Philip Schaff: Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume II. The History of Creeds.

Theme

Font

Text Size

Show footnotes

Reader Width

Symbolum Nicænum. A.D. 325.

The Original Form of the Nicene Creed, as adopted at Nicæa, 325. ⁶¹⁶¹ The Greek text after Eusebius, in his Epist. ad Cæsareenses (as preserved by Athanasius), and the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, which indorsed both the original and the enlarged form of the Nicene Creed. See Vol. I. p. 28, note 3. The variations are carefully given by Walch, pp. 87 sqq., and Hahn, pp. 105–107. For a Syriac version, see Caspari, Vol. I. p. 100. Dr. Hort (Dissertations, p. 54) ingeniously but artificially connects μονογενῆ with θεόν ( τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός being parenthetical), and thus derives from the Nicene Creed a traditional support for the famous reading μονογενὴς θεός , instead of the received text μονογενὴς υἱός , John i. 18.	The Latin Version of Hilarius Pictaviensis, between 356 and 361. ⁶²⁶² The Latin form from Hilarius (Bishop of Poitiers, called the Athanasius of the West; died 368): De Synodis sive de fide Orientalium, § 84, Opp. ed. Constant. Veron. Tom. II. p. 510, and Fragm. II. ex opere historico, § 27, l.c. p. 643. Walch (pp. 80–92) gives also other Latin versions from Lucifer, Rufinus, Leo M., Marius Mercator, etc., and Hahn (pp. 108—110) notes the principal variations.
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα ΘΕΟΝ ΠΑΤΕΡΑ παντοκράτορα, πάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητὴν.	Credimus in unum Deum Patrem omnipotentem, omnium visibilium et invisibilium factorem.
Καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον ἸΗΣΟΥΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΝ, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς μονογενῆ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός, θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρί· δἰ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τὰ τε ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· τὸν δἰ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα καὶ σαρκωθέντα καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, καὶ ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς.	Et in unum Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei, natum ex Patre unigenitum, hoc est, de substantia Patris, Deum ex Deo, Lumen ex Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, natum, non factum, unius substantiæ cum Patre, quod Græci dicunt homoousion; per quem, omnia facta, sunt, quæ in cœlo et in terra; qui [propter nos homines et] propter nostram salutem descendit, incarnatus est et homo factus est, et passus est; et resurrexit tertia die, et ascendit in cœlos; venturus judicare vivos et mortuos.
Καὶ εἰς τὸ ἍΓΙΟΝ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ.	Et in Spiritum Sanctum.
Τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας, ὅτι ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν, καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐγένετο, ἢ ἐξ ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως ἢ οὐσίας φάσκοντας εἶναι, [ἢ κτιστόν,] τρεπτὸν ἢ ἀλλοιωτὸν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, [τούτους] ἀναθεματίζει ἡ καθολικὴ [καὶ ἀποστολικὴ] ἐκκλησία. ⁶³⁶³ The received text, as sanctioned by the Fourth, or previously by the Second Œcumenical Council, omits the words τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός and θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ , and the concluding anathema, but adds the important clauses after the Holy Spirit.	Eos autem qui dicunt: 'erat, quando non erat,' et 'antequam nasceretur, non erat,' et 'quod de non exstantibus factus est,' vel 'ex alia, substantia' aut 'essentia,' dicentes ['creatum,' aut] 'convertibilem et demutabilem Filium Dei,' hos anathematizat catholica [et apostolica] ecclesia. ⁶⁴⁶⁴ The received text, as sanctioned by the Fourth, or previously by the Second Œcumenical Council, omits the words τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός and θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ , and the concluding anathema, but adds the important clauses after the Holy Spirit.

[See the English version both of the original and the enlarged Creed in Vol. I. pp. 28, 29.]

APPENDIX.

Other Oriental Creeds of the Nicene Age.

With the Nicene Creed should be compared several similar Greek forms of the fourth century (see above, pp. 24–40, and Hahn, pp. 42–59), especially the following:

(1.) The Creed of Cæsarea, which Eusebius read at Nicæa, 325, as his own baptismal creed. It omits θεὸν ἀληθινόν and ὁμοούσιον , but otherwise agrees nearly with the first Nicene Creed till πνεῦμα ἅγιον , and is the basis of it.

(2.) The Creed of Jerusalem, which Cyril of Jerusalem taught in his Catechetical Lectures before 350. It likewise omits ὁμοούσιον , but has after ἅγιον πνεῦμα the articles: 'In ( εἰς repeated) one baptism for the remission of sins, and in one holy catholic Church, and in the resurrection of the flesh, and in the life everlasting;' resembling in this conclusion more the later Constantinopolitan Creed, of which it seems to be the chief basis.

(3.) Two Creeds of Epiphanius, a longer and a shorter one, recorded in his Ancoratus about 374. Both contain the whole Nicene Creed, with the concluding anathema (enlarged in one formula), and at the same time almost literally the additional articles after 'the Holy Ghost,' which were incorporated in the Nicene Creed by the Synod of Constantinople; showing that these were current in the Churches before 381.

(4.) The Creed of Arius, which he delivered to the Emperor Constantine (328), and which is recorded by Socrates and Sozomenus (also in Mansi, Tom. II. p. 1157; Walch, p. 47; Hahn, p. 192; and Denzinger, p. 8). It shrewdly omits the obnoxious words condemned by the Council of Nicæa, confesses Christ as θεὸν λόγον, δἰ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγέντο , and adds after ἅγιον πνεῦμα the articles: καὶ εἰς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν, καὶ εἰς ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, καὶ εἰς βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν, καὶ εἰς μίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν ἀπὸ περάτων ἕως περάτων.

⁶¹ The Greek text after Eusebius, in his Epist. ad Cæsareenses (as preserved by Athanasius), and the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, which indorsed both the original and the enlarged form of the Nicene Creed. See Vol. I. p. 28, note 3. The variations are carefully given by Walch, pp. 87 sqq., and Hahn, pp. 105–107. For a Syriac version, see Caspari, Vol. I. p. 100. Dr. Hort (Dissertations, p. 54) ingeniously but artificially connects μονογενῆ with θεόν ( τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός being parenthetical), and thus derives from the Nicene Creed a traditional support for the famous reading μονογενὴς θεός , instead of the received text μονογενὴς υἱός , John i. 18.

⁶² The Latin form from Hilarius (Bishop of Poitiers, called the Athanasius of the West; died 368): De Synodis sive de fide Orientalium, § 84, Opp. ed. Constant. Veron. Tom. II. p. 510, and Fragm. II. ex opere historico, § 27, l.c. p. 643. Walch (pp. 80–92) gives also other Latin versions from Lucifer, Rufinus, Leo M., Marius Mercator, etc., and Hahn (pp. 108—110) notes the principal variations.

⁶³ The received text, as sanctioned by the Fourth, or previously by the Second Œcumenical Council, omits the words τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός and θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ , and the concluding anathema, but adds the important clauses after the Holy Spirit.

⁶⁴ The received text, as sanctioned by the Fourth, or previously by the Second Œcumenical Council, omits the words τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός and θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ , and the concluding anathema, but adds the important clauses after the Holy Spirit.

« Prev

Symbolum Nicænum. A.D. 325.

Contents