The Catholic Creeds

INTRODUCTION

The Creeds express the consensus of distilled orthodox Trinitarian belief in the Early Church. They were especially concerned with how we understand the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in relation to one another; but also the relationship between the humanity and divinity of Christ. The Creeds represent the Ancient and Historic roots of the faith, and we still wholly believe and cherish them today.

The Nicene Creed
The Apostolic Creed
The Chalcedonian Creed
The Athanasian Creed

The Creeds have been passed down in the Church since the earliest centuries of the Church—each ranging from approximately 1,700 years to 1,400 years old—as distillations of the most essential tenets of the Christian faith. Creed comes from the Latin word Credo, "I believe."

Catholic and Ecumenical are synonymous terms—both words refer to the Universal Church (the Body of Christ) irrespective of tradition, jurisdiction, or denominational affiliation. Catholic comes from the Greek word meaning 'in respect to the whole,' while Ecumenical comes from the Greek for 'the inhabited earth,' i.e., the whole world. Both Catholic and Ecumenical are used to refer to the Creeds. They are so named because they represent the Biblical teaching which has been accepted by the Church—the Body of Christ—throughout all ages, places, and peoples. This is why the Councils which formulated (or informed) these Creeds were called Ecumenical, as they represented the Church throughout the entire world in their time.

Absolution Church recites at least one of the Creeds in every worship service. As our forebears affirmed these Creeds, we today also affirm them to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.

THE NICENE CREED

The first form of the Nicene Creed was produced at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD in response to the Arian heresy. Arianism posited that the God the Son was a created, subordinate being to God the Father—"There was a time when the Son of God wasn't." The Council of Nicaea sought to clarify the relationship between the Father and the Son, specifically with respect to the Son's divinity. Later, in 381 AD, the First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople both reaffirmed the Creed and made additional clarifications pertaining to the Gospel and the divinity of the Holy Ghost. This resulted in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (the second edition) which is now commonly called "The Nicene Creed."

Icon from the Mégalo Metéoron Monastery in Greece, representing the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea 325 A.D., Constantine the Great presiding center with the condemned Arius below.

Read the Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

THE APOSTOLIC CREED

The Apostolic Creed (also called The Apostles' Creed) is not associated to any ecumenical council of the early Church, but seems to have developed as a "symbol of the faith" for those seeking baptism. Catechumens (those seeking to learn and profess the faith and seeking admission into the Church) were expected to recite and affirm their belief in the Creed prior to their baptism. It is thought to have become widely circulated in writing throughout the Latin Church in the 4th Century, likely between the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and Council of Constantinople (381 AD). It is very similar to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, though more concise. The one notable difference is the clause stating Jesus "descended into hell"—i.e., the grave or "the innermost parts of the earth," as we are told in Ephesians 4. Apostolic means "of the faith handed down by the Apostles of Jesus Christ. The Church historically held to the belief that the Apostolic Creed in its earliest and original form was composed by the 12 Apostles, hence the name.

The Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles. Russian, 14th century, Moscow Museum

Read the Apostolic Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the Life everlasting. Amen.

THE CHALCEDONIAN CREED

The Chalcedonian Creed (also called the Definition of Chalcedon) proceeded from the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. Chalcedon was the 4th Ecumenical Council convened by the Ancient Church, and did so primarily to clarify our understanding of the relationship between Christ's human and divine natures. The verdict was that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, possessed two natures—both human and divine—united in one Personhood or Subsistence (Greek hypostasis) of the Triune God. This union of the divine and human natures in the Person of the Son is thus called the "hypostatic union." Jesus is one indivisible person who is at once truly man and truly God. The theological term for this system of understanding of Jesus Christ is called dyophysitism (Greek, meaning two natures).

Christ Pantocrator from Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai. This work emphasizes the two natures of Christ by the two sides of His face.

Read the Chalcedonian Creed

We, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us. Amen.

THE ATHANASIAN CREED

The Athanasian Creed is named after St. Athanasius of Alexandria (d.373 AD), though it was likely written by others in Gaul (contemporary France) sometime in the 5th or 6th Century. It was written to be a clear and definitive Trinitarian and Christological formula against Arianism, which had become strongly entrenched within Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula—even persisting even after the Visigothic Kingdom converted to Trinitarian Orthodoxy in 589 AD. While contemporary historical evidence does not support direct Athanasian authorship, it retains its historic name in honor and commemoration of his stalwart and sacrificial defense of Trinitarian Orthodoxy during his lifetime. It has been received as a Creed in the Western Church for over a millennium, and it is perhaps the clearest affirmation of Trinitarian Orthodoxy which has ever been composed.

Stained Glass representing the Trinity.

Read the Athanasian Creed

Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.

Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost uncreate.

The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible: and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.

The Father eternal, the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal.

As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated: but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty: and the Holy Ghost Almighty.

And yet they are not three Almighties: but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God.

And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord: and the Holy Ghost Lord.

And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;

So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion: to say there be three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten.

The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other: none is greater, or less than another;

But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-equal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation: that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the right Faith is that we believe and confess: that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;

God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds: and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;

Perfect God, and Perfect Man: of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting;

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead: and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.

Who although he be God and Man: yet he is not two, but one Christ;

One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by taking of the Manhood into God;

One altogether, not by confusion of Substance: but by unity of Person.

For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and Man is one Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation: descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty: from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies: and shall give account for their own works.

And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

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