Folio 251

Eugenius IV, 1431-1447

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EUGENIUS IV 1431-1447

COUNCIL OF FLORENCE 1438-1445

Ecumenical XVII (Union with the Greeks, Armenians, Jacobites)

Decree for the Greeks1

[From the Bull "Laetentur coeli," July 6, 1439]

691. [The procession of the Holy Spirit] In the name of the Holy Trinity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with the approbation of this holy general Council of Florence we define that this truth of faith be believed and accepted by all Christians, and that all likewise profess that the Holy Spirit is eternally from the Father and the Son and has His essence and His subsistent being both from the Father and the Son, and proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and one spiration; we declare that what the holy Doctors and Fathers say, namely, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, tends to this meaning, that by this it is signified that the Son also is the cause, according to the Greeks, and according to the Latins, the principle of the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, as is the Father also. And that all things, which are the Father's, the Father Himself has given in begetting His only begotten Son; without being Father, the Son Himself possesses this from the Father, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son from whom He was moreover eternally begotten. We define in addition that the explanation of the words "Filioque" for the sake of declaring the truth and also because of imminent necessity has been lawfully and reasonably added to the Creed.

692. We have likewise defined that the body of Christ is truly effected in unleavened or leavened wheaten bread; and that priests ought to effect the body of our Lord in either one of these, and each one namely according to the custom of his Church, whether that of the West or of the East.

693. [De novissimis]2 It has likewise defined, that, if those truly penitent have departed in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for sins of commission and omission, the souls of these are cleansed after death by purgatorial punishments; and so that they may be released from punishments of this kind, the suffrages of the living faithful are of advantage to them, namely, the sacrifices of Masses,

  1. Msi XXXI 1030 D f. (1696 D f.); Hrd IX 422 B f. (986 B f.); BR(T) 5, 41 a f.; MBR 1, 335 b f.; Hfl VII 737 (746) ff.; cf. Bar(Th) about 1439 n. 1 ff.; n. 8 (28, 282 b f.); cf. M Th Cc 5, 452 ff. ↩

  2. On the origin of this definition, cf. "Gregorianum" 18 (1937) 337 ff. [G. Hofmann, S.J.]. ↩