Creeds
The word Creed comes from the Latin credo
Creeds were a way of summarizing the essentials of a person's faith.
Through the centuries, several creeds were recognized by the Church as being statements of core beliefs, and are in general use up to the present.
Symbolum Apostolorum - The Apostles' Creed :
Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem,
Creatorem caeli et terrae.
Et in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum,
Dominum nostrum,
qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto,
natus ex Maria Virgine,
passus sub Pontio Pilato,
crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus,
descendit ad infernos,
tertia die resurrexit a mortuis,
ascendit ad caelos,
sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis,
inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos.
Credo in Spiritum Sanctum,
sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam,
sanctorum communionem,
remissionem peccatorum,
carnis resurrectionem,
vitam aeternam. Amen.
Symbolum Nicaenum - The Nicene Creed :
This creed was agreed upon by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. The original language was Greek.
The Council of Constantinople, AD 381, added to the original Nicene Creed, and further additions and changes were made later.
In a Church Council at Toledo in 589 the "Filioque clause" was used, and from then on its use spread throughout the Western Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not accept the addition, probably because there had been no representatives of the Eastern Church at the Council, rather than as a point of doctrine. It has become one of the barriers to agreement between the Eastern and Western Churches.
Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum,
parts of the following section were probably added later
Filium Dei unigenitum,
et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula.
Deum de Deo,
Lumen de Lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero,
genitum non factum,
consubstantialem Patri,
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis.
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine,
et homo factus est.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato,
passus et sepultus est,
et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas,
et ascendit in caelum,
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria,
iudicare vivos et mortuos,
cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum,
The original form may have ended here.
Dominum et vivificantem,
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur,
qui locutus est per prophetas.
Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
