The original creed of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea.
The original Nicene Creed is the work of the First Ecumenical Council, convened at Nicaea in AD 325 to settle the Arian controversy. Its 318 bishops — almost all Eastern, with Hosius of Spain as Western representative — set the terms "coessential" (ὁμοούσιος), "begotten before all worlds," and "very God of very God" as the trophies of orthodoxy. The Creed closes abruptly at "and in the Holy Ghost," followed by an anathema against the Arians. It remained the authorized form down to the Council of Chalcedon (451).
Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes, vol. I, §8 ("The Nicene Creed"). New York: Harper & Brothers, 1877; revised by David S. Schaff, 1931. Public domain; transcription from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father; through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit.
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα πάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς μονογενῆ τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρός, θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρί, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο τά τε ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ, τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα καὶ σαρκωθέντα, ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα.
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