About The Nicene Creed

The Council of Niceae

The Nicene Creed summarizes the doctrine of the Holy Trinity — one God, and yet three distinct persons — The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, and also our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is often called the “Symbol of Faith”. Orthodox Christians recite this creed during the Divine Liturgy and also during baptisms.

The First Ecumenical Council

The Creed was drafted to resolve controversies concerning the nature of the Son of God, most notably the Arian heresy. Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter, taught that the Son of God did not exist throughout eternity, but rather was a subordinate creation of God the Father. This contradicted the Gospel of John (John 1:1-3), which states that the Logos was eternally present with God. In 325AD, the ensuing division in the Roman Empire prompted Emperor Constantine to call together a council of bishops to settle the dispute and so unify his empire under a single faith.

The bishops drafted seven articles, declaring that the Son of God to be eternally existent, fully divine and of the same essence (Greek, homoousios) as God the Father. That is, the Son of God is true God of true God, the Word of God by Whom all things were made (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2), and still fully human. The Creed affirmed all the essential aspects about God the Father and God the Son, including His virgin birth, His death by crucifixion for our salvation, His resurrection, His ascension into Heaven and His Second Coming at the Last Judgement.

The Second Ecumenical Council

A second council was held in Constantinople in 381AD, under Emperor Theodosius the Great, to resolve a similar dispute, this time over the nature of the Holy Spirit. Some taught that the Holy Spirit was not eternal, but was rather a creation of God the Father and not a person, but an action of the Son of God. The bishops at the council declared this teaching as heretical and added five more articles to the creed. The additions declared the Holy Spirit to be a fully divine person, equal in status with the Father and the Son, and existent throughout eternity. In addition, the Creed also declares our Orthodox beliefs about the Church, baptism, resurrection, and eternal life.

Since the Creed was drafted in both Niceae and Constantinople, it is also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.