The Filioque, ACNA, and the Anglican Communion

For the vast majority of people in the Anglican Communion the Nicene Creed is recited week after week with the filioque clause. This of course is where we say in the creed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from “the Father and the Son. The “and the Son” clause is “filioque” roughly in Latin. However, many Anglicans do not know that the Anglican Church, at least from the side of leadership, has been moving to remove the filioque and go back to the original Creed which says, “The holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.” Here are some things to consider:

• In 1978 the Anglican Communion’s Lambeth Conference requested “that all member Churches of the Anglican Communion should consider omitting the Filioque from the Nicene Creed, and that the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission through the Anglican Consultative Council should assist them in presenting the theological issues to their appropriate synodical bodies and should be responsible for any necessary consultation with other Churches of the Western tradition.”
• In 1988 the conference “ask(ed) that further thought be given to the Filioque clause, recognizing it to be a major point of disagreement (with the Orthodox) … recommending to the provinces of the Anglican Communion that in future liturgical revisions the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed be printed without the Filioque clause.” At a subsequent joint meeting of the Anglican Primates and Anglican Consultative Council in 1993, a resolution was passed urging Anglican churches to comply with the request that “in future liturgical revisions the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed be printed without the Filioque clause.”
• In 1985 the General Convention of The Episcopal Church (USA) recommended that the Filioque clause should be removed from the Nicene Creed, if this were endorsed by the 1988 Lambeth Council. Accordingly, at its 1994 General Convention, the Episcopal Church reaffirmed its intention to remove the words “and the son” from the Nicene Creed in the next revision of its Book of Common Prayer.The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer was last revised in 1979, and has not been revised since the resolution.
• In 1985 The Synodical body of the Anglican Church of Canada approved the original Nicene’ Creed to be printed and used in the Alternative Service Book of the Anglican Church of Canada.

It is true that there have been more pressing concerns recently within the Anglican Communion,, including issues surrounding the authority of Lambeth 1998. However, those who would like to call attention to Lambeth 98 as authoritative should also look at Lambeth 78 and 88, and consider removing the filioque in compliance with those previous conferences.  The Anglican Church of North America, is in the process of looking at various liturgical revisions.  Likewise, they have also entered into renewed ecumenical talks with the Eastern Orthodox Church through OCA.  It would go a long way in showing our support for Lambeth and a gracious nod to our Ecumenical partners in Orthodoxy if we were to return to the original Nicene Creed in any future liturgical reforms that come out of our Province.   It will be interesting to see if the Anglican Communion could live without the filioque clause, the Church on the British Isles did for centuries and I think her descendents could again.