589

The Third Council of Toledo (589): the conversion of the Visigoths and the filioque

The Visigoths had ruled Spain as Arians since 415. They did not persecute Nicene Christians. But their kings gradually realized that the stability of their kingdom required the support of the native Roman population.

King Reccared (r. 586–601) adopted the Nicene faith. He solemnly proclaimed it at the Council of Toledo in 589. The nobility followed him, and Arianism soon disappeared in Spain.

The same council formally enshrined the Western theological formula of the procession of the Holy Spirit "and from the Son" (filioque). The doctrine goes back to Augustine's treatise "On the Trinity" and was already included in the Athanasian Creed. The formula was now added to the text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.

The East never accepted this addition. For centuries the filioque question became one of the chief points of division between the Eastern and Western Churches.