Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
The Creed of the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), professed at Sunday Mass.
Pray it along with us, with every prayer on screen:
Where Does This Prayer Come From?
Alexandria, Egypt.
A clergyman named Arius starts teaching something new.
The Son, he says, was created.
God alone is without beginning.
The Son once did not exist.
That spreads fast.
So in 325, bishops gather at Nicaea.
Their answer turns on one Greek word.
Homoousios.
Same substance.
At Mass we say it this way:
"consubstantial with the Father."
Wait.
Isn't that just philosophy?
Not really.
Jesus said it more simply.
I and the Father are one.
— John 10:30
The bishops weren't adding to the faith.
They were guarding it.
The Creed was not written to make the faith complicated, but to protect something simple: Jesus is God.
Then, in 381, the Council of Constantinople.
The Creed grows.
A longer section on the Holy Spirit.
He is Lord.
He gives life.
He is worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son.
That's why the full name is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Most of us just say the Nicene Creed.
Later, the Latin West added three words: "and the Son."
The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
It is an old point of difference with Eastern Christians.
The Catechism says this Creed "remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day."
— CCC 195
Many Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists and Reformed Christians confess it too.
Including the line "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church."
You may read that line differently.
But you at least have to admit:
"catholic" means "universal."
— CCC 830
And Christians have been saying it together for more than sixteen centuries.
Born in a fight.
Said every Sunday.
Still true.
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