Heretics assert that Christ said this as a humble Man, according to human nature, for Christ said many things about Himself humbly, in a human way, as: "Seek ye to kill Me, the Man" (John 8:40). He said this as a Man. And there is much of this in the Holy Gospel. Christ spoke both humbly, as a Man, and with authority, as God. It is precisely because of human humility, the heretics assert, that Christ also said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, but did not attribute this to Himself.

But these are false heretical teachings! When the Lord said, "Whom I will send to you," He said this to His disciples, not as a man, but precisely as God: for man does not send God. Since the Holy Spirit is God, the Lord also says as God: "Whom I will send to you." And not once, but many times, He said that the Spirit proceeds from the Father in order to stop the mouths of those who wish to assert that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.

Some point out that Christ, having breathed, said to His disciples: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (cf. John 20:22), and therefore they believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.

To this Athanasius the Great answers: It should be known that when Christ, having breathed, said to His disciples: "Receive the Holy Spirit," He did not give them the Essence of the Holy Spirit, but a spiritual gift, as He Himself testifies, saying: "It is better for you that I should go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you" (John 16:7). It is obvious that if Christ has not yet departed, then this breath was not the coming of the Comforter, but a gift of spiritual grace. And when He said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," He added, "To whom ye forgive sins, they shall be forgiven; on whom ye shall retain, they shall remain" (John 20:23). From this it is clearly seen that this breath was a spiritual gift to forsake and forgive sins, and not the Hypostasis and Essence of the Holy Spirit; for it is customary for the Scriptures to call a spiritual gift a spirit, as Isaiah writes of Christ: "A sprout shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall sprout from his root," and seven spirits shall rest upon it, that is, the seven spiritual gifts. And so that no one would ponder what these seven spirits are, he himself interpreted them as "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness" (Isaiah 11:1-2), "the spirit of the fear of God" (See Isaiah 11:3, in the Synodal translation — "and he shall be filled with the fear of the Lord"). And Gregory the Theologian says: it is convenient for Isaiah to call actions, I mean spiritual, spirits, because the spiritual nature itself is not divided, but divides the gifts.

When He ascended to Heaven, the disciples received the Holy Spirit as a Hypostasis. For the Lord Himself says of this: "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit shall come upon you" (Acts 1:8). As it happened on the day of Pentecost, of which the Apostle Peter also testifies, that the apostles then received the Holy Spirit – on the day of Pentecost. He says, "This Jesus God hath raised up... Therefore He, having been lifted up by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out that which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:32-33), and this was on the day of Pentecost, and not when Christ breathed.

Thus testifies the Lord our God Himself, Jesus Christ; and the great Apostle Peter also says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and not from the Son, and that the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and not when Christ breathed on the disciples.

And the seven Ecumenical Councils, in which two thousand holy fathers participated, and the most sacred holy local councils, at which a multitude of great God-bearing fathers and wonderworkers gathered, all confirm the confession of the Orthodox faith in the Holy Spirit, true, life-giving, proceeding from the Father; but no one says that He proceeds from the Son.

With them, the bishops, the hierarchs, the monks, and the luminaries of the Church – all confirmed and guarded the teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and not from the Son.

Basil the Great: The Father begets, the Son is born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father – this is the only difference within the Holy Trinity.

Gregory the Theologian: The Holy Spirit is truly the Spirit; He proceeds from the Father, but not as the Son, for He is not begotten, but proceeds.

St. John Chrysostom: Be of good cheer, the preaching will not remain without testimony, but the Spirit proceeding from the Father will obey the truth with signs and wonders. For Christ said, "I do not bring forth from my bosom, but from the Father it is given by me." When He says: "I will send" (John 15:26), He reveals His equality with the Father.

Gregory of Nyssa: The Father begets the Son, and is the Father. And the Son that is born, the Word, is the Son. In the same way, the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father, is the Holy Spirit, by Whom all things are sanctified.

St. Gregory the Dialogist, who shone forth after the Sixth Council, says that the Spirit-Comforter proceeds from the Father and dwells upon the Son.

John of Damascus: The Father is the source and cause of the Son and the Spirit, but the Son is not the cause of the Spirit, but the Father alone is the cause of the Son and the Spirit.