my and the Father's will, because He is inseparable from me and from the Father's will, because He is not from Himself, but is from the Father and from me. For this very thing — that He subsists and speaks — He has from the Father and from me*". Likewise: "*The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of wisdom, cannot hear from the Son speaking what He does not know, since He Himself is what is uttered by the Son — that is, God proceeding from God, the Spirit of Truth proceeding from Truth, the consoler flowing forth from the Consoler*". Likewise Bishop Cyril, in the Epistle directed to Nestorius, says: "*The Spirit is understood by Himself, in so far as He is Spirit, and not Son; but nevertheless He is not foreign to Him. For He is named Spirit of Truth, and flows forth from Him, as from God the Father*". John Chrysostom too, in a certain homily on the Exposition of the Creed, speaks thus: "*This is the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, who divides His own gifts as He wills*". The same in another homily: "*It must be believed that the Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son. We say that this Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son, and proceeds from the Father and the Son. Believe this, lest evil conversations corrupt good morals*". Behold, from the doctors of the Greeks we have open testimonies by which the Holy Spirit is shown to proceed from the Father and the Son. Therefore let every tongue confess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

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