Library › Constantine Callinicos › Greek Orthodox Catechism
Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part I. Dogmatical, 9. The Holy Ghost
Up to now you have explained the seven Articles. Say now with what does the eighth Article deal?
With the Holy Ghost, the third person of the much exalted Trinity. Macedonius, the Spirit-brawler of the fourth century, denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, considering that He was a creature of the Son, as, previously in similar manner Arius had contended that the Son was a creature of the Father. Against this heretic and his followers the Second Oecumenical Council met and drew up the eighth Article of the Creed as it is to-day; in which the Holy Ghost is called “Lord” in the same highest sense as the Son; He is characterised as “Life-giver,” for He gives not only the elements of life to soulless animals, but the noblest spiritual life to reasonable man too; He is declared to proceed “from the Father,” from Whom, as from His primary and unique source, He draws His eternal existence; and finally, He is recognised as worthy of the same divine honour and worship, which is claimed by Father and Son.
Is the expression “Proceeding from the Father” right, or does it present a void, which demands filling?
The phrase in the Creed “Proceeding from the Father” is quite right and does not present any void to be filled. The Western Church imagined this first in the eighth century inventing the double procession of the Holy Ghost and adding to the expression “From the Father” the words “And from the Son,” thus, unfortunately, opening the way towards the final schism of the eleventh century. This was an error. Our Lord first taught us clearly and expressly that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father (John xv. 26), and it is irreverent to consider as insufficient the words of our Lord. Again, the Second Oecumenical Council, in completing our Creed and closing it by the final “Amen,” put a curse upon anyone who should dare to add to it or take away one word from it. Thirdly, the Western Church herself for eight centuries used the Creed without this subsequent addition. Fourthly, if we accept a double procession of the Holy Ghost, and fix two origins from which He draws His eternal existence, the unity of the divine basis is denied and two origins are ascribed to the Godhead. Nowhere in the Bible is it said that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son. The Son sends Him only. But the sending of the Holy Ghost in time is one thing, His procession or emanation from the Father before all ages is quite another.
What do the words in the eighth Article mean “which spoke by the Prophets”?
That it was the Holy Ghost, Who spoke by the mouths of the Prophets, when they either recited orally, or wrote their prophecies. “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Pet. i. 21.) The Prophets were the great teachers of Israel; their chief work was to lead the chosen people in the right way and to encourage that nation, in its difficult times, by predictions connected with the person and work of the expected Messiah. But neither the great religious and ethical teaching, nor the unveiling of the future could come from the narrow understanding of man. It was the Holy Ghost, Who inspired the Prophets of the Old Testament; and even more, it was He, Who inspired the Apostles in the composition of the New Testament. Consequently, all the Bible, from its first to its last page, is in name and reality “inspired by God.” (2 Tim. iii. 16.)