The Nicene
Creed.
(Found in the Acts of the Ecumenical Councils of
Ephesus and Chalcedon, in the Epistle of Eusebius of Cæsarea to
his own Church, in the Epistle of St. Athanasius
Ad Jovianum
Imp
., in the Ecclesiastical Histories of Theodoret and Socrates, and
elsewhere, The variations in the text are absolutely without
importance.)
The Synod at Nice set forth this Creed.
49
The Ecthesis of the Synod at Nice.
50
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all
things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father,
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten (
γεννηθέντα
),
not made, being of one substance (
ὁμοούσιον
,
consubstantialem) with the Father. By whom all things were made,
both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our
salvation came down [from heaven] and was incarnate and was made
man. He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended
into heaven. And he shall come again to judge both the quick and
the dead. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. And whosoever
shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not
(
ἤν ποτε
ὅτε οὐκ ἦν
), or that
before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that
were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the
Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or
conversion
51
—all that so say,
the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them.
Notes.
The Creed of Eusebius of Cæsarea, which he
presented to the council, and which some suppose to have suggested the
creed finally adopted.
(
Found in his Epistle to his diocese; vide: St.
Athanasius and Theodoret.
)
We believe in one only God, Father Almighty, Creator of
things visible and invisible; and in the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is
the Word of God, God of God, Light of Light, life of life, his only
Son, the first-born of all creatures, begotten of the Father before all
time, by whom also everything was created, who became flesh for our
redemption, who lived and suffered amongst men, rose again the third
day, returned to the Father, and will come again one day in his glory
to judge the quick and the dead. We believe also in the Holy
Ghost. We believe that each of these three is and subsists; the
Father truly as Father, the Son truly as Son, the Holy Ghost truly as
Holy Ghost; as our Lord also said, when he sent his disciples to
preach: Go and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
49
This is the heading in
the Acts of the IIId Council. Labbe,
Conc
., tom. iii.,
671.
50
This is the heading in the
Acts of the IVth Council. Labbe,
Conc
., tom. iv., 339.
51
This word, in the Greek
τρεπτὸν
is
translated in the Latin
convertibilem
, but see side note in
Labbe.