The filioque is the Catholic belief that The Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and

the Son.
The concept is simply this :
[In some crazy world where water systems work like this] There are three
components to this system namely The Sea, The Rivers and The Ponds. Now the Sea
(Father) is the ultimate source of all water(Divinity). The water in the sea is not
fixated in the sea but flows to the rivers and ponds. How this happens is that the
water(Divinity) flows from the seas into the rivers (Son). The rivers then in turn
allow for the water to flow to the ponds (Holy Spirit). Now it can be said that the
source of the water in the pond is the sea. This is true as all water in this system
finds its ultimate origin/source in the sea. However it can also be said that the water
in the pond finds its source from the river because without the river, the water from
the sea could not reach the pond. It is from the river that the pond receives its
water. Thus it is true to say the water in the pond is from the sea and the river. The
sea and the river are both components in the flow (Spiration) of water and thus they
are one principal from which the pond received its water.
So the Filioque does not deny the Father's singular role as the Cause (Aition) of the
Spirit; but merely acknowledges the Son's necessary Presence (i.e., participation)
for the Spirit's eternal procession. The Father and Son are thus collectively identified
as accounting for the Spirit's procession. This is all that the Filioque was ever
intended to address; and it was included in the Creed by the Western fathers at
Toledo in order to counter the claims of the 6th Century Spanish (Germanic) Arians.
These Arians were of course denying this essential and orthodox truth, that is, the
Son's eternal participation in the Spirit's procession and thus the Son being
somewhat less divine than the Father
The filioque claims that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son which if
understood, is equivalent to the eastern formula " from the Father through the Son".
The Catholic Church simply teaches that all 3 persons are eternal. They are equally
God and only differs in rank according to relationships. The Father is the Father
becasue he begets the son. The son is son because he is begotten of the father. The
Holy Spirit does not beget nor is he begotten, but proceeds from the father and the
son as from one principle. The main issue is the understanding of "as from one
principle". The Father is the ultimate origin of the Holy Ghost alone. However the
procession of the the Holy Ghost involves the Son as the father gave everything to
the Son except being the father. That is except the property to Beget. So the son
inherits the Spirit of the Father as his own and the spirit is manifested through Son.
As the Father is the origin of deity and in having the Holy Ghost proceeding, the son
is a participant in transmission of being. Thus it is by way of the son that the spirit
proceeds from the Father. He gets his being from the father and the Son as from one
principle. That is what is meant to proceed from the son. The only reason the Holy

Ghost proceeds from the son is because the Son is begotten of the Father. As such
monarchy of the father is still maintained as everything is only becasue it has
ultimate origin in the father.
__________________
For it is a matter of necessity that every Church
should agree with this Church [of Rome] , on account of its preeminent authority
St Irenaeus of Lyon
The best illustrations of the filioque and the monarchy of the Father that I know of
comes from St. John of Damascus:
Quote:

Think of the Father as a spring of life begetting the Son like a river and the Holy
Ghost like a sea, for the spring and the river and sea are all one nature.
Think of the Father as a root, and of the Son as a branch, and the Spirit as a fruit,
for the substance in these three is one.
The Father is a sun with the Son as rays and the Holy Ghost as heat.
In these analogies we see that the Holy Spirit proceeds at once from the Father and
the Son, as there is only one "spiration" of the Holy Spirit. There is one principle of
the Holy Spirit (the mouth of the river, or the stem of the fruit, so to speak) but this
does not preclude the Father from being the ultimate source, nor the Son from a
participation in this single flow. The Father and Son remain very much distinct, and
have different "roles" in the Spiration, but from the perspective of the distinct origin
of Holy Spirit they are united. Although it is not explicit in the Latin language, the
term filioque was always understood with the monarchy of the Father implied, and
the theology follows the examples above.
Greek is much more explicit in this emphasis by the nature of the language, with
two different terms and meanings being used for the single Latin term "procedere".
Where the Greek language makes an explicit distinction in the words themselves,
Latin relies heavily on context.
Hope that helps!