filioque means the use of the Latin word filioque (“and from the son”) in the Western form of the Nicene Creed, to indicate that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son (as opposed to the Eastern Orthodox Churches which believe the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
filioque is pronounced /fɪliˈoʊkwiː/.
Why “filioque” is a great word
FILIOQUE — [Noun] The theological clause, and the doctrine it names, asserting the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father *and* the Son, as inserted into the Latin Nicene Creed. From Latin filioque, from filiō ("from the son," ablative case of filius, "son") + -que ("and"). Unlike *monopatrism* (which insists on a single, paternal source) or a *creed* (which is the whole architecture of belief), the *Filioque* is the specific, fractious stone upon which an entire edifice split. It is the dry scrape of a scribal pen in a Frankish scriptorium, the chilled silence of the Hagia Sophia after the anathema, and the weight of a thousand years of separation measured in a single syllable—proof that the smallest, most adamant words can bear the heaviest consequences.
noun
- The use of the Latin word filioque (“and from the son”) in the Western form of the Nicene Creed, to indicate that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son (as opposed to the Eastern Orthodox Churches which believe the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone).“But in 867 an assertion of papal authority led to a formal split. Photius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, attacked the filioque, which was beginning to draw papal support, and summoned a council that excommunicated the Pope.”