The Holy Spirit in the theology of Saint John of Damascus

This article examines the pneumatology of Saint John of Damascus, an eighth-century Syro-Palestinian theologian, through an analytical study of the *Exposition of the Orthodox Faith* and the homilies on the Dormition. Andrew Louth begins from the observation that Damascus is relatively reticent on the subject of the Holy Spirit, and shows that this reserve reflects a sacred awe rather than a theological oversight. The article highlights the original formula according to which the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son," distinct from the Latin *Filioque* and heir to an Alexandrian exegetical tradition concerning Isaiah 11 and John 1:32. This pneumatology structures the whole of Damascus's sacramental theology: the Spirit purifies the Virgin to make her receptive to the Word, and acts in the same way in baptism and the Eucharist. The contribution of the article is to reveal the internal coherence of a pneumatology often considered abstract, by demonstrating its rootedness in the history of salvation.