The Creeds

Over the coming weeks there will be a series of short articles on the creeds that we use at Mass as a means of understanding our faith more deeply.

Every Sunday at Mass, we recite one of the official Creeds of the Christian Faith.  These creeds are not just used by Catholics but by all the major Christian Churches.  The creeds are very ancient and of course often show the signs of their antiquity in that their terminology often signals their belonging to another time and culture. They contain, however, the fundamental truths of the faith.

The Apostles’ Creed is the older creed and goes back least to the 200’s of the Christian era.  It is considered as having its origin in the Church of Rome.  The same creed is used in question form during the Rite of Baptism and part of the renewal of baptismal promises at Easter and during sacraments like their confirmation.  It is the simpler of the two common creeds.

The Nicene Creed was formulated in the fourth and fifth century in answer in particular to some Christians who found it difficult to accept the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ.  These people were called Arians after the priest who founded them, Arius of Alexandria.  This creed reflects the fundamental working out of Christianity at the Councils of Nice (325), Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451).

The more complex terminology of the Nicene Creed reflects the discussions and conflicts associated with the rebuttal of the Arian beliefs.  We will talk more about all of that in the articles in the coming weeks.

Next week we will begin by looking at a couple of ‘creeds’ that we can find in the New Testament.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

Published: 20 October 2023