In our church the Creed begins with the words “I believe…” This is a personal affirmation of faith. However, if one visits various Catholic and Protestant churches one will sometimes find the Creed begins with the words “We believe…” This is not primarily a translation issue so much as reflecting two dimensions of faith. When we say “We believe” we emphasize that our faith is a corporate faith. In other words, we are not “rugged individualists” who read the Bible or have religious experiences and then found a new theology or even a new church based on our personal insights. This does not mean that we cannot think about our faith or even have questions about it, but it shows that we have not created our own individualistic, idiosyncratic religion, but that we defer to the wisdom of the church. As the English writer G. K. Chesterton wrote, in the church we practice “the democracy of the dead.” In other words, we don’t think that something which is modern is necessarily better than something which is old; the dead have a voice in our faith.
On the other hand, when we say “I believe” we assert that our faith is something personal to us. It is not enough to repeat the Creed as if it were something external to us, someone else’s faith. We have to know our faith. Knowing our faith is something which is not only intellectual. It is good to know about our faith. In the age of the internet answers to our questions can be found at the push of a button (not that we should believe every religious opinion on the internet). But we can also learn about our faith by reading about it in books. The Orthodox Church in America is blessed with many excellent publishers beginning with our seminaries and extending to many private publishers. One can find books about Orthodoxy from the elementary to the advanced.
Also, we can learn about our faith in church. If we pay attention to sermons, we will often gain insight into some aspects of the faith. But priests are human, so sermons are not always adequate. The primary way we can learn about the faith are the hymns and prayers we sing or hear. Orthodox hymns and prayers, more so than those of other Christian churches, are often dogmatic, revealing some aspect of the faith. Very often, the liturgical texts explain the events of the Bible. For example, on Epiphany we read about the baptism of Jesus Christ. To learn the significance of the Gospel passages we can turn to the troparion of the feast which draws out the meaning of the Gospel account.

When Thou, O Lord wast baptized in the Jordan the worship of the Trinity was made manifest. For the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee and called Thee His beloved Son. And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. O Christ, our God, who hast revealed Thyself, and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee!

In other words, the Biblical account of Christ’s baptism is not simply an account of an event in Christ’s life, but it is the first explicit expression of the Christian dogma of the Trinity. This can be said of the texts of most of our Sundays and feasts. It is, of course, sometimes difficult to pay attention to what is being read or sung but the repetitive nature of Liturgy gives us many opportunities to hear what is being sung or read.
However important as it is to have at least some intellectual knowledge of our faith, knowledge of our faith is not entirely or primarily intellectual. An early church writer said “The one who prays is a theologian. A theologian is one who prays.” In other words we learn theology ‘on our knees’ as Western Christians sometimes say. A merely intellectual understanding of our faith without a personal encounter with God will not save us. So whether we begin the Creed “I believe” or “We believe” all these dimensions are included.

Fr. John

The Creed as we know it today arose from the short formula used at baptism.  Before Jesus Christ ascended into heaven he said to his disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) And this is what the apostles did, traveling the world, preaching the Gospel and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We know that at baptism now the person being baptized is plunged into the water three times as the priest says “the servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” If we look at the text of the baptismal service, prior to this plunging into the water the person being baptized (or the person’s sponsor in the case of a small child) is asked to recite the Creed to show that the person accepts the faith of the church. We have to remember that our baptismal service dates from the time when most people being baptized were adults and part of becoming a Christian was showing that one accepted the faith of the church and that was done by reciting the Creed. However, the Creed as we have it now, is a creation of the 4th century AD, as we shall see. Originally, before we had a full Creed, the one being baptized acknowledged that they accepted the church’s belief in the Holy Trinity.
When we recite the Creed, we say that Jesus Christ is “true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father…” This part of the Creed was established at the 1st ecumenical council held in the city of Nicea in 325 AD and it came about in this way: in the early 4th century, a priest of Alexandria in Egypt (then one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire) named Arius started teaching that Jesus Christ was not truly God. Aries was willing to say that Jesus was the Son of God, the Word of God, the Redeemer, the Savior and so on, but not that He was God. In a sense, Arius was like many modern people who will speak of Jesus Christ as a great moral leader, a spiritual master, but not God. In any case, many people were disturbed by Arius’ teaching and the Roman Empire itself was shaken, so much so that the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, called for a meeting of bishops, an ecumenical council, to discuss the issue and settle it. This issue came down to this: if Jesus is not God, He cannot save us. No human creature, no matter how exalted, could conquer the power of sin, death and the devil, and give eternal life to humanity. Furthermore, the council Fathers knew that the church had been baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit right from the beginning of the church, showing a belief that Jesus Christ is on the same level, so to speak, as the Father and the Holy Spirit. After much debate the council fathers established the sections of the Creed up to the part about the Holy Spirit (this was expanded at a later council), saying that Jesus Christ was of “one essence with the Father.” This word essence or substance (ousia in Greek) shows that Jesus Christ shares the same uncreated existence as the Father does. A follower of Arius could never accept this formula and Arius and those with him were excommunicated from the church.
This may seem like abstract theological arguments, but really the heart of our salvation is at stake. If Jesus is not truly God he cannot save us. No creature can do this, only God can. And so by establishing this first part of the Creed by the fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council in 325 AD, the reality of our salvation through Jesus Christ, true God of true God, is affirmed.

Fr. John

Since these articles began appearing they have focused on the saint or event of any given Sunday or day near that Sunday. However, beginning with this article, they will focus on the Nicene Creed, the most fundamental statement of the Christian faith.
The Creed was compiled at the first two ecumenical, or general councils of the Orthodox Church, Nicea (325AD) and Constantinople (381AD) and has been used since these to express the faith. Liturgically, there are two main places where the Creed is used. The first is Baptism. The Creed is recited by the person being baptized (or that person’s sponsor) to signify that the person accepts the Orthodox faith and intends to live by it. At the Divine Liturgy the Creed is recited or sung after the Great Entrance. The Great Entrance is the time that the priest, carrying the bread and wine which will become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, comes out of the sanctuary and re-enters the sanctuary through the Royal Doors (the doors in the center of the iconastas), placing the bread and wine on the altar. There is a litany and then the Creed. Before we recite it, the priest or deacon exclaims “The doors, the doors, in wisdom let us attend.”
People usually think that these words apply to the Royal Doors of the iconastas, but in fact they refer to the doors of the church. In the early days of the Church only baptized Christians were allowed to be in the church for the part of the Liturgy which followed the Great Entrance.
The Divine Liturgy has two parts: the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful. The Liturgy of the Catechumens is the first part of the Liturgy beginning with “Blessed is the Kingdom” and ends at the Great Entrance. Catechumens are people who are preparing to be baptized or chrismated (in the early days of the church people usually entered the church as adults) who are studying the faith. This part of the The Nicene Creed – Part 1 (March 19, 2016)
Liturgy consists of psalms, the Beatitudes and the reading of the Epistle and Gospel, and sometimes the sermon. We can say that this is the teaching part of the Liturgy so learners could be present. As a matter of fact, catechumens did not learn the Creed until shortly before their baptism.
The second part of the Liturgy, the Liturgy of the Faithful, when Holy Communion takes place, was only for the believers and so at the cry “The doors, the doors…” the unbaptized had to leave the church and the church doors were closed and guarded.
This practice was when Christianity was illegal and the church had to be guarded from spies. However, this reminds us that at the Liturgy, no one is a passive participant, but a member of the Body of Christ (the Church) who will receive the Body (and Blood) of Christ in Holy Communion.
The recitation of the Creed at this point reminds us that practicing our faith is not something we do from habit or as a quaint custom, but rather requires a commitment to the truth of the Christian faith as expressed in the Creed.

Fr. John