1

Greek theology recognized the mediatorial work of the Son in the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father, but declined to regard the Son as the Source (principium or aïtɩov) of the Spirit in the same sense as the Father. When Augustine laid the foundation in the West of a definite theology of the Filioque, he spoke of the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son as from one Source only, and not from two Sources -which the Greeks constantly asserted to be the Western belief. This is a position which may not differ seriously from the Eastern view of the procession of the Spirit from the Father through the Son, as Dr. Swete has suggested. But Photius branded the Augustinian standpoint as Sabellian, and doubtless the Eastern Church was influenced against taking any steps toward mutual understanding by the manner in which the Spanish and Frankish Churches together had adopted the Filioque, a manner which, from the Greek point of view, was anything but mutual. Moreover, the quarrel between Photius and Nicholas engendered such anti-Roman bitterness in the East that political differences at times loomed larger than theological; so the schism which Photius had encouraged became gradually more complete, until its abrupt climax in the eleventh century, when Michael Caerularius, a successor of Photius in the patriarchate, was excommunicated by the papal legates in his own church at Constantinople.

1 Holy Spirit in the Ancient Church, p. 370.

Cf. Gibbon, Rome, vi., p. 527.

VI

LATER CARLOVINGIANS

AFTER the death of Charlemagne, his unwieldy Empire, itself divided into varied races, and enduring constant attacks from the Northmen, became partitioned among incapable sons, who, in turn, found themselves confronted by the increasing aggression of the papacy. In the midst of this political decline the later masters of the Carlovingian Renaissance continued to serve the Church with their wide scholarship by consolidating the Western system of theology handed on to them principally by Alcuin. The action of Photius, so far from weakening the case for the Filioque, had actually strengthened Western adherence to it, so much so that, in Harnack's language, 'the Filioque became the symbolic watchword in the whole of the West.' A series of brilliant writers now took up this watchword, and, at the hands of Theodulf of Orleans, Ratramnus of Corbie, Aeneas of Paris, Hincmar of Rheims, and others of their school, the Frankish view of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit received an able presentation. This view may be exemplified by reference to two of these names, which may be regarded as representative of the attitude of them all. Paschasius Radbertus of Corbie will also be noticed as making a contribution somewhat different in character from that of the others.

THEODULF OF ORLEANS

Theodulf († 821, probably from poison), Bishop of Orleans, who came to the Court of Charlemagne to assist the revival of learning in the Frankish kingdom, was a strong defender of the standpoint of Western orthodoxy in reference to the Holy Spirit. In response to an imperial demand for a treatise in substantiation of the Filioque he produced his De Spiritu Sancto, with the supplementary title of Veterum Patrum sententiae, quod a Patre Filioque procedat, and the dedication

'to Charles the Great, Emperor.' The supplementary title itself reveals the scheme of his work, which is, in effect, a compendium of certain teachings of the Fathers, of whom the majority are Western, with a commentary thereon which binds his authorities together into an apologetic system. These authorities, notably Augustine, are quoted principally as upholding the procession of the Holy Spirit from both the Father and the Son, though they are also brought in to illustrate and to endorse a general exposition of the Doctrine of the Trinity. Accordingly, Theodulf begins his treatise by expressing his belief in the Unity of God: 'I believe that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, that the Spirit, who is also the Paraclete, who proceeds from the Father, is both of the Son and of the Father, because He also proceeds from the Son . . . and therefore I confess an inseparable Trinity.' Again: Concerning the Holy Spirit, there is no doubt at all that He is ignorant of nothing . . . and that He wholly abides in the Son; and, just as He proceeds from God the Father, so He proceeds from the Son, in order that the whole Trinity may be believed to be one God. . . . And when any one worships the Son, in Him he worships the Father, also the Holy Spirit.' The procession of the Spirit from the Son is asserted to show that He is the Spirit of the Son, and thereby to emphasize the oneness of the Deity, a use of the Filioque already found in the earlier Carlovingian writers.

Having laid the foundation of his argument in establishing the Divine Unity by Western reasoning, Theodulf discusses the inter-relations of the inner Life of God. 'Hence,' he resumes, 'it is proved by the clearest evidences that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who is the Paraclete, the Spirit who proceeds from the Father, is the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus. For the whole Trinity exists inseparably in one Substance, Godhead, and power.' Thus the absolute oneness of the Divine Life presupposes no difference in relation between the Spirit and the Father on the one hand, and the Spirit and the Son on the other. The writer's mind appears to be very similar to that of Benedict of Aniane in

His authorities comprise such names as Ambrose, Hieronymus, Augustine, Gregory of Rome, Isidore, Vigilius of Africa, Proclus of Constantinople, Agnellus, Cassiodorus, and Prudentius.

"'Spiritus appellatus est veritatis, et veritas Christus est, unde et ab isto similiter sicut ex Deo Patre procedit.'

laying hold of the great truth of the unity of God, and in perceiving, at the same time, that the Filioque of the Western Church tends to strengthen this truth while guarding against the heretical position of Sabellius. It is in accordance with such reasoning that he adds the remark that this Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son; for while They are One (unum) in Deity, They are also Three in personal Names (in nominibus personarum). . . . Hence one Person is the Father who begat, and Another the Son who is only-begotten from Him, and Another the Spirit, the Paraclete, who proceeds from one Nature,'' all these distinct mysteries of relationship being revealed within the one Divine Substance. The Father was made by no one, nor is He created, nor begotten The Son is from the Father alone, not created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit was not made by the Father and the Son, neither is He created, nor begotten, but proceeding'; and this Trinity of co-equal and unconfused Persons in the one adorable Godhead is confessed by Theodulf in phraseology similar to that employed by Alcuin. Therefore,' pronounces the bishop, 'he who wants to be saved, let him think thus about the Trinity.'

Before the book is concluded, varied references are made to the Fathers which further illustrate the views of the author. Ambrose reminds him that the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son does not involve any separation from Them, but rather the opposite. On no account are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to be regarded as three Gods, nor, on the other hand, is the Holy Spirit to be thought of as a part of either the Father or the Son. Nothing, in fact, must be admitted which would in any way undermine the trinitarian teaching of Augustine. Finally, he is led to consider the subject of the Mission of the Spirit by certain extracts from

''Itaque alter est Pater in persona qui genuit, et alius Filius qui unigenitus ab ipso est, et alius Spiritus paraclitus, qui de una natura procedit,'-which is definitely Augustinian.

.. quam Graeci dicunt ὁμούσιον" (for ὁμοούσιον, a contraction common in mediaeval Latin writers).

* Unus ergo Pater non tres patres, unus Filius non tres filii, unus Spiritus sanctus non tres spiritus sancti. Et in hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius, nihil majus aut minus, sed totae tres personae coaeternae sibi sunt et coaequales. Ita ut per omnia, sicut iam supra dictum est, et Trinitas in unitate, et unitas in Trinitate veneranda sit.'

'... Spiritum quoque sanctum, non ingenitum, neque genitum, sed ex Patre Filioque procedentem, eo quod Patris et Filii sit Spiritus, et ipse consubstantialis et coaeternus ambobus.'

the De Spiritu Sancto of Ambrose and from a commentary by Hieronymus upon the De Spiritu Sancto of Didymus. One truth is clear to him here, namely, that the Son, as well as the Father, sends the Holy Spirit upon the Church and upon the human race; and, if the Son and the Spirit are the Sources of Each Other's mission, They are so not from any injustice of subservience (subjectionis injuria) but from one joint exercise of authority (communitas potestatis). Moreover, this Spirit, the Comforter, is sent by the Son, not in accordance with the ministry of angels, prophets, and apostles, but as it seems good to the Spirit of God, by His wisdom and truth, to be sent, seeing that the Spirit Himself possesses an undivided Substance along with the Father and the Son, and with the same wisdom and truth.' Thus the mission of the Spirit by the Son implies no inferiority on the part of the Spirit, as neither does the fact that He is called ' the Spirit of God' and 'the Spirit of Christ.' Nor is the Holy Spirit tied to any rite or office performed by human ministry, as if His operations could be directed, for instance, by the prophets whom He Himself inspires. He who is God can be sent only by the will of God, namely His own.

Theodulf's contribution to the theology of the ninth century is based on such a plan as to recall the fact that he lived in the age of the 'compilers,' and yet the character of his work justifies its being regarded as a contribution. If comparatively little is found in his writings concerning the work of the Spirit, that, in the main, was not their purpose. The imperial request made to him was to set forth a defensive exposition of the Western development of the Creed, and, within the limits, thus involved, of the Nature of the Spirit and of the Trinity he worked out ideas which declare him to be by no means devoid of a mind of his own. His high conceptions of the Unity of the Trinity and of the Being of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity were especially needed in the Church of his time, and he presented these interpenetrating truths with that careful thought which could have been the outcome only of real spiritual scholarship.

PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS.

Another celebrated theologian of the later Carlovingian period is Paschasius Radbertus († c. 855), who, for seven