St. Luke Anglican Catholic Church,   Augusta, Georgia

  

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The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the profession of the Christian Faith common to the Catholic Church, the Eastern Churches, and most Protestant denominations:

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 sitteth on the right hand of the Father: And he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the Prophets: And I believe one 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.

Contrary to popular belief, the Nicene Creed (in its present form) was not produced by the Council of Nicaea (AD 325). That council produced a summary of faith now known as the Nicaean Symbol.

Soon after the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) new summaries of the Christian faith were composed, most of them variations of the Nicene Symbol, to counter new versions of Arianism. Arianism was a heresy (false teaching) which can be briefly described as the belief that Christ was the first and highest created being. Note the phrase in the the Nicene Creed: ". . . begotten, not made." Among Catholic Christians the Nicene Symbol gradually came to be recognized as the proper profession of faith for candidates for baptism. Its change into the Nicene Creed we now use is usually ascribed to the Council of Constantinople (AD 381).