Council of Florence
The council that attempted to reunite the Latin and Greek churches. Its 1442 bull Cantate Domino states the formula that in God everything is one except where relations stand opposed — the principle Aquinas had used, now made conciliar.
Florence was the last serious attempt at reunion between the Latin and Greek churches before the fall of Constantinople, and its terms did not hold: the Greek delegation's agreement was repudiated at home.
Its 1442 bull *Cantate Domino* contains the formula that concerns this material — that in God all things are one except where an opposition of relation stands in the way. That single clause is Aquinas's principle raised to conciliar status, and it is what licenses the Latin position on the procession of the Spirit. Anyone borrowing "opposition of relations" as a piece of neutral metaphysics is borrowing a confessional commitment with it.
Where this comes up
Sources
- Council of Florence, bull Cantate Domino (1442)