Credo

The Symbol of Faith¹

I believe in one God:²
The Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
And all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
The unique Son of God,³
Begotten from⁴ the Father before all the ages:
Light from Light, true God from true God,
Begotten, not created,
Of one and the same essence with the Father,⁵
Through whom all things came into being.
Who, for us human beings and for our salvation,⁶
Came down from the heavens,
Was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
And became human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
Suffered, was buried,
And rose again on the third day
In accordance with the Scriptures.⁷
He ascended into the heavens,
Is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And shall come again in glory
To judge the living and the dead,
Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit:
The Lord, the Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father,
Who with the Father and the Son together
Is worshiped and glorified,
Who spoke through the prophets.

In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I expect the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come.

Amen.

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1. The Greek word for symbol (σύμβολον) referred initially to the two halves of a token (usually a piece of animal vertebrae) broken apart for two parties in a contract; if the two parties' halves fit together, then that would be a sign of identity. Thus, the creed is a "Symbol of Faith" that the confessor is an orthodox (Nicene) Christian. ↩
2. I believe in one God (Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν): A colon is used here to emphasize the fact that Father Almighty, etc. are attributes of the one God in the context of the Creed. ↩
3. The unique Son of God (τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ): The word monogenēs literally means one of a kind, which can be translated as only or unique. ↩
4. Throughout this translation, the Greek preposition ek has been consistently translated as from, and dia as through. ↩
5. Of one and the same essence with the Father (ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί): This translation emphasizes that the essence that the Son shares with the Father is numerically one. ↩
6. Who, for us human beings (Τὸν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους): The word anthrōpos is not gender-specific, and the usage of the word man as referring to all humans is not typical of standard written English, so words deriving from anthrōpos have been translated as "human" or "human being" in the Creed. ↩
7. In accordance with the Scriptures (κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς): This translation indicates that these events were in agreement with, i.e., were a fulfillment of the [Hebrew] Scriptures, rather than implying that we know the events of the Gospel from the Scriptures. ↩