The Creed

The faith of the whole Church in a few lines, confessed, not composed, at every Liturgy.

The Nicene Creed, or Symbol of Faith, is the Orthodox Church's short confession of what it believes, set forth by the Councils of Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381 and said at every Divine Liturgy. The Orthodox Church keeps it as those councils gave it, without the later Western addition, the filioque.

The Creed, the Symbol of Faith, is the concise confession of what the Orthodox Church believes, recited by the faithful at every Divine Liturgy. It was set forth by the first two Ecumenical Councils, at Nicaea in 325 and Constantinople in 381, to guard the apostolic faith against distortion, and it has been prayed unchanged ever since.

It is called a Symbol not in the modern sense but in the ancient: a token by which believers recognise one another, a boundary that marks what is inside the faith and what is not. Line by line it confesses one God the Father, the Son “of one essence with the Father,” the Holy Spirit “the Lord and Giver of life,” the one Church, one baptism, and the resurrection of the dead.

The Orthodox Church confesses the Creed in the words the councils gave it, without the later Western addition to the article on the Holy Spirit. To say the Creed is not to offer one's private opinion but to stand within the faith of the whole Church across every age, to say, with the martyrs and the Fathers, we believe.

Said at every Liturgy

The Symbol of Faith

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 Son of God, the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made.

Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.

And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.

And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets.

In one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen.

Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church (1906) · Public domain · lightly modernized by Orthros

How the Creed came to be

The Creed was set forth at two councils. At Nicaea in 325 the Church answered the Arian teaching that the Son of God is a creature, and confessed the Son “of one essence with the Father,” homoousios in Greek. At Constantinople in 381 the second council completed the article on the Holy Spirit, “Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified.”

The councils wrote “We believe.” The Orthodox Church says it in the singular, “I believe,” and the word creed itself is from the Latin credo, “I believe.”

Sources: Wikipedia: Nicene Creed; OCA: Nicene Creed

Questions about the Creed

What is the filioque?

The Latin words "and the Son," added in the West to the Creed's line on the Holy Spirit, who proceeds "from the Father." The Orthodox Church does not accept the addition, and it was among the causes of the Great Schism.

When is the Creed said?

At every Divine Liturgy, and many say it in their morning prayers.

Why is it called the Symbol of Faith?

In the ancient sense of a symbol: a token by which believers recognise one another, and a boundary that marks what the faith is.

More questions about the Orthodox Church, answered ›

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.”

The Nicene Creed, opening (public domain)

In Orthros

Orthros keeps the Creed in its twelve articles, each a boundary stone, with catechesis on what each confesses, free to read, each with its source shown.