# The Nestorians and their Rituals/Volume 2/Chapter 9

CHAPTER IX.
OF THE HOLY GHOST.
"The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God."—Article V.
§ 1. "And I believe in one Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, proceeding from the Father,—the life-giving Spirit." From the Nicene Creed as used in the three Liturgies of the Nestorians.
§ 2. "He went out with them unto Bethany, and lifted up His hands and blessed them, and spake to them of the Holy Ghost the Paraclete, the Holy Person, and made known to them that He is co-existent with the Father from eternity, incomprehensible, and not to be contained by this limited world. That it is He who dispenses gifts and discloses the mysteries to come, and who interprets the hidden things of God. He also made known unto them that the Holy Ghost is not a mere gift but a Person, co-equal with the Father and the Son, and that it is He who judges, teaches, communicates, and who speaks in the place of the speakers." [S. Luke xii. 11, 12.] From the service appointed in the Gezza for the festival of the holy Nativity.
REMARKS.
From the above it will be seen that the Nestorians believe the Spirit to proceed from the Father, as do all the Churches of the East agreeably with the creed drawn up by the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381; but the doctrine of the Procession is hardly ever adverted to in their rituals in a purely doctrinal form. It is remarkable, however, that in the so-called Nicene ​Creed as in use among them they do not add the doxology, which was subjoined by the Constantinopolitan Council, after the declaration of the Spirit's procession, though they are well acquainted with it, as will appear in the sequel.
From these facts it would appear that the Nestorians were never troubled with any of the controversies about this article which took place, especially in the West, after the fifth century. There can be no doubt, however, that, if dogmatically asserted, the confession that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son would by them be considered heterodox, as it was by their Patriarch when I translated to him the Creed as used in our Communion office. But after quoting the scriptural authorities on which this truth rests, and upon showing him how positive the inference was that the Procession was also from the Son, his objection to it as a doctrine seemed to be removed, though he did not appear to admit that the Western Church possessed the right of adding the Filioque to the creed of an œcumenical council.
There is strong reason, however, for believing that the Procession, as held by us, was virtually held by the compilers of the Nestorian rituals, although it is not to be met with in the shape of a dogma. Thus in a collect appointed in the Khudhra to be used on the fourth of the Sundays of Moses, and read after the Gospel in the liturgy, we read as follows: "God the Self-existent is one, Who is beyond all comprehension, in Three Eternal Persons. The Father who from eternity had no father. The Son of Him, without a son, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from them. He is the Almighty Essence, to Whom be glory in the temple of our humanity." There can be no doubt of the antiquity and authenticity of this quotation, which is still to be found in all the Nestorian Khudhras, and constantly used by them. The literal translation of the original is, "Who proceeds from them;" the plural pronoun here can only refer to the antecedent "Father and Son."
The following extract from the Sinhadòs "On the faith of the 318, with a short exposition by the Synod convened by Mar Yeshua-yau," is equally clear on this point. " When they had finished their deliberations on the Divinity and Humanity of Christ, they condemned the impiety of Macedonius, who bias​phemed the Holy Spirit, and they declared thus: 'and in one Holy Ghost, the life-giving Lord, proceeding from the Father, who with the Son is worshipped, who spake by the prophets.' Hereby the fathers, by their heavenly doctrine, magnified the Person of the Holy Spirit, and confessed that He is the Offspring of the Self-existent, the Offspring of the essence of the Father and the Son."
The following, from the service in the Gezza appointed to be read on the festival of the "Greek Doctors," clearly proves that the Nestorians have no sympathy with the heresiarchs whose teaching tended in any way to impugn the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
"Woe, and woe again, to all the conclave of heretics.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who say that God died.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who do not say that God is immortal.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who say that Mary is the Mother of God.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who do not say that Mary is the Mother of Christ.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who do not confess the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who do not confess Three Persons in one Essence.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who do not confess in Christ two Natures, two Persons, and one Parsopa of Filiation.
"Woe, and woe again, to Simon, Arius, and Eunomius.
"Woe, and woe again, to Macedonius and Sabellius.
"Woe, and woe again, to Bar Baryâné and Mahedrâyé.
"Woe, and woe again, to Dumaritus and Pontinus.
"Woe, and woe again, to the wicked Eutyches and Dalmatis.
"Woe, and woe again, to Lotinus and Magnetis.
"Woe, and woe again, to Apollinaris and Origen.
"Woe, and woe again, to the wicked Cyril and Severus.
"Woe, and woe again, to the cursed Jacob [Baraddæus] and Bardassenes.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who deny the only true God.
"Woe, and woe again, to all who have been expelled the Church for their impiety.