An icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea (325), holding the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.
Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor in York in AD 306 and converted to Christianity but only baptised days before his death in 337. When he convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 from which the Creed of that name emerged, the church historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, described the imperial hospitality as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. 1700 years on we acknowledge that the adoption of the Nicene Creed was a key moment in our response to divine revelation as the Christian Church struggled to realise what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and how we live that out in discipleship and worship.
Nicaea and the other great (Oecumenical) Councils of the Early Church came about for two reasons: possibility and need. They became possible by the measures under Constantine to end the persecutions
of Christians in the Roman Empire. Large numbers of bishops, presbyters and others could therefore gather from far and wide without harassment. The need for the Church to have creeds was occasioned by controversy. A century after Nicaea, St Vincent of Lerins wrote, “In the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all.”
Controversy centred on Christ’s nature. Was he truly God and was he in any sense subordinate to the Father? One of the main functions of bishops in the early centuries was to teach and prepare candidates for baptism. We should not therefore be surprised that the Creeds set out to settle Christological controversy in the sort of way from which catechetical teaching would be formed. The version we have and use is one revised in a later Council at Constantinople in 381 and reaffirmed in the Council of Chalcedon of 451.
A creed recited and owned universally, visibly joins us in the proclamation of our common faith and nourishes the soul. In it we honour the God who acts and reveals himself to us in Three Persons. It enlarges our understanding and banishes misconception. It is the place of unity where we walk in the ready expectation that all who do likewise make the same profession of faith. Some find the Creeds difficult and wordy but their place and content occupies a central place in our common life. They are not optional extras.
The Nicene Creed distils a remarkable amount of doctrine and biblical narrative and does so in a form that is easily recited and may be committed to memory. It is the Credo of our life together in Christ.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
This blog is adapted from an article written by The Right Reverend Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark, for the February 2025 edition of The Bridge (This was originally commissioned for the February/March 2025 Croydon Minster Parish Magazine).
