Creed of Nicaea
This creed was the product of the first ecumenical council in Nicaea. It attempted to solve the Arian controversy that was ewmbroiling the early church.
The original Nicene Creed was first adopted in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea. At that time, the text ended after the words “We believe in the Holy Spirit”, after which an anathema was added. This is the statement of condemnation of any who do not accept the trinitarian statement of the creed. This anathema would be dropped from the creed of 381.
The Council of Nicaea (325) framed its own statement of orthodox belief, stressing that the Son is of the same essential Being ( homoousios ) as the Father, against the Arian heretics who allotted the Son a lower rank. The original Nicene statement differs considerably from the one recognized at Chalcedon. The latter, our “Nicene Creed,” appears to be based on an earlier baptismal creed possibly from Jerusalem or Antioch, and, in addition to the essential clauses from Nicaea, it incorporated material to combat later heresies.
Representing the statement of an ecumenical council, the Creed was naturally framed in the first-person plural, “we believe.” This plural use is not only original, but is also appropriate in corporate worship. The reference is to the faith of the whole Church, of all times and places, and not only to that of the local congregation. This is in contrast to the Apostles’ Creed, which began as a personal profession of faith.
The Creed
We 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 became man.
And He was crucified 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 sits 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. But as for those who say, There was when He was not, and, before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is from a different hypostasis or substance, or is created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the Catholic Church anathematizes.