Abstract

The article takes its cue from Crediamo nello Spirito Santo (ed. by J.P. Lieggi, Roma, Città Nuova, 2022), an anthology of patristic texts about the Holy Spirit that anticipated or followed the pneumatological doctrines of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed. First, the article proposes a methodological discussion of Lieggi’s selection criteria. Second, it offers some observations about the need to include the pneumatological doctrines developed by early Christian dualistic, charismatic and so-called heterodox movements as an integral and essential part of the patristic reflections on the Trinity and development of the dogma. Third, it discusses the problem of the double procession of the Spirit in the Latin tradition: I propose to evade the old “East vs Westµ paradigm opposing Trinitarian theologies and challenged by a new interpretation of Augustine’s doctrine of the double procession of the Spirit as the way in which he reconciles identity and relationality in the Trinity. As a consequence, the unity of the Trinity should not be identified solely in the common essence of the three persons, but mainly in the eternal process of generation and procession which takes place in the Holy Spirit’s persona.