The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed was originally formulated at the first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church held in Nicea in 325C.E. and was later amplified, adopted and authorised as a true expression of the Faith at the second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381C.E.

The Nicene Creed was built upon the profession of faith in the Apostles’ Creed, defending against many of the heresies of the time – the primary and most prominent of which was Arianism. Arianism was a Christian heresy of the 4th century that denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ and was named for its author, Arius, a priest in Alexandria. Debate over his doctrine was a pressing matter for the Church for more than half a century. Arius sought to safeguard the transcendence of God by teaching that God is unbegotten and without beginning. The Son, because He is begotten, cannot be God in the same sense as the Father is. Arius taught that the Son was created like all other creatures and exists by the will of the Father. Although Arianism was the most troublesome heresy of the time, it was not the only one. The Nicene Creed was absolutely necessary at the time to ensure that the lex credendi (the rule of faith – what the people believed) would both reflect and reinforce the lex orandi (the rule of prayer – how the people worshipped).

One often overlooked, but nonetheless important, aspect of the Nicene Creed is that it was formulated before the Church made a determination of which books belonged in the New Testament. A list of the inspired books of the New Testament, as we have them in the Bible today, was first put together in the 39th Pastoral Letter of Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, in the year 367 CE. He wanted this list of sacred books to be the ‘canon’, or the list of sacred books of the New Testament; he listed the 27 books of the New Testament and declared that all are apostolic and canonical. St Athanasius said, “In these alone is proclaimed the Good News of the teaching of true religion.” This list was confirmed by the Councils of Hippo (393 CE.) and Carthage (397 CE.). In the year 405 CE., Pope Innocent I, responding to a question as to what formed the canon, provided this very same list in response. Finally, the Council of Trent, meeting in 1545-1563, again promulgated the same list.

Gradually the Nicene Creed came to be recognised as the proper profession of faith for candidates for the sacrament of Baptism. It is the profession of the Christian Faith common to the Catholic Church, to all the Eastern churches and to most of the Protestant denominations today.