Nicene Creed vs Apostles' Creed

The Short Answer

The Apostles' Creed is the older and shorter of the two: it grew out of the baptismal confession of the Church of Rome in the first centuries, and it is still the creed of Baptism and of the Rosary. The Nicene Creed (properly the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is longer and more precise: it was defined by the Councils of Nicaea (AD 325) and Constantinople (AD 381) to defend the divinity of Christ against the Arian heresy, and it is the creed normally recited at Mass on Sundays and solemnities. Both profess the same Catholic faith; the Nicene Creed simply states it with the sharpened language the Arian crisis demanded, above all in the word consubstantial.

The Apostles' Creed

The English text of the Apostles' Creed from the Roman Missal, as prayed at Mass, at Baptism and at the beginning of the Rosary.

The Nicene Creed

The English translation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed from the Roman Missal (2011). * The words “and the Son” (the Filioque) are a later Western addition, 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.

The Ancient Baptismal Symbol of Rome

The Apostles' Creed is, in substance, the old baptismal confession of the Roman Church. Candidates for Baptism were asked, three times, whether they believed in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and were immersed at each answer; a question-and-answer form of this Roman confession appears in the Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus (c. 215). Around 404, Rufinus of Aquileia wrote a commentary on the Roman creed in almost its present shape, and the exact wording used today was settled in the West by about the eighth century.

An ancient and beautiful tradition, reported by Rufinus and preached in the sermons of the early Church, holds that the twelve articles were composed by the twelve apostles themselves before they dispersed, each contributing one article. The Church honours this tradition without staking the creed's authority on it: it is a tradition, not a verified fact, and the creed's real claim is stronger. As the Catechism puts it, the Apostles' Creed "is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles' faith" and is "the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome" (CCC 194). Its authority rests on the see of Peter, whose faith it summarises.

Because it is a baptismal creed, it speaks in the plain, narrative voice of the Gospel: conceived, born, suffered, crucified, died, buried, rose, ascended. It also preserves two articles the Nicene Creed does not spell out: the descent into hell (the realm of the dead, where Christ brought the just who had gone before him) and the communion of saints.

The Conciliar Creed of Nicaea and Constantinople

The Nicene Creed was born in battle. Arius, a priest of Alexandria, taught that the Son of God was a creature: the first and highest of creatures, but made, so that "there was a time when he was not". At Nicaea in 325, the first ecumenical council, convened under the Emperor Constantine, condemned that teaching and confessed the Son to be "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made". Its decisive word was homoousios: the Son is consubstantial with the Father, of the very same substance, not merely like him. Where the Apostles' Creed narrates the faith, the Nicene Creed defines it, closing every door the Arians tried to open.

The Council of Constantinople in 381 completed the creed with its article on the Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father", along with the articles on the Church, Baptism, the resurrection and the life of the world to come. That fuller text, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, is the creed sung and recited at Mass to this day, in the West with the later addition of the Filioque. The whole story, from Arius to the councils, is told on the History page, and every line is explained on the Meaning page.

When Is Each Creed Used?

At Mass on Sundays and solemnities, the Church normally professes the Nicene Creed. But the Roman Missal expressly permits the Apostles' Creed in its place: "Instead of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, especially during Lent and Easter Time, the baptismal Symbol of the Roman Church, known as the Apostles' Creed, may be used." The logic is liturgical: Lent is the season of preparation for Baptism, and Easter is the season of baptismal renewal, so the Church returns to her baptismal creed.

Outside Mass, the division of labour is clear. The Apostles' Creed is the creed of the baptismal promises, renewed by the whole congregation every Easter, and it opens the Holy Rosary, prayed on the crucifix of the beads. The Nicene Creed is the creed of the Sunday liturgy across both West and East: Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox all profess it, which is precisely why its every word has been guarded so jealously for sixteen centuries.