The Text of the Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
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.
I 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 adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
This is the English translation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed from the Roman Missal (2011), the text recited at Mass in the Catholic Church throughout the English-speaking world.
* The words “and the Son” (the Filioque) are a later Western addition to the Creed; they are not in the original Greek text of 381. The Catholic Church professes the doctrine they express as a true development of the same apostolic faith. Read the full history of the Filioque.
At a Glance
- What it isThe Church's definitive summary of the apostolic faith in one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- First adoptedCouncil of Nicaea, AD 325, the first ecumenical council, convened under the Emperor Constantine.
- CompletedCouncil of Constantinople, AD 381, which added the article on the Holy Spirit. The full text is properly called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
- Original languageKoine Greek. The Latin Credo in unum Deum is the liturgical text of the Western Church.
- Why it was writtenTo defend the divinity of Christ against Arianism, which claimed the Son was a creature. Nicaea confessed him homoousios, “consubstantial”, of the same substance as the Father.
- Used atMass on Sundays and solemnities in the Catholic Church, and in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and many other communions.
- Who accepts itIt is the only creed accepted across Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant communions, though it was written, defined and preserved by the Catholic Church's councils.
What Is the Nicene Creed?
The Nicene Creed (Latin Symbolum Nicaenum) is the profession of faith drawn up by the first two ecumenical councils of the Church. In AD 325, three hundred or so bishops, many of them still bearing the scars of Roman persecution, gathered at Nicaea to answer Arius, a priest of Alexandria who taught that the Son of God was a creature: exalted, but made, and therefore not truly God. Against him the council confessed that the Son is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father”.
One word carried the whole battle: homoousios, “of the same substance”. It is the hinge of the Creed and the reason the Creed exists. If the Son is not truly God, then Christ cannot save, for no creature can bridge the gap between God and man. The Council of Constantinople in AD 381 completed the Creed with its article on the Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of life”, confessing the full doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
The Creed the Church recites at Mass today is that text of 381. It has been prayed continuously for over 1,600 years, in Greek and Latin and now in every tongue on earth. To say it is to profess, in the words the Catholic Church forged and has guarded ever since, the same faith the apostles received from Christ. Read the full history of the Creed, or walk through what every line means.
The Creed in the Church's Tongues
Latin · Credo in unum Deum
The liturgical text of the Roman Rite, side by side with the English, as sung and spoken in the Western Church for centuries.
Greek · Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν
The original language of the Creed of 381, with transliteration and translation, as it was first confessed.
The Original Creed of 325
The first form of the Creed adopted at Nicaea, including the anathema against Arianism, compared with the text of 381.
Nicene Creed vs Apostles' Creed
Two creeds, one faith. What the difference is, where each comes from, and when each is used at Mass.
In the Words of the Fathers
Every phrase of the Creed was defended by the Fathers of the Church, often at the cost of exile or blood. A taste of their witness:
“The Fathers at Nicaea determined well when they wrote ‘of one substance’ (homoousios), that all might understand that the Son is of the same reality as the Father, and not a creature.” St Athanasius of Alexandria, De Decretis, c. 352
“Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” St Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8, c. 110
The full Creed is annotated line by line, with Scripture and the Fathers, on the Meaning page.
Go Deeper
History
From Nicaea 325 to Constantinople 381: the councils, the Arian crisis, and the truth about Constantine.
Meaning
The Creed explained line by line, with the Scriptures and Church Fathers behind every phrase.
The Filioque
An honest history of “and the Son”: where it came from, why the East objects, and how the Catholic Church defends it.
The Holy Rosary
An interactive digital Rosary with guided mysteries, and the history of the Rosary's power at Lepanto and beyond.
The Spiritual Armoury
The essential Catholic prayers in English and Latin: Pater Noster, Ave Maria, St Michael, Anima Christi and more.
Questions
Is the Nicene Creed Catholic? What does “consubstantial” mean? Common questions, answered plainly.