Day 5: Historical Creeds

When I was considering how to do a session on ‘Creeds’, honestly I had no idea just how many creeds are in Western Orthodoxy. So, I chose instead to focus on the main ones that were dated prior to 500. (Most of the creeds seem to come about after 1200. Evidently the ‘Dark Ages’ needed to send out a lot of heretical responses!)

There were five that I found that were set, agreed upon and have had the most influence on Church History: Apostles Creed, Creed of Nicaea, Nicene Creed, Chalcedonies Creed and Athanasian Creed.

Apostles Creed

Though it is thought to have been ‘put together’ in the 5th century Gaul by Faustus of Riez who wrote the earliest surviving complete text, in remnants it is much earlier.  It is here listed as one of the oldest because it cites specific phrases written by early church fathers such as Irenaeus, Tertullian and Novatian, to name a few. The idea of it being the ‘Apostles’ creed has little if anything to do with the Apostles themselves. It was divided into the twelve ‘segments’ in their honor in the 6th century.

Based upon the older ‘Old Roman Symbol’, which has its roots in the Great Commission, it was originally used as a ‘confession’ at baptism and written to counter the Arian Controversy taught by Arius of Alexandria which stated that Jesus was created by God prior to the beginning of time, so was not ‘coeternal’, and thereby He was God in name only. This is also directly contrary to what John will write in his gospel. So in this case, a ‘creed’ is used to show a distinct belief found in scripture, countering one that has no scriptural basis but being passed off as ‘gospel’. But instead of just looking at scripture and saying ‘have ye not read’ they decided to get together and write a creed to settle that issue in 325. But that’s tomorrow.

The creed as it is written here is the earliest known version, written (or collected) by Tyrannius Rufinus (344-411) a monk who was best known for his work on translating Origen into Latin.

Believe in God the Father omnipotent, and in Jesus Christ, His only son, Our Lord, who was of the Holy Spirit and born of Virgin Mary, under Pontius Pilate, crucified, and buried, dead three days then resurrected, ascended into heaven and is seated at right hand of Father, who will come again to judge the living and the dead. In the Holy Spirit, holy gathering, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, life everlasting. Amen

A bit different from the one that is recognized today, it has been continually ‘tweaked’ since 1647 for both grammar and to add ideas and other beliefs not found in the original. It then begs the question: should there be a creed written to counter the creed changed from the creed that combatted the Arian Controversy?

Scripture readings for today:

Matthew 28:16-20
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Prayer