A creed is a short, authoritative statement of what Christians believe. The word comes from the Latin credo, “I believe.” When we say the Creed at Divine Liturgy, we’re confessing the faith of the Church, the same faith handed down from the apostles and defined by the early councils.
It’s not a theological encyclopedia. It doesn’t answer every question you might have about God or salvation or the Church. But it gives us the essential framework, the boundaries within which Orthodox Christian faith lives and breathes.
The Nicene Creed
The Creed we say every Sunday is called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. It was formulated at two of the seven Ecumenical Councils. The First Council at Nicea in 325 AD wrote the core of it to combat Arianism, a heresy that denied Christ’s full divinity. The Second Council at Constantinople in 381 AD expanded it, particularly the section about the Holy Spirit. This is the Creed that’s been sung in Orthodox churches ever since.
You’ll hear it called the “Symbol of Faith” sometimes. That’s what we mean when we say it’s a symbol, not that it’s merely symbolic, but that it’s a sign and summary of the whole faith. It functions as the Church’s measuring stick. If someone teaches something that contradicts the Creed, that teaching is heterodox.
Why we say it at Liturgy
Every Sunday at St. Michael, right before the Eucharistic prayer, we sing the Creed together. Some of you who grew up Baptist might find this striking. You’re used to personal testimonies, individual decisions, altar calls. But here we stand and confess the faith as one body.
This isn’t just recitation. It’s a public act of unity. When we say “I believe” (even though it’s singular, we’re saying it together), we’re affirming that we belong to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We’re saying this is what the Church believes, what she’s always believed, and we’re part of that. It’s catechesis every week, formation in the faith just by speaking it aloud.
The filioque problem
If you’ve been to a Catholic Mass, you might’ve noticed they say the Creed a bit differently. They add “and the Son” when talking about the Holy Spirit’s procession: “who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” That’s the filioque clause, Latin for “and the Son.”
We don’t say it. The original Creed says the Spirit “proceeds from the Father,” period. The West added that phrase unilaterally, without an Ecumenical Council. That matters because the Creed belongs to the whole Church, not to one region. You can’t just change it on your own authority. And the addition affects how we understand the Trinity, the relationships between the Persons.
This isn’t a minor quibble. It’s one of the major theological issues that contributed to the split between East and West in 1054.
What about the Apostles’ Creed?
Some of you learned the Apostles’ Creed growing up. It’s shorter, older in some of its elements, and widely used in Western Christianity. We don’t use it in Orthodox worship. The Nicene Creed is our standard. It’s what we recite at Liturgy, what catechumens confess at baptism, what defines Orthodox belief.
The Apostles’ Creed isn’t wrong, exactly. But it’s not the Church’s authoritative statement in the way the Nicene Creed is. When you’re received into the Orthodox Church, you’ll confess the Nicene Creed.
Baptism and the Creed
That brings us to how the Creed connects to becoming Orthodox. At your baptism (or if you’re received by chrismation), you’ll publicly confess the faith expressed in the Creed. Your sponsor will stand with you. You’ll say, “I believe.” And you’ll mean it, not just intellectually agreeing with propositions, but entering into the life of the Church that holds this faith.
The Creed isn’t a test you pass. It’s the faith you’re being baptized into. It’s the shape of the new life you’re receiving. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes about this beautifully in The Orthodox Way, how the Creed isn’t just doctrine but a doorway into the mystery of God.
So when you hear the Creed sung on Sunday mornings, listen. Let it sink in. These aren’t just words we inherited. They’re the faith that’s kept the Church alive for two thousand years, through persecutions and heresies and empires rising and falling. They’re what we believe. And if you’re here exploring Orthodoxy, they’re an invitation, to believe it too, to say it with us, to become part of this ancient faith that’s as alive today as it was in 325.
