Third Council of Toledo
council · 589 · Toledo
At the third council of Toledo (589) king Reccared led the Visigothic nobility and Arian bishops into the Catholic church. To fortify the Son's full deity the Spanish churches recited the creed with 'who proceeds from the Father and the Son' — a local safeguard that, carried through Gaul to Rome itself, became the deepest doctrinal grievance between West and East.
The Third Council of Toledo (589) marks the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church, and is known for codifying the filioque clause into Western Christianity. The council also enacted restrictions on Jews, and the conversion of the country to Catholic Christianity led to repeated conflict with the Jews.
Reccared's Visigothic kingdom renounces Arianism for the Catholic faith.
Spain enters Nicene communion — and, reciting the creed against Arianism, adds 'and the Son' (filioque): the word that will divide East and West.
People
- Leander of Seville presided
- Reccared I converted
Documents
Glosses
- And the Son Reciting the creed against Arianism in 589, the Third Council of Toledo added one word to the clause on the Spirit: filioque, and the Son. It was a local defence of the Son's divinity, not a claim against the East. But…
What it decided
- The Filioque The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
In the disputes
- The Filioque dispute One word added to the creed in Spain against Arianism, carried north with the Frankish liturgy, refused at Rome for two centuries and sung there from 1014.