Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/107

Rh Creed as in use among them they do not add the doxology, which was subjoined by the Constantinopolitan Council, after the declaration of the '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 proceeds from the  and the  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 scriptural25 authorities on which this truth rests, and upon showing him how positive the inference was that the Procession was also from the, 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: " the Self-existent is one, Who is beyond all comprehension, in Three Eternal Persons. The who from eternity had no father. The  of Him, without a son, and the 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 " and ."

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, they condemned the impiety of , who bias-