St. Cyril on the Filioque

In this post I will be citing from the works of St. Cyril of Alexandria where this blessed saint spoke of the Spirit’s essential/natural procession from both the Father and the Son. All emphasis will be mine.

1.  That the Holy Spirit is naturally of God, and in the Son, and through Him and in His Substance.

14 He shall glorify Me: for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you.

As the Holy Spirit was about to reveal to those who should be found worthy the mystery that is in Christ, and to demonstrate completely Who He is by nature, and how great is His power and might, and that He reigneth over all with the Father, Christ is impelled to say, He shall glorify Me. For He sets our mind above the conceits of the Jews, and does not suffer us to entertain so limited and dwarfed a conception as to think that He is a mere Man, slightly surpassing the prophets in the stature they attained, or even falling short of their renown----for we find that the leaders of the Jews had this idea concerning Him, because they not knowing the mystery of piety, frequently uttered blasphemies against Christ, and, encountering His sayings with their mad folly, said on one occasion: Who art Thou? Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead; and Thou sayest, If a man keep My word, He shall never see death. Whom makest Thou Thyself? And on another occasion they cast in His teeth the meanness of His birth according to the flesh, and His great insignificance in this respect: Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father |455 and mother we know? How then doth He say, I am come down out of heaven? Note herein the miserable reasoning of the Jews. As then the multitude were so disposed and thought that the Lord was not truly God because in this human frame He was liable to death, and because they did not scruple to entertain the basest conception of His Nature, the Spirit, when He came down from heaven, illustrated completely His glory to the Saints; not that we should say, that He merely convinced them by wise words, but that He by actual proof also satisfied the minds of all that He was truly God, and the fruit of the Substance of God the Father. What then is this proof? And how did He increase the honour and admiration in which Christ was held? By exercising His activity universally in a marvellous and Divine manner, and by implanting in the Saints complete and perfect knowledge, He furthered His glory. For to the Sovereign Nature of the Universe alone must we ascribe omniscience and the sight of all things naked and laid open to the view, and the ability to accomplish all His purposes.

The Comforter then, that is, His own Spirit, being omnipotent and omniscient, glorifies the Son. And how does He glorify Him? Surely what His Spirit knows and is able to effect, Christ knows and is able to effect. And if, as He says, the Spirit receives of Him, the Spirit Himself being omnipotent, surely He Himself has a power which is universal. And we must in no wise suppose that the Comforter, that is, the Spirit, is lacking in innate and inherent power in such a way that, if He did not receive assistance from without, His own power would not be self-sufficient to fully accomplish the Divine designs. Any one who merely imagined any such idea to be true about the Spirit would with good reason undergo the charge of the worst blasphemy of all. But it is because He is Consubstantial with the Son, and divinely proceeds through Him, |456 exercising universally His entire activity and power, that Christ says, "He shall receive of Me." For we believe that the Spirit has a self-supporting existence and is in truth that which He is, and with the qualities predicated of Him; though, being inherent in the Substance of God, He proceeds and issues from it and has innate in Himself all that that nature implies. For the Divine Substance is not His by participation or by relation, still less is It His as though He had a separate existence from It, since He is an attribute of It. For just as the fragrance of sweet-smelling flowers, proceeding in some sort from the essential and natural exercise of the functions or qualities of the flowers that emit it, conveys the perception thereof to the outer world by meeting those organs of smell in the body, and yet seems in some way, so far as its logical conception goes, to be separate from its natural cause, while (as having no independent existence) it is not separate in nature from the source from which it proceeds and in which it exists, even so you may conceive of the relation of God and the Holy Spirit, taking this by way of illustration. In this way then the statement that His Spirit receives something from the Only-begotten is wholly unimpeachable and cannot be cavilled at. For proceeding naturally as His attribute through Him, and having all that He has in its entirety, He is said to receive that which He has. And if this meaning is conveyed in language that is obscure, far from being offended at it, we should with more justice lay the blame on the poverty of our own language, which is not able to give expression to Divine truths in a suitable way. And what language is adequate to explain the ineffable Nature and Glory of God? He says then that the Comforter "will receive of Mine, and will show it unto you;" that is, He will say nothing that is not in harmony with My purpose; but, since He is My Spirit, His language will be in every way identical with Mine, and He will show you of My Will. |457 

2.  That His Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, is naturally in the Son and in His Substance, as He is also in the Substance of the Father.

15 All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: and therefore I said unto you, that He taketh of Mine and shall declare it unto you.

The Son once more shows to us herein the complete and perfect character of the Person of the Father Himself also, and allows us to see why He said that He, being the fruit of the Father's Substance, engrosses in Himself all that belongs to It, and says that It is all His own, and with reason. For, as there is nothing to dissever or estrange the Son from the Father, so far as their complete similarity and equality is concerned, save only that He is not Himself the Father, and as the Divine Substance does not show Itself differently in the Two Persons, surely Their attributes are common, or rather identical; so that what the Father hath is the Son's, and what He That begat hath, belongs also to Him that is begotten of Him. For this reason, I think, in His watchful care over us, He has thus spoken to us concerning this. For He did not say, All things whatsoever the Father hath I have also, in order to prevent our imagining He meant a mere likeness founded on similarity, only moulded by adventitious graces into conformity with the Archetype, as is the case with us; for we are after God's likeness. Rather, when He says, All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine, He illustrates hereby the perfect union which He hath with His Father, and the meaning of |458 their Consubstantiality existing in unchangeable attributes. And this you may see, that He clearly says elsewhere, when addressing the Father, All things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. For surely they are identical in nature, in whom there is no severance at all, but complete and perfect essential equality and likeness. God the Father then hath, of Himself, and in Himself, His own Spirit; that is, the Holy Spirit, through Whom He dwelleth in the Saints, and reveals His mysteries to them; not as though the Spirit were called to perform a merely ministerial function (do not think this), but rather, as He is in Him essentially, and proceeds from Him inseparably and indivisibly, interpreting what is in reality His own when He interprets that which belongs to Him in Whom He exists, and from Whom He springs. For God only has union with the creation through His Son in the Spirit. And this Spirit is also an attribute of the Only-begotten, for He is Consubstantial with the Father. (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, LFC 43, 48 (1874/1885), Book 11. Vol. 2 pp. 453-588)

The next series of references are taken from G.I. Benevich (Original Russian Translator & Bootleg English Translation by WooDeeWoo/Davion): St. Cyril of Alexandria and His Work "The Book of Treasures."

ARGUMENT §. About the eternally present. A syllogism, connected with some aporia and leading to the recognition of what is appropriate to understand the Son [existing] from the essence of the Father, and not from outside coming, and if so—then obviously, and co-eternal with the Father. <75.45>If, according to your assumption, oh God-fighters, the Son is from non-existence and did not exist before he was born, then it is obvious that He, like other rational [creatures], is called God, Son and Wisdom by participation in God. For this belongs to rational creatures, in whom the beauty of divinity is not certified by their nature, but is provided by the grace of the Giver, as [for example], when He will say: "I have said: you are gods, and all sons of the Most High"¹²⁵. For we, adopted through [our] relation to God, are deified by Him. So, if, having partaken of God by grace, we are called sons of God, then what will we give to partake of the Word, for it to become the Son or God? For we [partake] of the Holy Spirit, and to think such about the Word is illiterate. For He Himself speaks of the Spirit: "will take from Mine"¹²⁶. What then does He partake of? It remains to say—"Father". And what is the form of participation? For example, as from fire [comes] heat [, observed] in [heated] body, or from some flower—fragrance, or, better to say, as to our [souls comes] the Spirit, of which Scripture says that He "proceeds from the Father"¹²⁷. What then is proceeding from the Father and arising in the Word? Then, from the Father's essence, or from somewhere outside will this be accepted [by the Word]? If, therefore, it is from outside, then the Son will not be a participant of the Father, but partaking of something else is sanctified, which is even impious to think. But if you agree to consider [coming] from the essence of the Father given to Him by the Word in participation, then you either allowed that in the divine nature there can occur some section, division and suffering, or,—saying that in God such things happen impassively and indivisibly,—you vainly destroy the Son's birth, introducing into it division and passion. But if God gives birth indivisibly, and impassively gives birth from Himself, then nothing prevents to confess the living Word born from the Father. And the one who came from the eternally present Father will always be [Himself] eternally present, for in this way, having and preserving the Paternal nobility in Himself, He will testify, saying "he who has seen Me has seen the Father". For not in the created is the eternally present revealed. (Thesaurus on the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, pp. 68-70)

ARGUMENT §. But it is written: "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also revive your dead bodies, by His Spirit dwelling in you"¹⁴⁹⁴. But if the Holy Spirit were really a creature and a creation, according to the madness of the non-Orthodox, how would He possess all the work of God? For I do not think that anyone would so deviate from the right way of thinking as to dare even to say that the Divine essence uses some instruments brought into being from without for its action, which by nature extends from it to any of those who are able to perceive it [i.e., the action]. But since the Son is by nature Life, and the Spirit given by Him is life-giving, it is necessary to confess Him to be [derived] from the essence of the Son and God (ek tes ousias hyperchein homologein auto tes tou Hyiou kai Theou), and to have all His power and action, in the same way that evaporation rises from water and by its cooling action testifies to the very nature of the emitting [substance]. (Ibid., pp. 684-685)

A rebuttal to this. He who recognizes the folly and madness of our opponents would be amazed, and very justly so; for from what would be more likely to teach the mystery of the Holy Spirit, and to understand that He is as it were a certain fruit of the Divine essence, existing in it, and from it indivisibly and inseparably derived, [yet] by this they are tempted, being, according to what is written, captives of their sins¹⁵³¹ and therefore unable to walk in the straight paths of teaching. For not by imperfectly showing the Spirit, the Savior says this of Him, but rather to inform the hearers that, being His essence, [the Spirit] can speak no other thing than what He Himself wills. For, being His mind—according to what Blessed Paul says of the Spirit, "But we have the mind of Christ"¹⁵³²—He will certainly think and command the same things as He of whom He is the mind. Therefore [Christ] also asserts that the Spirit speaks nothing of Himself, and hardly says, "It is I who speak again," just as the mind that is in man would say of the word that proceeds from him, "He will say nothing of Himself, but will speak what He hears." And surely no one would call this ordinary spoken human word imperfect because of the fact that it is first formed in the mind and expels [outwardly] the meanings [taken from it]. For the natural unity instantly places in it what is [taken] from it. The Holy Spirit is to be thought of in a similar way. For, being the Mind of Christ, [the Spirit] speaks to the disciples of all that is in Him, not according to some will of His own, or according to a will foreign to Him in whom and from whom He speaks, but as by nature proceeding from His essence (ek tes ousias proion), and having [in Himself] all His will as well as action.

That the Holy Spirit is of the essence of the Father and the Son. In explaining the creation of man and his coming into being, the blessed Moses says that God took the feather from the earth, and by an all-acting power (τῇ παντουργῷ δυνάμει) formed this visible form of body, and blew into his face the breath of life, so that man became a living soul¹⁵³³. Thus we say that this divine infusion (ἐμφύσημα) given to the creature is not the soul itself (for otherwise it would not be subject to change (ἄτρεπτος), as coming from such a nature), but the communion of the Holy Spirit originally infused into the human soul. For all perfection [belongs] to that which is made by the Spirit; hence the living creature (τὸ ζῶον) prepared [by God from the earth] was made in the image of God, since by the communion of the Spirit <75.585>a likeness to Him is formed in it. Renewing in us that which the blessed Moses affirms to have been blown into man by God, Christ, on His resurrection [His] from the dead, breathed into His disciples, saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit"¹⁵³⁴ so that we, being again transformed into the original image (εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰκόνα), might be conformed (σύμμορφοι) to the Creator by the communion of the Spirit. Therefore, since the Holy Spirit, being in us, shows us conformable to God, and since He proceeds (πρόεισι) both from the Father and from the Son, it is evident that He is of the Divine essence, essentially in it [abiding] and proceeding from it, as certainly as the breath proceeding from the human body, though this example is insignificant and not worthy of the subject, for God surpasses all things. (Ibid., pp. 696-699)

ARGUMENT §. Paul writes thus in his letter to some: "I say unto you, that no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, speaketh anathema to Jesus, and no man can speak of the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost."¹⁵⁴². Thus, it is obvious that the one who is partaker of the Holy Spirit knows the Lord Jesus, but the one who is not partaker does not. How does he who has become partaker of the Spirit know that Jesus is Lord? Just as those who have tasted honey know that honey is sweet because of its quality, so also those who have partaken of the Spirit. So from the essence of the Son (ek tes ousias tou Hyiou), the Spirit, which is a certain quality, so to speak, of God who is sovereign over all. And if so, then it follows that He is God, and not created or made, as it seems to the non-Orthodox. (Ibid., p. 701)

ARGUMENT §. Paul, declaring that he boasts of the works done through him by the Savior for the benefit of the Gentiles, says: "For I have praise of Christ Jesus in those things which are unto God. I dare not say anything, unless Christ has done them by me, in the obedience of tongues, in word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit"¹⁵⁸⁸. Hence, if the signs and wonders through Paul are performed by Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a kind of natural and living energy and, so to speak, a quality (poiotes) of the Godhead of the Son. If this be so, how will that which by nature [exists] in God and from God be a creation? How is all the power of the Son in creation? It is impious even to utter such a thing. (Ibid., pp. 719-720)

ARGUMENT §. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of God and the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit with you all. Amen¹⁶⁰⁵. Behold, here again the Holy Spirit is shown to be the superstructure (συμπληρωτικὸν) of the Holy Trinity. How is God one, how is God simple, if the Spirit which is in Him, being created or made, would appear to be something else in comparison <75.609>with Him? But God is truly one, simple and uncomplicated, and without the admixture of any foreign nature. And it is evident that out of Him and in Him [exists] by nature the Spirit, being His fruit, and that it is not from without that He is brought into being (εἰς ὑπόστασιν), nor is it by impurity what He is, as the non-Orthodox foolishly teach.

"O children," says [Paul], "by them be ye sick again, until Christ be imagined in you"¹⁶⁰⁶. If by means of the Spirit alone Christ is imagined in us, and as it were puts His attributes into us, transcribing (ἀναζωγραφῶν) human nature into the beauty of the Godhead, then, therefore, God is the Spirit of Christ, who is imagined in us as He is, and is undoubtedly of His essence¹⁶⁰⁷, and not received into existence from without. (Ibid., pp. 726-727)