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Eusebius, of Cæsarea. A.D. 325.
Socrates, Hist. Eccl. Lib. I. cap. 8.
Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, in Palestine (d. 340), the Church historian, the friend and eulogist of Constantine I., and a leading member of the Council of Nicæa (325), forms the connecting link between the ante-Nicene and the Nicene Church. In his account of that Council he mentions the following creed, which his church in Cæsarea had received from the bishops of former times in catechizing and at baptism, which he himself had learned from Scripture, believed, and taught, and which he had laid before the Emperor and the Council. It comes very near the Nicene Creed as adopted in 325, and was the basis of it, but the characteristic shibboleth of Nicene orthodoxy, the term homoousios or consubstantial, is wanting. See Eusebii Cæsareensis Episcopi de fide Nicænæ exposita, in Athanasius, Epistola de decretis Synodi Nicænæ (Opera, Tom. I. Pt. I. pp. 238 sqq., ed. Montfauc.); Socrates, Hist. Eccl. Lib. I. cap. 8; Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. Lib I. cap. 12.
| Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεόν πατέρα παντοκράτορα, | We believe in one God the Father Almighty, |
| τὸν τῶν ἀπάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν· | Maker of all things visible and invisible; |
| Καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, | And in one Lord Jesus Christ, |
| τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, | the Word of God, |
| θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, | God of God, |
| φῶς ἐκ φωτὸς, | Light of Light, |
| ζωὴν ἐκ ζωῆς, | Life of Life, |
| υἱὸν μονογενῆ, | the only-begotten Son, |
| πρωτότοκον πάσης κτίσεως, | the first-born of every creature, |
| πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον, | begotten of God the Father before all ages, |
| δἰ οὗ καὶ ἐγένετο τὰ πάντα· | by whom also all things were made; |
| τὸν διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν σαρκωθέντα καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώποις πολιτευσάμενον, | who for our salvation was made flesh and made his home among men; |
| καὶ παθόντα, | and suffered; |
| καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, | and rose on the third day; |
| καὶ ἀνελθόντα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, | and ascended to the Father; |
| καὶ ἥξοντα πάλιν ἐν δόξῃ κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. | and will come again in glory, to judge the quick and the dead. |
| [Πιστεύομεν] καὶ εἰς ἕν πνεῦμα ἅγιον. 3131 Here the Creed of Cæsarea stops. What follows is an explanatory summary or a personal confession of Eusebius. This difference Hahn seems to have overlooked (p. 47). | [We believe] also in one Holy Ghost.3232 Here the Creed of Cæsarea stops. What follows is an explanatory summary or a personal confession of Eusebius. This difference Hahn seems to have overlooked (p. 47). |
| Τούτων ἕκαστον εἶναι καὶ ὑπάρχειν πιστεύοντες, πατέρα ἀληθῶς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν ἀληθῶς υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἀληθῶς πνεῦμα ἅγιον, καθὼς καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ἀποστέλλων εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς εἶπε· πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀγίου πνεύματος. | We believe that each of these is and exists, the Father truly Father, and the Son truly Son, and the Holy Ghost truly Holy Ghost; even as our Lord, when sending forth his disciples to preach, said: 'Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' |
To this creed Eusebius adds: 'And concerning these things we affirm that we so hold and so think, and have of old so held, and will so hold till death, and stand steadfast in this faith, anathematizing all ungodly heresy. We testify before Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ that we have thought all this in heart and soul ever since we knew ourselves, and we now so think and speak in truth, being able to show by evidence and to convince you that we in past times so believed and preached accordingly.'
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