The Symbol of Faith — the Creed — is not merely a doctrinal summary. It is the living confession of the Church, prayed by every Orthodox Christian at baptism and at every Divine Liturgy. To say the Creed is to stand with the Apostles, the Councils, and the whole company of saints in one voice of faith. Each phrase was drawn from Scripture, refined in controversy, and received by the universal Church as the measure of right belief.
The Text of the Creed
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed — English
I 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, born 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 the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.
And arose on the third day according to the Scriptures.
And ascended into the heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
And shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the prophets.
In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead.
And the life of the age to come. Amen.
Opening phrase in Greek
Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα, Παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων.
History: Two Councils, One Faith
325
First Ecumenical Council — Nicaea
Called by the Emperor Constantine, the Council assembled approximately 318 bishops to address the Arian heresy. Arius taught that the Son was a created being, the highest creature, but not truly God. The Fathers answered with the word homoousios — “of one essence with the Father” — affirming that the Son is not made but eternally begotten, fully divine. St. Athanasius the Great was the great defender of this faith.
381
Second Ecumenical Council — Constantinople
Called under the Emperor Theodosius I, this Council completed the Creed’s teaching on the Holy Spirit, responding to the Pneumatomachians (“Spirit-fighters”) who denied the full divinity of the Spirit. The Fathers added the articles on the Holy Spirit, the Church, baptism, resurrection, and the life of the age to come. The Creed has been received unchanged in this form ever since.
The Creed produced at Nicaea was expanded and completed at Constantinople. It is properly called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, though it is universally known in Orthodox practice simply as the Symbol of Faith — the Symbolon tes Pisteos (Σύμβολον τῆς Πίστεως). It has never been altered by the Orthodox Church.
Article by Article
Each phrase of the Creed is a considered theological statement. Select any article to read its Orthodox commentary.
I
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One God, the Father Almighty
“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…”
II
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One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son
“…the Only-begotten, born of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God…”
“One Lord Jesus Christ” echoes St. Paul’s confession in 1 Corinthians 8:6. The Son is monogenes — Only-begotten — not one among many sons but uniquely generated from the Father’s essence before all time. He is not the greatest of creatures but the eternal Son.
“Light of Light” is a patristic image: just as the light of a lamp produces a second light without diminishing the first, the Father generates the Son without division or diminishment of the divine essence. “True God of true God” directly targets Arianism, which had allowed Christ to be called “God” in a secondary, derived sense. The Creed allows no such qualification.
Homoousios — “of one essence with the Father” — is the defining word of Nicaea. Not homoiousios (“of similar essence”) as the semi-Arians taught, but homoousios: the same essence, undivided. “Begotten, not made” distinguishes the eternal generation of the Son from the creation of the world: the Son is not a creature.
Homoousios Eternal generation Against Arianism
“Light of Light” is a patristic image: just as the light of a lamp produces a second light without diminishing the first, the Father generates the Son without division or diminishment of the divine essence. “True God of true God” directly targets Arianism, which had allowed Christ to be called “God” in a secondary, derived sense. The Creed allows no such qualification.
Homoousios — “of one essence with the Father” — is the defining word of Nicaea. Not homoiousios (“of similar essence”) as the semi-Arians taught, but homoousios: the same essence, undivided. “Begotten, not made” distinguishes the eternal generation of the Son from the creation of the world: the Son is not a creature.
Homoousios Eternal generation Against Arianism
III
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The Incarnation: For Us and For Our Salvation
“…came down from the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.”
“For us men and for our salvation” — the Incarnation is not a cosmic accident or merely a moral example. It is a deliberate divine act of condescension for the healing and salvation of humanity. The eternal Son “came down” — not abandoning heaven but entering creation.
“Was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary” upholds the two essential truths of the Incarnation simultaneously: the divine initiative (the Holy Spirit) and the full humanity of Christ (born of a woman, of our flesh). Mary is therefore rightly called Theotokos — God-bearer — because the one born of her is truly God. This title, affirmed at the Council of Ephesus (431), is the test of right Christology.
“And became man” — enanthropesas — the Son took full human nature: body, soul, and intellect. He did not merely appear as human (Docetism) nor inhabit a human body as a kind of vessel (Apollinarianism). He became what we are, that we might become what He is.
Theotokos Incarnation Against Docetism
“Was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary” upholds the two essential truths of the Incarnation simultaneously: the divine initiative (the Holy Spirit) and the full humanity of Christ (born of a woman, of our flesh). Mary is therefore rightly called Theotokos — God-bearer — because the one born of her is truly God. This title, affirmed at the Council of Ephesus (431), is the test of right Christology.
“And became man” — enanthropesas — the Son took full human nature: body, soul, and intellect. He did not merely appear as human (Docetism) nor inhabit a human body as a kind of vessel (Apollinarianism). He became what we are, that we might become what He is.
Theotokos Incarnation Against Docetism
IV – V
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Crucifixion, Death, and Burial
“And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.”
The mention of Pontius Pilate anchors the Creed in history. The death of Christ is not myth or symbol; it occurred at a specific time, in a specific place, under a named governor. The Creed confesses real suffering and real burial — the full weight of the human condition was assumed and endured by the Son of God.
Orthodox theology understands the Crucifixion not primarily through legal categories of punishment (as in some Western theories) but as the decisive battle against death and Hades. Christ entered into death itself — and destroyed it from within. Holy Saturday hymnography proclaims this mystery: “Today Hades groans and cries aloud: My power has been swallowed up.”
Historical grounding Christus Victor Descent into Hades
Orthodox theology understands the Crucifixion not primarily through legal categories of punishment (as in some Western theories) but as the decisive battle against death and Hades. Christ entered into death itself — and destroyed it from within. Holy Saturday hymnography proclaims this mystery: “Today Hades groans and cries aloud: My power has been swallowed up.”
Historical grounding Christus Victor Descent into Hades
VI – VII
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Resurrection, Ascension, and the Second Coming
“And arose on the third day according to the Scriptures. And ascended into the heavens…”
The Resurrection is the heart of the Christian faith. St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor 15:17). The Creed affirms a bodily resurrection — not a spiritual experience or metaphor — “according to the Scriptures” (cf. Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53).
The Ascension completes the Incarnation: glorified human nature — our nature, healed and transfigured — is now enthroned at the right hand of the Father. This is the hope of theosis: where the Head has gone, the Body shall follow.
“Whose kingdom shall have no end” was added against Marcellus of Ancyra, who taught that the Son’s kingdom would ultimately be dissolved back into the Father. The Creed confesses an eternal kingdom, an eternal humanity of Christ, and therefore an eternal hope for those united to Him.
Bodily resurrection Ascension Second Coming
The Ascension completes the Incarnation: glorified human nature — our nature, healed and transfigured — is now enthroned at the right hand of the Father. This is the hope of theosis: where the Head has gone, the Body shall follow.
“Whose kingdom shall have no end” was added against Marcellus of Ancyra, who taught that the Son’s kingdom would ultimately be dissolved back into the Father. The Creed confesses an eternal kingdom, an eternal humanity of Christ, and therefore an eternal hope for those united to Him.
Bodily resurrection Ascension Second Coming
VIII
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The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life
“And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father…”
This article was added at Constantinople (381) against the Pneumatomachians, who accepted the divinity of the Son but denied the full divinity of the Spirit. The Fathers give the Spirit the same divine title accorded to the Father — Kyrios, Lord — and confess Him as “Giver of Life” (zoopoion): the source of the spiritual life poured out at Pentecost and in the sacraments.
“Who proceedeth from the Father” (to ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon) follows the words of Christ in John 15:26. The Spirit’s eternal origin is from the Father alone — a point of great theological importance (see the note on the Filioque below).
“Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified” — the Spirit shares in the divine worship without being separately named as “God” in the Creed, but this co-worship is itself a confession of full divinity. “Who spake by the prophets” establishes the continuity of the Spirit’s work from the Old Testament through the New.
Pneumatomachians Procession Pentecost
“Who proceedeth from the Father” (to ek tou Patros ekporeuomenon) follows the words of Christ in John 15:26. The Spirit’s eternal origin is from the Father alone — a point of great theological importance (see the note on the Filioque below).
“Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified” — the Spirit shares in the divine worship without being separately named as “God” in the Creed, but this co-worship is itself a confession of full divinity. “Who spake by the prophets” establishes the continuity of the Spirit’s work from the Old Testament through the New.
Pneumatomachians Procession Pentecost
IX
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One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church
“In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”
The four marks of the Church are not aspirational goals but descriptive realities confessed in faith. One: the Church is not divided at its essence, even where human sin creates rupture. The one Body of Christ cannot be divided, though it can be left. Holy: not because its members are sinless, but because the Church is the Body of the holy God, sanctified by His presence. Catholic: from kath’ holon, “according to the whole.” The Church is catholic where the fullness of Christ is present, not merely where the largest number of people gather. Apostolic: the Church stands in unbroken continuity with the Apostles in faith, life, and episcopal succession.
For Orthodox theology, the Church is not an institution one joins but the living Body of Christ one is incorporated into through baptism and chrismation. Ecclesiology flows from Christology: the Church is who Christ is in the world.
Four Marks Catholicity Apostolic Succession
For Orthodox theology, the Church is not an institution one joins but the living Body of Christ one is incorporated into through baptism and chrismation. Ecclesiology flows from Christology: the Church is who Christ is in the world.
Four Marks Catholicity Apostolic Succession
X – XII
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Baptism, Resurrection, and the Life to Come
“I acknowledge one baptism… I look for the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the age to come.”
“One baptism for the remission of sins” affirms both the unrepeatable character of baptism and its efficacy. Rebaptism is rejected because baptism is not a human act but a divine one: it is done once, as death occurs once. Orthodox theology holds that chrismation, received immediately after baptism, seals this new birth with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“I look for” (prosdoko) — the Greek conveys active expectation, not passive hope. The resurrection of the dead is not a symbol of spiritual renewal but the literal, bodily raising of every person who has ever lived. Orthodox eschatology is uncompromisingly physical: the body is not a prison of the soul but a partner in salvation.
The Creed ends not with death but with life — “the life of the age to come” (zoen tou mellontos aionos). The word aion, often translated “world” or “age,” conveys a quality of existence as much as a duration. The life to come is not merely endless continuation but participation in the divine life itself — theosis consummated.
Baptism Bodily resurrection Theosis
“I look for” (prosdoko) — the Greek conveys active expectation, not passive hope. The resurrection of the dead is not a symbol of spiritual renewal but the literal, bodily raising of every person who has ever lived. Orthodox eschatology is uncompromisingly physical: the body is not a prison of the soul but a partner in salvation.
The Creed ends not with death but with life — “the life of the age to come” (zoen tou mellontos aionos). The word aion, often translated “world” or “age,” conveys a quality of existence as much as a duration. The life to come is not merely endless continuation but participation in the divine life itself — theosis consummated.
Baptism Bodily resurrection Theosis
A Note on the Filioque
The Filioque Controversy
The Latin word Filioque means “and from the Son.” Beginning in Spain in the 6th century and spreading throughout the Frankish church, the Western church gradually inserted this phrase into the Creed so that it read: the Spirit “proceedeth from the Father and the Son.” This addition was made unilaterally, without an Ecumenical Council.
The Orthodox Church rejects the Filioque on two grounds. First, it is a canonical violation: no local church has the authority to alter the Creed of the whole Church, a text defined by Ecumenical Councils and protected from addition by those same councils. Second, it is a theological error: it obscures the monarchy of the Father as the sole principle (arche) and source (pege) of divinity within the Trinity, and introduces confusion into the relations of the divine persons.
St. Photios the Great (9th century) offered the definitive Orthodox theological critique of the Filioque in his Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. The Orthodox Church continues to confess, with the words of Christ Himself (John 15:26), that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone.
The Orthodox Church rejects the Filioque on two grounds. First, it is a canonical violation: no local church has the authority to alter the Creed of the whole Church, a text defined by Ecumenical Councils and protected from addition by those same councils. Second, it is a theological error: it obscures the monarchy of the Father as the sole principle (arche) and source (pege) of divinity within the Trinity, and introduces confusion into the relations of the divine persons.
St. Photios the Great (9th century) offered the definitive Orthodox theological critique of the Filioque in his Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit. The Orthodox Church continues to confess, with the words of Christ Himself (John 15:26), that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone.
“If the Spirit proceeds from the Father, He is perfect and lacks nothing; but if He proceeds also from the Son, then the very thing that the Father alone possesses as the cause and principle of all things is diminished and divided.”
St. Photios the Great — Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit (c. 867)
Pantokrator — Almighty, All-Ruler — speaks not merely to omnipotence but to God’s sovereign providence over all things. The affirmation that He made “all things visible and invisible” excludes any dualism: matter is not evil, and there is no uncreated darkness alongside God. Creation is entirely good, entirely dependent, and entirely His.
Pantokrator Creatio ex nihilo Personal God