The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages;
Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father, through Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and He suffered and was buried.
And He rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
And He will come again with glory to judge the living and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke through the prophets.
In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I expect the resurrection of the dead, And the life of the age to come.
Amen.
About the Nicene Creed
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 (and is) 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 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. These 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.