The
Holy Creed Which the 150 Holy Fathers Set Forth, Which is Consonant
with the Holy and Great Synod of Nice
206
.
(
Found in all the Collections in the Acts of the
Council of Chalcedon
.)
Introductory Note.
The reader should know that Tillemont
(
Mémoires
, t. ix., art. 78 in the treatise on St. Greg.
Naz.) broached the theory that the Creed adopted at Constantinople was
not a new expansion of the Nicene but rather the adoption of a Creed
already in use. Hefele is of the same opinion (
Hist. of the
Councils
, II., p. 349), and the learned Professor of Divinity in
the University of Jena, Dr. Lipsius, says, of St. Epiphanius:
“Though not himself present at the Ecumenical Council of
Constantinople,
a.d.
381, which ensured the
triumph of the Nicene doctrine in the Oriental Churches, his shorter
confession of faith, which is found at the end of his
Ancoratus
,
and seems to have been the baptismal creed of the Church of Salamis,
agrees almost word for word with the Constantinopolitan
formula.” (Smith and Wace,
Dict. Chr. Biog
.,
s.v.
Epiphanius). “The Ancoratus,” St.
Epiphanius distinctly tells us, was written as early as
a.d.
374, and toward the end of chapter cxix., he writes as
follows. “The children of the Church have received from the
holy fathers, that is from the holy Apostles, the faith to keep, and to
hand down, and to teach their children. To these children you
belong, and I beg you to receive it and pass it on. And whilst
you teach your children these things and such as these from the holy
Scriptures, cease not to confirm and strengthen them, and indeed all
who hear you: tell them that this is the holy faith of the Holy
Catholic Church, as the one holy Virgin of God received it from the
holy Apostles of the Lord to keep: and thus every person who is
in preparation for the holy laver of baptism must learn it: they
must learn it themselves, and teach it expressly, as the one Mother of
all, of you and of us, proclaims it, saying.” Then follows
the Creed as on page 164.
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 only begotten Son of God, begotten of his
Father before all worlds, 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 and 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 at 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. (
I
)
And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and
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. And [we believe] in one, holy, (
II
) Catholic and
Apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of
sins, [and] we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of
the world to come. Amen.
Note I.
This clause had already, so far as the meaning is
concerned, been added to the Nicene Creed, years before, in correction
of the heresy of Marcellus of Ancyra, of whose heresy a statement will
be found in the notes on Canon I. of this Council. One of the
creeds of the Council of Antioch in Encæniis (
a.d.
341) reads: “and he sitteth at the right
hand of
the Father, and he shall
come again to judge both the quick and the dead, and he remaineth God
and King to all eternity.”
207
Note II.
The word “Holy” is omitted in some texts of
this Creed, notably in the Latin version in the collection of Isidore
Mercator.
Vide
Labbe,
Conc
., II., 960. Cf.
Creed in English Prayer-Book.
Notes.
The Creed Found in
Epiphanius’s
Ancoratus
(
Cap
. cxx.)
208
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 only begotten Son of God, begotten of the
Father before all worlds, that is of the substance of the Father, Light
of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, consubstantial with
the Father: by whom all things were made, both in heaven and
earth: who for us men and for our salvation came down from
heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and
was made man, was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and
suffered, and was buried, and on the third day he rose again according
to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of the Father, and from thence he shall come again with glory to
judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no
end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and 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. We acknowledge one baptism
for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. And those who say that there
was a time when the Son of God was not, and before he was begotten he
was not, or that he was of things which are not, or that he is of a
different hypostasis or substance, or pretend that he is effluent or
changeable, these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.
Epiphanius thus continues:
“And this faith was delivered from the Holy
Apostles and in the Church, the Holy City, from all the Holy Bishops
together more than three hundred and ten in number.”
“In our generation, that is in the times of
Valentinus and Valens, and the ninetieth year from the succession of
Diocletian the tyrant,
209
you and we and all
the orthodox bishops of the whole Catholic Church together, make this
address to those who come to baptism, in order that they may proclaim
and say as follows:”
Epiphanius then gives this creed:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all
things, invisible and visible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ the
Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only begotten, that is of the
substance of the Father, 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, both which be in heaven and in earth, whether
they be visible or invisible. Who for us men and for our
salvation came down, and was incarnate, that is to say was conceived
perfectly through the Holy Ghost of the holy ever-virgin Mary, and was
made man, that is to say a perfect man, receiving a soul, and body, and
intellect, and all that make up a man, but without sin, not from human
seed, nor [that he dwelt] in a man, but taking flesh to himself into
one holy entity; not as he inspired the prophets and spake and worked
[in them], but was perfectly made man, for the Word was made flesh;
neither did he experience any change, nor did he convert his divine
nature into the nature of man, but united it to his one holy perfection
and Divinity.
For there is one Lord Jesus Christ, not two, the same is
God, the same is Lord, the same is King. He suffered in the
flesh, and rose again, and ascended into heaven in the same body, and
with glory he sat down at the right hand of the Father, and in the same
body he will come in glory to judge both the quick and the dead, and of
his kingdom there shall be no end.
And we believe in the Holy Ghost, who spake in the Law,
and preached in the Prophets, and descended at Jordan, and spake in the
Apostles, and indwells the Saints. And thus we believe in him,
that he is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the perfect Spirit, the
Spirit the Comforter, uncreate, who proceedeth from the Father,
receiving of the Son (
ἐκ
τοῦ Πατρὸς
ἐκπορευόμενον,
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ
Υἱοῦ
λαμβανόμενον
),
and believed on. (
καὶ
πιστευόμενον
,
which the Latin version gives
in
quem credimus
; and proceeds to insert,
Præterea credimus in
unam
, etc. It certainly looks as if it had read
πιστεύομεν
,
and had belonged to the following phrase.)
[We believe] in one Catholic and Apostolic Church.
And in one baptism of penitence, and in the resurrection of the dead,
and the just judgment of souls and bodies, and in the Kingdom of heaven
and in life everlasting.
And those who say that there was a time when the Son was
not, or when the Holy Ghost was not, or that either was made of that
which previously had no being, or that he is of a different nature or
substance, and affirm that the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are
subject to change and mutation; all such the Catholic and Apostolic
Church, the mother both of you and of us, anathematizes. And
further we anathematize such as do not confess the resurrection of the
dead, as well as all heresies which are not in accord with the true
faith.
Finally, you and your children thus believing and
keeping the commandments of this same faith, we trust that you will
always pray for us, that we may have a share and lot in that same faith
and in the keeping of these same commandments. For us make your
intercessions, you and all who believe thus, and keep the commandments
of the Lord in our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom, glory
be to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.
206
This is the title in
the Acts of the IVth Council. Labbe,
Conc
., iv., 342.
207
Soc.,
H. E.
, II., 10; Soz.,
H. E
., III. 5; Athanas.,
De
Synod., C
. xxij.
208
I have used
Petavius’s edition, Cologne, 1682; there are some differences in
the various editions about the numbering of the chapters, and this
seems to be the origin of the curious mistake Hefele makes in
confounding the longer with the shorter creed.
209
This would be the year
374, that is to say seven years before this Second Ecumenical Council
which was held at Constantinople in 381.