Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven
and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who
was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died,
and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On
the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will
come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
AMEN.
THE NICENE - CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, True God of True God, Begotten, not made, of one
essence with the Father, by 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 was made man;
And was crucified also for us under Pontius
Pilate, and suffered and was buried;
And the third day He rose again, according to
the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the
right hand of the Father;
And He shall come again with glory to judge
the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
Who spoke by the Prophets;
And we believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission
of sins.
We look for the Resurrection of the dead,
And the Life of the age to come. Amen.
Athanasian Creed (Written around 500 A.D. in Gaul, influenced by the writings
of St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria in the fourth century)
1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary
that he hold the catholic faith;
2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God
in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the
Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit
uncreated.
9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit
eternal.
11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible,
but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty,
and the Holy Spirit almighty.
14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit
is God;
16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the
Holy Spirit Lord;
18. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to
acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There
are three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created,
but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither
made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not
three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none
is greater or less than another.
26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity
and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the
Trinity.
29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that
he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the
worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and
human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior
to the Father as touching His manhood.
34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but
one Christ.
35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but
by taking of that manhood into God.
36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by
unity of person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God
and man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose
again the third day from the dead;
39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of
the Father, God, Almighty;
40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;
42. and shall give account of their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting
and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe
faithfully he cannot be saved.
The Trentine Creed or
The Creed of Pius IV. , A.D. 1564
1. I most steadfastly admit and embrace
Apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions,
and all other observances and constitutions of the Church.
2. I also admit
the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our
holy mother the Church has held, and does hold, to which it belongs
to judge of
the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I ever take and
interpret them otherwise
than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
3. I also profess that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments
of the
New Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation
of mankind, though not all for
every one; to wit, Baptism, Confirmation,
Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; and that they
confer
grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Order cannot be
reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and
admit the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the
aforesaid Sacraments.
4. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been
defined and declared in the holy Council
of Trent concerning Original Sin
and justification.
5. I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God
a true, proper,
and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most
holy sacrament of the
Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially,
the Body and Blood, together with the Soul and Divinity, of our Lord
Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of
the bread into the body, and of the whole
substance of the
wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls
Transubstantiation. I also confess
that under either kind alone Christ is
received whole and entire, and a true Sacrament.
6. I constantly hold that
there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein
detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful.
7. Likewise,
that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honored
and invocated, and that they offer prayers to God for
us, and that their relics
are to be respected.
8. I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the mother of
God, ever
virgin, and also of the saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due
honor and veneration is to be
given them.
9. I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church,
and that the use of them
is most wholesome to Christian people.
10. I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church for the mother
and
mistress of all churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome,
successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles,
and Vicar of Jesus Christ.
11. I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined,
and
declared by the sacred Canons, and general Councils, and particularly
by the holy Council of Trent.
12. And I condemn,
reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto,
and all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematized
by
the Church. This true Catholic faith, without which no one can be saved,