The Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo Church and all Orthodox Churches believes "in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life"
(Nicene Creed). The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, Who proceeds from the Father only (St. John
15:26). The Church firmly opposed the opinion that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son, and pronounced the correct belief
in the Nicene Creed at the Second Ecumenical Synod.
The Orthodox
Churches do not use the phrase Filioque, "and of the Son". According
to the Sacred Scriptures, the Son, Jesus Christ only sends the Holy Spirit in time, saying: "I will send
unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father" (St. John 15:26).
It is evident from the Sacred Scripture that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the
Father only; this was the belief from the very beginning of the One, Holy, Catholic (Universal Undivided) Church. When the
Church in the West inserted the "Filioque" phrase into the Creed, this innovation hastened the
Great Schism of the Undivided Church, between the East and West.
The
"Filioque" phrase is an error. It is not found in the Scripture. It was not believed by the Undivided
Church for eight centuries, including the Church in the West. It introduces a strange teaching of a double procession of the
Holy Spirit and refers to two origins of the Spirit's existence, thus denying the unity of the Godhead.