Three Little Words

(Image from api.ning.com)

A family raised in the Eastern Orthodox tradition has recently joined the local Episcopal church. At today's early service, out of courtesy to the new members, the priest asked the assembly not to say three little words from the second half of the Nicene Creed:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and Son he is worshipped and glorified.

The omission of "and the Son" may seem trivial, but those three little words go to the heart of one of the theological controversies that split the ancient church.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only, while Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and other Western Christians add "and the Son," words that were inserted centuries after the Council of Nicaea. The Filioque controversy is over the essence of the Holy Trinity and is one of the obstacles to reunification of Eastern and Western Christianity.

Three little words have divided millions of believers for a thousand years. And we wonder why the Israelis and Palestinians can't just get along.